Agghhhhh no.

A King County Metro bus driver was fatally stabbed in Seattle’s University District early Wednesday, marking the first killing of a Metro driver on the job in 26 years and the latest example of violence that at times is shaking public confidence in the regional transit system.

No no no no no. I can’t stand it. Metro drivers are heroes (both sexes). It’s a very tough job, because there’s the driving but there are also the people. I’ve witnessed countless drivers being helpful, friendly, polite, all that good dealing-with-people stuff. They have to put up with a great many passengers who don’t reciprocate, who indeed start with aggression and go on from there. They of course have to put up with drunks, addicts, people who haven’t had a shower in years, people who make threats. They’re heroes, seriously.

Police said they determined an adult male passenger got into an altercation with Yim at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 41st Street. Yim then walked a short distance from the bus and collapsed, according to police.

It was not made known Wednesday morning if other passengers were aboard the Route 70 bus, which was headed south.

I know that bus well. It’s the only downtown to the U District bus (there’s also light rail). It goes past Lake Union, so there are nice views. It’s the kind of route where drivers often have some people-managing to do. Being murdered should not be part of the package.

Metro and Sound Transit have struggled with violence, mainly against passengers, as incidents increased post-pandemic. In 2023, a man was stabbed 19 times at random on a light rail train at Othello Station, and a young man was shot to death in a targeted attack aboard a bus in White Center.

Wednesday’s stabbing comes two days after Metro closed four bus stops at the corner of 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street in the Little Saigon area — where nine people were stabbed in November. The union pushed for those stops to be closed, Woodfill, the union president, said.

The union was not wrong.