All MTA workers will now be included in a state law that imposes stiffer penalties on those who attack transit workers, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday.
The law, which makes attacking an MTA employee second-degree assault, was previously limited to train conductors and operators. It will now encompass 11,000 total workers including “customer assistants, ticket or revenue collectors, maintenance workers, repairers, cleaners, and their supervisors,” the governor said.
“Last year, there were 118 assaults — physical assaults — on our transit workers, up 23 percent from the year before,” Hochul said before signing the bill at an MTA bus depot in Queens on Monday.
“They’ve left out many frontline transit workers, and tonight we’re righting that wrong.”
The MTA workforce has faced an average of two assaults and dozens of incidents of harassments per week this year, according to publicly available MTA stats.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill that increases the penalty for assaulting all MTA workers. Kevin P. Coughlin / Office of Governor Kathy Hochul 
The law making attacking a transit worker a second-degree assault was previously limited to train conductors and operators. Paul Martinka“As unprovoked, violent attacks against MTA employees continue to rise, it is imperative that our MTA Supervisors receive the same legal protections as every other MTA employee,” Subway Surface Supervisors Association President Michael Carrube said in a statement.
