A KIRO Team 7 Investigation uncovers thousands of felony crimes at King County Metro Park and Rides.

Rape, kidnapping, violent robberies -- all part of the price many have paid to board the bus.

Shards of broken auto glass are a familiar scene to anybody who has ever left their car at this South Renton lot. By reviewing police reports, KIRO Team 7 Investigators discovered this is one of most crime-ridden Park and Rides in Western Washington -- 161 felonies committed here in just the past couple years.

Dustin Rader wasn't looking for trouble, just a way to get home, when a dozen guys stole his backpack, then punched him in the face and nose.

"It was probably broken," Rader said. "I woke up and my face was all swollen, even sticking out farther than my nose, scrapes in my face," he said.

Dustin is just one of 11 assault or robbery victims from this single Park and Ride in Renton. Down the road in Kent, it's worse: 19 bus riders have recently been beaten, robbed at knifepoint, molested, even kidnapped from the Lincoln Street Park and Ride.

Vladamir Stadnik rides the bus to his job at Harborview Medical Center.

"I had no choice but to give them 100 bucks just to stay alive," Stadnik said.

Last month, a thief stuck a gun in his side and robbed him.

"Real dangerous. There should be more security really. We're taxpayers paying big money," Stadnik said. "No one cares."

Kent police didn't know just how much time they spent responding to crime at its Metro Park and Ride lots until we told them: 605 times since 2001. This small agency wishes Metro Transit Security would do a bit more prevention.

"There is nobody that is naturally there over the course of a day keeping an eye on those parking lots," said Paul Peterson of Kent Police.

An assault victim who didn't want to be identified had his head smashed in with a VCR at a Federal Way Park and Ride.

To find out how often this happens, KIRO Team 7 Investigators had to ask 25 different police jurisdictions to for incident reports regarding all Metro parking sites because Metro doesn't track crime numbers.

We were flooded! Computer data, lot of trees, but in the end, we received an equivalent of 40,000 pages of police incident reports.

Some 180 violent felony crimes committed at Metro Park and Rides in the past couple years jumped out at us. Child rape, strong-armed robbery, and lots of assaults. Drug dealing, gang activity, lewd conduct -- you name it, it's happening at some Park and Ride lots.

"That number really surprises me. I'd like to know more about those statistics," said Rick Walsh, General Manager of Metro Transit.

He says Metro spends about $9 million a year on security, mostly on the bus, not the lots.

"It's not such a huge problem that it deters large numbers of people from using it every day but it is an issue, a problem we're trying to address," Walsh said.

Walsh knows that if too many people get knocked over the head, or their cars stolen, they might stop using public transit.

"This is an area where what we need to do is deal with the issue and not debate who is responsible for it," Walsh said.

KIRO Team 7 Investigators broke down property crimes at Metro Park and Rides, too. In two years, at least 2,000 cars have been stolen, prowled or vandalized while riders took the bus to work.

Michelle Strum had her car stolen twice this year from the Burien Park and Ride. Forty other commuters in the lot faced a similar fate.

"It had a lot of scratches and dents. They burnt the interior. It had over $6,500 in cosmetic damage the first time," Strum said.

Michelle now uses a club on her steering wheel, but that has not brought back her sense of personal security.

"They could have been here just minutes before I got there," Strum said. "What could have happened if I caught them in the act? What would have happened to me?"

The buddy system is always a good idea. So is hiding valuables out of site. But what riders we spoke with really want is more visible Metro security.