An Honest Look at Safety on LA Metro
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- Ever wanted to know just how unsafe LA's busses and trains actually are? Or what should be done to address this? #losangeles #urbanplanning
00:00 - Intro
00:41 - How Unsafe is It Generally?
01:58 - Why We Need to Talk About This
02:27 - Post 2020 Spike
03:22 - Initial "Reimagining Public Safety" Solution
04:38 - Policing Re-Seen As Necessary
07:28 - Need for True Mental Health Care
09:20 - Activist Pushback - And Stations Fixes Needed
11:10 - It’s still rideable! / outro
Music Credit
Baxtard - IM2 Wakerun (purchased)
Maykl - Resting State (purchased)
Blank Banshee -Good Times (purchased)
This is a good even handed take on the situation. I think the general American individualistic mentality is a huge part of this, the idea of public spaces is generally uncomfortable for a lot of people even when there's nothing unsafe, whether it's a thinking every person at a public part is gonna kidnap your kid or putting up security cameras on public property in front of your house to monitor people in the vicinity of your property. I've taken my kid around to many public spaces on transit, and while there's definitely been some shady things, it's basically the public equivalent to "this asshole driver could have hit me if I didn't pre-emptively know he was an asshole and gave him room".
I'd definitely like more carrots on the Metro. Street vendors in/around stations is an awesome idea and better/more amenities like storage lockers, secure bathrooms, ambassadors, etc. would massively help whether or not it was perfectly safe. But having no sticks is unrealistic and override any amount of carrots if the stick is big enough. On the Venic CicLAvia there was a dude blasting (admittedly good) music on his speaker and talking shit to the conductor for no reason. A pair of officers came on board to tell him to shut it off and stood on for a stop or two, but once they left he just turned it back on. There may have been safety in numbers from the crowded train, but assholes on transit is a big enough deal to remember long term but not a big enough deal to risk the aftermath of confronting the person.
Fare gates, fare checks, and the ability to kick people off the train and out of the station completely would be transformative. People have to get used to the idea that homeless people exist and they might be near you, but no one should be worrying that person is gonna openly do drugs or harass people with no consequences.
blasting music on the train is not acceptable behavior. i don't care if it "adds character", I don't want character on my commute I want a comfortable commute
METRO finally realized that what we really needed was somebody with policing power. Having ambassadors are all good but having somebody that can really make a difference in regard to inappropriate behaviors IMHO can definitely increase ridership.
So, I've been an avid public transit rider in Southern California since I was a carless teenager. My own experience is an overwhelmingly safe one. But I'm a big, tall man who is not easily intimidated by a random stranger. Since the start of the Covid pandemic in the Winter of 2020, I have seen a dramatic spike in the amount of dangerous or illegal behavior: openly smoking cannabis & tobacco, wanton littering of alcoholic containers, public urination & defecation, and verbal harassment of female passengers. I personally call in to the MetroWatch hotline at least once a month, usually to an automated reply. I rarely see the Metro Ambassadors, who typically chat with one another before disappearing again. I haven't seen an armed police officer on the trains for a while and wonder if anyone is actually watching on the other side of all those security cameras I see.
A few interlocking factors I can see (some of which you mentioned in the video) is that there is a massive institutional resistance by the County to do much. If personnel have to step in, it gets recorded as an incident; ergo personnel are discouraged from bumping up the numbers. The DA, Gascón, is himself a political lightning rod, having personally ordered a halt to police enforcement and legal prosecution for a range of lower-level offenses. At the start of the pandemic, a huge shift in the way homeless criminals are treated took place: unofficially halting actions against them and de facto turning the trains into shelters and allowing vast areas of public space to be transformed into shanty towns, all while the budget allocated to "homeless services" grows into the billions.
It is sadly a case of individuals & institutions responding to an increasingly dangerous situation by abdicating responsibility completely. Their blind hope is for someone else to magically come along and solve their problem without having to change anything of their own. Or worse: they promote solutions that have no basis in lived experience and then complain that the public is unsupportive of their ambitions.
Finally another urbanist that is living in reality.
Right? Just recently I saw another well known urbanist skirt around the topic by saying "they are just people" when referring to criminals and mentally unstable. Talk about ignoring reality.
Right? Just recently I saw another well known urbanist skirt around the topic by saying "they are just people" when referring to criminals and mentally unstable. Talk about ignoring reality.
@@walawala-fo7ds So true! I watched a video on the Metro subwaylink in Baltimore once, and the video never mentioned how "unsafe" it felt. When I rode it it was another story. In addition, I've been seeing "in denial" posts by transit youtubers/advocates I follow on Instagram and people telling me their concerns of safety get censored on their reels / taken down.
