Drivers in yellow safety vests set flickering candles, bus schedules and bouquets of flowers under a tree decorated with Shawn Yim's photo Saturday night.
Fellow workers from King County Metro and other mourners stood vigil in Seattle's University District to honor Yim, 59, who was fatally stabbed there in the early morning Wednesday just outside the Route 70 bus he had been driving.
Scores of people gathered at the intersection of 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 41st Street around 7 p.m. Saturday, overflowing the sidewalk and spilling into the road near the site of the killing.
About 14 hours earlier, Seattle police arrested Richard Sitzlack, 53, the man they suspect killed Yim after an argument over whether to keep a bus window open or closed.
Supporters from King County Metro and surrounding transit authorities listened to prayers and wished Yim "safe passage on your journey." They shared teary hugs, as leaders from the ATU Local 587 union called on the region's politicians to do more to keep drivers and riders safe.
"We've been fighting for more safety for years now," union president Greg Woodfill said. "We need to see action now."
Woodfill said drivers need better protective compartments, more training and more transit police. He led the crowd in a Local 587 chant: "Who runs this city? We run this city."
The union vice president, Ken Price, knew Yim: a hardworking driver who toiled long nights to take care of his family, he said. Yim would tell Price about how rough the job had become in recent years. Price asked Seattle residents to remember all the drivers going out each night alone.
Following a silent tribute to Yim, several drivers shouted their grief and anger, demanding a number of politicians who showed up -- and a number who didn't -- to at last listen to their pleas for help to make their livelihoods safer.
"We go through this every day. Every night," one driver thundered.
Among the riders paying respects at Yim's vigil was Seattle's "Transit Fairy," Pauline Van Senus, who picks up trash at bus stops in her spare time. Van Senus, who was assaulted on downtown's Third Avenue bus corridor earlier this year, said she wants to see Metro grow and thrive, despite its challenges.
Bus drivers and riders remained on edge Saturday at Third Avenue and South Main Street in Pioneer Square, in the hours after Sitzlack's arrest.
Many buses stop at the intersection and drivers also park their coaches there for bathroom breaks and shift switches, they said, pausing to talk on rainswept sidewalks between Smith Tower and King Street Station.
Emilio Malla, who knew Yim from the Sodo bus base where they both worked, remained rattled.
"I still fear for my life," said Malla, 60, who drives the same Route 70 that Yim was on when he was killed. "I don't feel safe when I'm on the coach because you don't know what the next guy who gets on is going to do."
Malla said Yim was a quiet, nice man who had been driving for quite a while, lived on Whidbey Island and minded his own business.
Saturday's arrest happened near Union Gospel Mission. Outside the shelter, Georgi Mikhelidze hailed the arrest.
"It's really scary," said Mikhelidze, a regular bus rider, about Yim's killing. "The bus drivers don't do anything to anyone."