It’s not just that they are drug uses, they are often having their crisis on the bus, which is where the danger lies. The D Line isn’t as bad as the E Line, at least. We don’t really have that many school buses in Seattle, most kids are taking city buses. But that specifically isn’t a problem until middle school or so.

When they decided to stop enforcing fares is just when the problem got really bad. I’m not sure what would happen if they started back to the old normal, but the current changing point is probably not a coincidence.