@@walawala-fo7ds that's so true. Like yah they're people but they're people who are threatening others while they're just trying to do their daily commute lol
Seeing disorderly behavior or harassment about 20% of the time is a crazy high frequency.
I thought so too! I'm from the Boston area and my whole life I've seen one guy who was causing a major disturbance. Basically everybody else in the car looked at each other and we all got out together and went to the other car. The next stop the transit police took him away. I've also been to NYC a bunch of times and never seen anything like you see on TikTok (although luckily they're not actually dangerous, just weird). I can't imagine having something like this happen 20% of the time. I'm generally a pretty tolerating person but that's a lot. I could do it on a vacation to LA, but I definitely wouldn't want to live there if that's happening.
edit: yah I've seen people playing instruments on the MTA but the main thing is that I've definitely never felt threatened.
@@yaush_I think he's saying there is a disturbance 20% of the time, not that he feels personally threatened or harassed. That's my experience on the LA Metro at least. Usually it's a person talking to themself, maybe shouting at themself once or twice.
It's concerning and distracting, but usually harmless.
I hate to say it, but that’s just LA in general rn.
Even if I haven’t been personally bothered, people screaming, yelling, pissing, shitting, smoking, and etc ruin the experience for people as a whole.
The biggest problem LA faces - that most everywhere in the US faces - is just the percentage of people riding.
You need a majority of people who live in your city taking public transit. That's how you get (a feeling of) safety.
A mass transit system needs a mass of people taking it in order to work. That won't happen in LA until it's more convenient than driving for most trips
wrong..dummy
But if you have LRT have Signal Priority, Have TOD around the stations, Have it be Safer & Have more lines that don’t go to Downtown.
We literally need to stop chasing for the american dream of single family homes, coz people are so lazy to walk now. We need denser residential areas that's covered by the system. Even then, our work areas are also so sparsely built, because of our car-focused culture. It is ridiculous.
that is so true. That's why cities on the east coast feel so safe on transit, because your everyday Joe is riding it. In the west it's like half homeless people, addicts, and because of that only people who can't afford to drive take it. Then you have like 10% of everyday joes who take it anyway, just because they like transit. The first step is to build transit in areas of high demand and most importantly make sure only people who are taking the train to get somewhere are on it.
It's so unfortunate because you see great systems like BART and it's full of people who are extremely rude, and clearly don't have anywhere to be. It just doesn't make sense why a government would invest so much money into transit only to not enforce any safety laws. It's like building a brand new superhighway with no cops. Imagine if on roads we only had safety ambassadors lol
NYC does and still have people getting killed
As an LA metro rider and strong supporter of it, this video is amazing. It sucks that we have to just pretend to ignore people who are screaming or vandalizing our trains. We want to be safe.
FINALLY! A VIDEO FROM A TRANSIT CZcamsR ADRESSING SAFETY IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION! I could be happier, so many of my favorite transit youtubers either live in their own echo chambers (i.e. ignore the issue outright) or just try to keep the illusion of "transit good, who gives a damn about your safety, grow a pair". This is what the community NEEDS right now expecially in the US, NOW MORE THAN EVER.
I’m glad someone is talking about this. I have never had a driver’s license, but convincing others to go car-lite or car free brings up this issue
Former transit cop here (pfp is my former agency's patch). I've noticed none of Metro's leadership is talking about the type of policing style that needs to be implemented no matter who's patrolling the system. It doesn't matter if it's the LAPD, LASD, LBPD, or a new Metro PD when the officers are handicapped by Metro on enforcement no matter how small. In the 90's, the MTA and NYPD implemented "broken windows" policing, which enforced on quality of life and fare evasion crimes. This brought fare evasion rates on the New York City Subway down to 1% and dramatically reduced crime on the system; a far cry from the muggings, homicides, and graffiti that characterized the Subway in the 70's and 80's. If Metro finally get their heads out of the sand, the first thing to do is have "fare saturation details", essentially checkpoints where dozens of officers take over a station and fare check everyone on board every train that pulls in. No fare=automatic citation and no fare plus warrants=booked to County.
After living in LA for most of my life, I was excited to try metro and I did twice. The first time I drove 15 minutes to Pasadena Madre station, parking is free, waited 15 minutes for a train, rode to union station took about 25 minutes with the stops, switched to another line, a guy with bicycle yelled at me on train not giving his bicycle more room while a police standing next to me, after I got off I realized the next bus will be 30 minutes or more to get near my friends place so I took an Uber instead. After visiting my friend I took an Uber back to pick up my car. The trip was about 50 minutes and I could have driven there is about 35 minutes, it would be faster if I took my son’s PHEV on car pool lane. The second time t tried metro was near USC after I took an Uber there to watch ball game, the corridor walking to the outdoor platform was filled with urine smell and a few strange looking people there I did not want to engage, I managed to get back to Pasadena and again got an Uber home; and that was the last time I tried LA metro and probably never again.
