Following last year's tragic incidents on campus and at Virginia Tech, the UW Police and school administration have emphasized safety on campus, but after recent incidents, some UW commuters are also left questioning their safety commuting to and from campus.

A daily commute, no matter how routine, is perhaps the time in a student's day he or she is least in control of his or her environment.

Once you climb on that Metro bus, you are more or less at the mercy of the other passengers and the man or woman behind the wheel, as was evidenced in an incident last weekend.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, an elderly man was riding a bus northbound along Rainier Avenue South at 11:15 p.m., when a group of alleged gang members who had just attended a Rainier Beach High School football game boarded the bus. They began harassing the man and tried to take his glasses.

To the teens' surprise, the man produced a knife and aggressively fought back. He wounded four of the teens and dislocated one's shoulder before they ceased their attack.

When police arrived, passengers explained that the older man had fought back in self-defense. The wounded teens were treated for their injuries and sent home to their parents. The man was not detained.

Outwardly, the story might seem little more than a tale of a few hooligans getting what they deserved, even in a comical fashion, and this is the perception of many of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's readers who commented on the article's online "Soundoff" page.

But to a few P.I. readers and me, this story makes a far more serious point: Metro drivers have no real ability to stop violent acts on buses. There is virtually no police presence in our public transit system. So if you end up in a bad situation, you're pretty much on your own.

The notion that public transit passengers should have to defend themselves against violent criminals is absurd. The incident on Rainer Avenue could have had a worse outcome. And if it had, the blame should have fallen squarely on the shoulders of Metro and the City of Seattle.

Many large cities have designated transportation police, which are officers who work solely to insure safety aboard city buses, trains or subways. Seattle police seem to be lagging in this regard, and it's a bit of a mystery why.

Although it's probably an oversimplification to say that the cops writing traffic tickets and bringing in prostitutes could have better spent their time on useful law enforcement, it feels good to say, and it makes sense.

As the public transit becomes more popular with completion of the Light Rail and the South Lake Union Trolley, it is imperative that passengers feel safe while aboard Seattle's buses and trains.

Thankfully, most UW students ride buses during the day when other students and commuters primarily occupy them, rather than late-night buses occupied by alleged gang members. However, the message still holds.

The UW Police Department cannot do much to protect UW students, staff and faculty off campus. Part of attending a university is commuting to classes each day. If last year's tragedies truly left an impression, other area law enforcement organizations will recognize the need to increase transportation security.

[Reach columnist Andrew Brown at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]