Many issues with public transportation mirror problems with public libraries. For instance, individuals struggling with untreated mental health conditions often find solace in these safe spaces, as they're less likely to face harassment or judgment there. It's unfair to expect the transit system or library to bear the responsibility of addressing this larger crisis. These are issues we do need to solve, but they need funding that keeps getting denied.
in cold climates transit offers warmth and in hot climates it offers air conditioning too
if i was a homeless man sitting outside in 40+C id find an air conditioned place to survive as well
Dude, great video! Safety and comfort are two issues that are commonly hand-waived away by people advocating for improving our built environment, but if you want people to be more involved with their communities you can't ignore the social problems that prevent people from doing that. This is a complex topic, with a lot of possible (and sometimes uncomfortable) solutions, and you gave a great overview. Some people will disagree with your approach, and others will agree with your approach, and that's great as long as we're finally having this discussion. For what it's worth, I generally agree with your take!
I also liked your little poem at 7:23:
Which has made a difference
On certain lines
At certain times
Despite some headline crimes
lol
The SINGLE EASIEST STEP to making the Red/Purple lines safer and more inviting is to make everyone leave the train at Union Station. All non-peak trains should go to the yard and everyone still on them should be removed and escorted off the system. Because the only people that would be removed are those who are so mentally incapacitated that they need immediate help. Right now, the subway is a homeless shelter, and passengers inevitably feel that no one cares.
It a nut shell, the ones that complain about too much police enforcement are the ones that cause the most problems. It’s a fact and the face the truth. Own up to your actions and not blame others for your bad choices.
I’m glad you’re talking about this. Many in the urbanism community just dismiss the issue of crime in cities and on transit, which in my opinion is a massive shot to the foot. Not only does crime deter people from using transit, but it only further perpetuates the idea among citizens that transit is a dirty, unsafe, last-resort mode of transportation that’s only for poor people who can’t afford a car. You are right in that transit is statistically safer than driving, but to encourage people to use public transit, you have to make them *feel* safe on top of actually being safe, and I don’t think many in the urbanism community appreciate that fact. It’s a real shame. Crime is one of the biggest, if not *the* biggest argument NIMBYs use to protest a transit project and fear-monger against it. Until urbanists and city planners have an hones and serious conversation about crime, we’re only going to create more work for ourselves when advocating for quality transit that serves all. Excellent video!
I do think Metro could use just more passive security in general- by that I mean, actual fare gates (like the New BART ones) and having people actually tap in and tap out. Now I know that the busses, light rail would be hard to have big gates on, but with the crime ridden subway lines like Red/purple lines, they should have better gates
I also really do support the idea of a in house Metro police force to come back. We used to have it- and it seems to have worked better, (and cost less!!!) then contracting out to LAPD and sherriff- who have clearly not performed to expectations
There’s no way to enforce people pay for the trains. All these protesting for free transit need to understand the current payment system makes it essentially free.
I'm glad somebody finally says it. Often urbanists shot down the reality of transit crime as nimbysim when every week a horrible crime is reported in transit systems due to lack of security and fare collection to pay for security.
This is the best urbanist / Transit video ive seen in a LONG time. I'm a huge supporter of dedicated Transit police to augment the social workers and ambassadors. i feel most people avoid transit due to it not being a "dignified" option, having ways to address the mental illness problem will go a long way to correcting that.
the red line was scary and scarred me from ever using LA metro again. smelled horrible, homeless sleeping on seats, and it felt like being around zombies. If US transportation systems ever get to the level of standard like Japan, then I'll ride again
@stevenhuynh17 that would require an AG who's not pro crime
I think it’s insane how so many people still hold such anti urban rhetoric that was popularized in the 80s and 90s. I think one of the best things the urbanist movement has done for a lot of people is showing how our cities are safer and cleaner than ever. Great video btw
I love this take on the LA Metro. I live in an urban city in Canada and take the transit 90% of the time (+ other non-car modes of transport) and the issues outlined here are the same. I've seen people next to me on a bus smoke a crack pipe or do needles.
I actually do take transit when I visit LA because its affordable and I generally love exploring other cities by transit.
A major difference when I go to LA is that its a very car-centric city; to me, it's more like a hub of suburbs than it is a city. So as a few commenters mentioned, there needs to be more done to convince people to even consider riding public transit. The last time I was in LA (2022), they were pushing to get people to ride the metro more, but I'm not sure what came from that plan, since buses and trains aren't that frequent either and should be, to gain ridership.
I think the safety aspect is very exciting and I'd love to see it in action when I go back!
It’s not just things I have heard of online, it’s things I’ve seen in person.
I used to take the Gold Line from my home in east Pasadena to South Pasadena or downtown Los Angeles all the time. I took a ride after the pandemic and the train was full of urine on the floor and mentally ill homeless people harassing riders. It wasn’t this bad before. There were no sheriff or police at the station, although I did see a couple of sheriff deputies walk through the train checking fares and escorting someone out on my ride back home. I haven’t really taken the train again since, but might if I hear things improve.
I live near the East Pasadena station at Sierra Madre Villa and there are encampments all around the area near the station with the problems that come with it, such as a recent kidnapping and sexual assault by a transient on a woman parked at a restaurant a few blocks from my home.
I don’t understand why they don’t have a law officer (metro police or whatever) at every station. Obviously you can’t have one in every train, but one or two at every station would make sense.
Yup, the screaming coming from right behind my head on the red line really shot up my blood pressure during my commute and was a major turn off.
Seattle has the same problem. Two murders this year so far. And in Seattle it is offensive to collect fares so funding for safety is basically non existent.
Thank you SO much for talking about this, safety is something that urbanists gloss over sooo much and its annoying. The fact that you encounter a nascence around 20% of the time is crazy. I've been on many many many DC metro trains over the last year and Ive only seen one person like that, it's really not the transit's fault its just the rest of society seeping in .
I moved from NYC to LA and literally got robbed on the E line two months ago.. was such a big proponent of public transit but truly feel like the lack of urban density around some stations make it seem "emptier" / more unsafe since there's less ppl around
I don’t know how I feel about gardening fare gates making it more attractive for vendors. Obviously the U.S. is not Europe/Asia but in Europe and Asia, in most cases, most of the vendors are outside of the fare gated areas.
Distance, time and safety are the most common reasons people won't take it. Some people expect a stop to be a few minutes of walk away. Some people, especially female, just say they do not feel safe taking public transit to work. Lastly, LA or SoCal in general is too big of a sprawl. Even though our system covers a lot of place, the distance is just too much to commute. For people to use the system, we need a denser and safer LA. Not sure how long that is going to take to happen, or whether it will happen at all.
Thank you for talking about these very real problem. Just about every city in the us is affected like this.
Just speaking to my own experience but almost every trip I’ve been on metro in recent memory has someone doing something uncomfortable. Even if it’s “just” singing to themselves. It just doesn’t feel like good even if it’s technically safe. This is on the red line which I believe is one of the roughest.
We do need a Metro PD completely different from LAPD LASD. We need them to have higher qualifications than the regular police. Like what if Police was actually good?
Wow what a great take. Its sad that youd get yelled at for this completely rational position. I visited LA in 2022 and was car free for a week. Metro was great to have, but I almost never felt safe riding. This is especially important with solo female riders. A 10 year old should feel safe taking the train alone, this is how it is in melbourne australia where Im from.
10:20 Since the at-grade light rail stations don't have fare gates alongside with no platform screen doors (PSDs), IMO #GoMetro needs to harden the light rail stations with PSDs in addition to fare gates to not only serve passenger safety (since there are no #Vancouver #SkyTrain style track intrusion sensors (i.e. pressure plates or light sensors) to not only detect track intrusions but also automatically prevent trains from entering affected stations) but also define physical boundaries for not only consistent network-wide fare control (since some light rail stations already have fare gates) but also property boundaries. Perhaps new fare gates can be implemented there first alongside with PSDs to serve as a benchmark.
Great video. I really like your analysis. I think a transit police force is a necessity. Crime on transit is especially scary because you're a captive audience. Walking away is not an option. Crimes and disturbances on transit should be treated more harshly due to the captive nature of the audience. Vendors are a good idea, but vendors are also increasingly attacked and harassed, and they would feel like easy targets. Passive tactics do not work and have lost a lot of credibility. Making fare gates more evasion proof is also a great idea, however a fare gate that is both evasion proof and accessible (for wheelchairs, strollers, bicycles, etc) is difficult.
However, you can't put an officer on every bus and train. Cameras on buses and trains and in stations with sound, as well as smoke sensors, could be connected to an AI server to analyze live images with sound in real time and determine if a crime or disturbance could be occurring. An alert to all nearby officers, both transit police and local police, with a link to the live feed, vehicle number and location, can help speed up responses and provide evidence. Being able to provide a two-way radio response between an officer and the train or bus could also help while they're on their way. AI can become a useful tool to put more "eyes in the system" to enhance safety.
I wouldn’t suggest someone taking the train after 8 PM because they’re so many homeless people. They smell. It’s not fun to share a car with someone you can smell 3 seats down.
They need more security and a way to ensure people actually pay to take the trains. There aren’t even turns dials to jump on most of the trains. Buses generally feel safer than trains.
Ambassadors ain’t shi-t….metro need armed police not ambassador clowns.
Metro you got the money to get your own police.
Excellent expose` on safety issues on LA transit!! 68% I'd rather than approve of more police presence to make them feel safe for the transit that their taxes paid for unfortunately looking at those who oppose police presence as well as fares to pay for rides look like the type of people who don't pay taxes I'm a man of color and I grew up in the Los Angeles metro area but 35 years ago I moved out of LA and down towards San Diego down here I transit is clean and safe not 100% safe with far safer than LA and San Francisco combined. The light rail system aka The Trolley is so clean / safe, They actually do have vending machines at most stations as well as food trucks and other amenities at many of their stations and it's rare that one would see a spilled drink or crumpled newspaper or trash inside one of our platforms/ rail cars!!!
The real elephant in the room however is the political atmosphere or differences between the two cities where LA wastes a lot of time pushing equity and inclusivity for all, regardless of the consequences, San Diego takes a more pragmatic approach although it's still Southern California in attitude. Also here in the San Diego area people are proud of their transit and actually ride it and though it's only three lines (not including No.Cnty COATER & SPRINTER trains) and though it doesn't go everywhere but the places it does go is places people want to go ( except for the beach 😢) Whereas in LA people knew they needed mass transit but it took many many many many elections for bills to pass to get mass transit a completely different attitude than here. Anyway I've ranted enough 😅 I love your video I will start subscribing to your channel so I can see more of your work. Keep up the good work. God Bless Peace 😎👍🏾
Please excuse the voice text spelling errors but thank you for understanding what I was trying to say 👍🏾
The thing is, Police have not been defunded. . . metro spends a ridiculous amount on contracts with police (whether it be LAPD, sherriff, etc). Problem is the police have not delivered on the investment- they have often been caught just hanging around outside the stations or outside platforms. Metro is even proposing to go back to their own in house security (which I think is a good plan) for less cost and more accountability
@ciello___8307 what cop would do their job then get punished for it?
Public transport simply has way more random crazy encounters than driving and much dirtier. I’m not a fan of smelling piss every time I ride. Until they address these issues I still enjoy driving over taking the metro like 50% of the time in my city. FYI I live in Portland which is known to have one of the better ones outside of NY in the U.S.
Ambassadors and social workers is a good idea but the formula is already there you can’t have no security/police in the metro. Ambassadors are too scared when I see issues they can address and people aren’t scared of them
Great video! Pragmatic, honest, unbiased. As a daily Metro rider I wholeheartedly agree wirh all the points raised in this video. Metro needs its own police force ASAP and ditch LAPD and LASD. We also need MAJOR reform in mental healthcare and a way to get people struggling with mental issues off the system. Also proper faregates, free transit sounds good in theory and might make sense for buses but rail stations need controlled access
The overlap of urbanism and the progressive left has made this particular issue a tricky one to talk about, I think you did a great job here. It's refreshing to see someone candidly address public safety concerns rather than try to gaslight them away as is so often done by urbanist progressives e.g. "you must just hate poor people" or whatever. Every city in America is becoming more moderate on public safety and policing so I'm feeling very optimistic.
I live in Utah (a red state) and our metro system also has ambassadors. It's something we're trying out
Riding on Greenline to Norwalk was terrible from street vendors to preachers shouting loudly. The stabbings and homeless has progressively gotten worse. Fighting crimes is a low priority since BLM. That’s sadly the truth.
nice video!
One area that I feel would improve things drastically would be solely finding housing for the unhoused people. Most of them use the transit as it is their only way around, and since they have no residence, they have no job, and would therefore not be able to pay fares. As for the drug usage, one person explained it well on a post elsewhere on the internet that once an individual becomes unhoused, their isolation from people becomes immediate, with interactions being from avoidance to outright hostility. It creates a mental spiral that most will then turn to drugs to escape as it is the only thing to keep the thoughts at bay. Improved mental services and an emphasis on guaranteed housing is paramount to making transit safer. I always have understood this was bigger than Metro, and personally I feel it misses the big picture when we zoom in on the transit agency and demand they fix an issue that is bigger than them.
Ngmi
Just 6 reports of stabbings and deaths. But can't take transit due to infrequencies of bus routes. Doing grocery runs will require a car.
Great video and really goes far go push back about radical minority of transit users who push either for “all stick” or “all carrot” approaches
Increasing train/bus frequencies would help too. When im in NYC, I know i can just hop off the train and get on the next one if someone is making me uncomfortable.
One thing this video didn't bring up is the issue of cleanliness. That's the number one problem I have when riding the system. It is very likely there will be waste and/or bodily functions of some kind when you ride and that is not only a major turn off but very unnecessary too as there are certainly other transit systems that exist that don't have this problem (shout out to Seattle's public transit and even Metrolink in LA). So while making the system safer is a definite need, so is making it cleaner as well.
I think the "uncomfortable" situations play a huge part in it. Ib Europe and Asia it's unheard of to see the things you're pretty nuch guaranteed to see on US transit on a daily basis.
@schalitz1 lol German cops in Berlin all have shootouts with gangs constantly
I live close to the red line. It takes me pretty much directly to work but it's so inconvenient when I can just get there in 15 minutes by driving
We won't hospitalize and criminalize our way out of these problems, even if improving mental healthcare is a critical component. The housing you mentioned is the other half; if we don't build like 250,000 more units we will keep half of the city in poverty. Even if 0.1% of the population is experiencing homelessness and mental health crises in a way that leads to violent behavior, that's still 4,000 people. Other countries where the extremes of wealth and poverty aren't so extreme do not have these issues!
enforcement is fighting symptoms instead of causes, yeah
Criminal activity on metro is carried out by homeless and non homeless. How about putting criminals in jail? Housing isn't a cure for drug addiction and criminal and anti social behavior. LA has a massive drug and crime problem. Now it's called 'mental illness'.
Don't think of Metro's own police as a silver bullet. BART police for example have the same problems that yall have with LAPD/LASD. In the BART police contract their Union negotiated that they only have to ride the trains 1 hour per shift and its not really enforced so they spent a lot of their time in their patrol cars driving on the freeway. If Metro does create their own police they need to be in the system at the high traffic'ed stations 24/7 policing quality of life issues.
This is really a fantastic video. Nice work
People are really uncomfortable with people. 😆
That’s what suburban life does (I live in it…I dislike it very much).
As a 60 year old dude with cars, bikes and an airplane, married to a physician, but running a music company myself, I live in l several different social circles (business owners, arts, medicine, etc).
Taking the subway with a bunch of friends in DC during a fly-in, they were uncomfortable with my casually speaking with other train patrons.
My wife was OK on the subway from Hollywood and Vine to The Disney Center, but after that experience wanted to take a Lyft back to the W hotel. And we had a rental car which I picked up in Inglewood on the train!
But I’m from San Francisco and she’s from the suburbs of DC.
I can only hope that as boomers age out of driving that they start to see the incredible value in public transit. It’s good for everyone, whether rich, poor, or in between. And if some of the people are really bothersome (homeless, mentally ill, etc.) then maybe we as a nation might start allocating budgets differently.
Eyes on the community are really the key. More people is always better.
People aren’t “uncomfortable with people” lmao I had no issue riding the MTR in Hong Kong for years because HK simply doesn’t tolerate violent behavior or open drug use on transit (or anywhere else, for that matter). But I saw all of those things and more my first week in SF.
These behaviors happen because they’re ALLOWED to happen and no amount of gaslighting will convince people not to see what’s right in front of them.
I see similar issues/concerns with DC's Metro. I deal with tourists and suburbanites a lot, who think that witnessing homelessness or people suffering from mental illness and addiction is somehow the same as being a victim of a violent crime. Having someone pace nervously while muttering to themselves is off-putting and something I don't enjoy encountering, but it isn't victimizing me, either.
DC has done a better job recently with having their Metro Police actually DO something. Like, you'll see them walk around, see them on trains, etc. And they've had much, much better presence of staff, both custodial and station managers. They've even *gasp!* increased their presence at historically problematic stations, especially during historically problematic periods of the day.
There's a long way to go, and the city & surrounding area, has a HUGE problem with lack of housing, addition or mental health care. And as long as Muriel Bowser & Co, or someone equally as useless & in the pocket of developers as her & her cronies remain in power, little of substance to address ongoing systemic issues outside of Metro is likely to be accomplished. But at least we finally have someone running Metro who genuinely cares about and believes in public transit, instead of someone who likely has never even been on public transit (like Bowser or the previous head of Metro).
my limited experience on the DC Metro looks like its worlds ahead of LA Metro or BART from what i hear.
Crime dipped in 2017. Went up 2021...who were the presidents.. ?
Couple things you are missing in that cherry picking session. 1: crime barely dipped between 2017 and 2021, the crime rate went down by a total of 0.4, and by 2021 the crime rate spiked from 3.8 to 5.1. You can't blame that last bit on Biden, because that rise took place while Trump was still president. 2: The POTUS has no impact on local policing, and both the city of LA and the state of California were under democratic control from 2017 to now, so any changes in crime can't be linked to a change in governance, because as far as local politics goes, there has been no change in governance.
Which president chose not to bother when "hard-shelling" the borders and ports was necessary as soon as the first reports came out of China?
i think it was yesterday i saw a post on r/lametro about hardening fare gates and more security officers (maybe you posted it), and i proposed the idea of platform screen fare gates, so just tap your card/phone and then a little door will open and let you through. this door would obviously be door sized so you couldn't hop over it. that and making fences at person-height instead of leg-height will keep people from hopping the fence and going on the platform. however, i must admit that i am an impostor of the transit enjoyer community, i have never actually ridden it because i am 15 and my parents would never let me (not only because they think it's super dangerous but they think i'm completely in another world on my phone 24/7 or smth idk). my school even gave everyone an unlimited free metro card to everyone but i haven't even activated it. going to ciclavia today tho, i didn't realize they had one here in 2021 as well, ig the traffic impact was unnoticeable, so they should keep those streets closed more often. avalon could be a great candidate for being pedestrianized because of the amount of shops it has, especially that segment between anaheim and i st.
great concept!
The clips shown of the “LA Metro Board” look to be from WMATA (Randy Clarke), a different agency.
I use it, it’s a bit smelly and has bizarre people but it is my favorite mode of transportation
Thanks for Sharing 😊
Great video, couldn’t agree more with everything said
The announcements on the buses and trains should just say we have cameras all over this bus or train your choice
Can’t blame the LAPD & LASD when the head of security at MTA & the MTA board don’t support law enforcement in enforcing the “code of conduct” rules on the MTA system
When LAPD took over they set the tone and the MTA were afraid of the “heavy hand”
Checking TAP cards at 5:59 on a bus where one can pay cash to ride? What’s the point of that?
Depends on the area you live in?
May I suggest a Modest Proposal regarding safety on the Metro?
If La do both Make the System Safer & Expand its system. We could see NYC style Ridership. Like we need to do both Because when your safe Riding the Metro you can go from LAX - Hollywood Or DTLA - Beverly Hills
The Police do very little on the metro. There has been a guy LIVING at Bundy Station for over a year. He is making a huge mess. They do nothing.
@ES-hr6vg with what DA, the pro crime one?
We need housing so bad. Pollution and noise contribute to mental illness and making people sleep outside next to roads/freeways adds even more to the mental illness issues we have.
I’m here for taking transit more often and I think there should be a symbiotic relationship between better transit and more housing. For example, housing is much cheaper to build without parking, which is much easier to justify when there are non-car options to get around and, as a result of more people moving in, the transit gets more revenue.
urbanism and ACABism are incompatible. Japan is a good example, except that theyre not armed.
You do realize that disarming police like in Japan is one of the main goals of what you call “ACABism” right lol
People who 'oppose the police' never seriously say that we should remove anything that remotely resembles law enforcement. Instead it's about reform or replacement.
Japan is actually a pretty good example of what "ACABists" (a term that no one uses) advocate for NOT against.
You clearly have zero brain cells
@daikon711 All Japanese cops are armed, and for good reason as Kurds showed
@@Gfynbcyiokbg8710 not wrong, but our law enforcement might never resemble Japan's because they don't have guns.
Saying its safe and fine comes with the privilege of being male, as you wont get harassed as much as women passengers.
Travel Smart. Take Metro. You’ll be blown away.
I'm from the UK and used the Metro a lot on multiple trips to LA. I love how cheap it is and...well that's about it. Dirty and dangerous. It could and should be so much better.
Every time I ride the A line (Blue line) It's bat crap bonkers.
So many keep criticizing America's public transit systems (yes they're TRASH) but it's kinda too late now to demolish freeways and parking lots for more parks/social spaces lol. There's just too much demand in cars for people to walk/bike more or take public transit. Plus cars are just more convenient overall especially if you have a family ir need to run aarons. You can hop in and be somewhere in minutes, where as with trains/buses you gotta wait 15-20 minutes and if there's delays it's another 5-15 minute wait 🙄😑 It just doesn't work and it's not safe
Note: "ir" = or, "aarons" = errands.
Yes, people will still use their cars but due to our failing national economy hidden with jiggered and pokered statistics, eventually most people will not be able to own, insure, repair, maintain, or fuel their cars!
Alot of these problems wouldn't be so big if we had universal healthcare and public housing
Doesn't matter if being a victim of crime is what you deem "extremely low". Even without a crime being committed, you'll likely encounter something or someone that makes the journey uncomfortable.
Isn't LA twinned with Glasgow? As I have been told that Los Angeles was the American version of Glasgow.
@BritishRail60062 probably, though we haven't arrest men for their pet pugs yet
I was safe on the Metro train and bus nothing happened to me
Armed with RJ and a 200,000 dollar salary! A brilliant way to fight crime! 🤣 🤣🤣
This is exactly how I feel whenever I hear another "why do we keep building suburbs?" rant.
There needs to be a patrol on every metro station and train. If you want to keep things safe, that's how you do it. But the reason why the metros don't feel safe because simply? For most stops, you don't see any police presence. New York is not perfect but there much more present. The metro stations besides the popular ones, feel neglected. And the police you see? Yeah. They're there to harass people on ticket fares.
MTA (Moving Transients Around)
This aged well
I am constantly having uncomfortable experiences on BART and Metro.
Do you think any of the bums, druggies and psychopaths paid for a fare? Hard fact : The trains are being used as rolling homeless shelters.
Harden the entry points, engage in fare enforcement, eject the fare evaders. Metro states that 94% of crimes are committed by riders without tickets, sounds like an uncomplicated solution.
In other countries, fines for fare evasion are significant, why not here?
By all means, address mental health, but it should not be a problem for a transit agency to solve.
Fare evaders commit the crimes. Fix fare evasion. The streets will still be terrifying but least the trains will be safer.
We all know the problem, it's the fact they go through rough neighborhood or hoods.... Where eighty percent of the people may by good, but the other twenty are garbage 🗑️ and then the homeless use it while not paying because there's really no intent to see payment completed.... Which can result in mental health or drug occurrences!?
I've seen a woman get assaulted and drug use and that was one time on 😆 so I can't imagine daily use!? Really you can't change it, because you can't change the population of LA.
Ambassadors and social workers on metros. 🥴 wasting of money. Metro system getting worst and worst by everymonth
I’m fine with more security personnel on transit. Everyone deserves to feel safe. I don’t agree with hardening fare gates. Fare evasion doesn’t actually endanger anyone. And fare collection actually costs a lot of money yet still doesn’t collect enough to pay for the system. I believe transit is a net benefit to everyone in society and should be fare free, paid for entirely by taxes. Do we have hardened fare gates on libraries? Parks? Sidewalks? No. “Trespassing” should be defined by your behavior in these spaces, not by your ability to pay a small fee.
Interesting points but supposedly the people causing the most trouble are the ones who avoid paying fares. Also is $1.75 that unreasonable?
A huge increase in housing is essential. You can't police your way out of inequality.
the one year I rode metro (2019) there were never any police but it was mostly chill
One word: NO
Just would like to point out that all the issues addressed in the video are caused by Democrat policies.
That's funny. Last I checked it was Reaganomics that created the mental health and inequality problems that have led to such a mess in places like LA, especially the fact that the asylums we used to have were closed down by right wingers like Reagan with no good alternative in place and thus releasing thousands of mentally ill people onto the streets. How's that working out?
That's funny. Last I checked it was Reaganomics that created the mental health and inequality problems that have led to such a mess in places like LA, especially the fact that the asylums we used to have were closed down by right wingers like Reagan with no good alternative in place and thus releasing thousands of mentally ill people onto the streets. How's that working out?
That's funny. Last I checked it was Reaganomics that created the mental health and inequality problems that have led to such a mess in places like LA, especially the fact that the asylums we used to have were closed down by right wingers like Reagan with no good alternative in place and thus releasing thousands of mentally ill people onto the streets. How's that working out?
That's funny. Last I checked it was Reaganomics that created the mental health and inequality problems that have led to such a mess in places like LA, especially the fact that the asylums we used to have were closed down by right wingers like Reagan with no good alternative in place and thus releasing thousands of mentally ill people onto the streets. How's that working out?
Why don’t we convert the Metro into homeless shelters?
It's not that they're afraid of crime; that is a red herring! They're just looking for excuses not to leave their car at home when they can get there by good public transit.
The more people riding the system, the safer it is. Crime thrives in the dark, so the more eyes there are, the less likely someone is to attempt a crime. I think the concept of having more armed guards, more ambassadors, and vendors is a great solution. Not every situation requires somebody who is armed and able to make an arrest. Sometimes a person is just in distress and needs a friendly person to talk with them and get them resources. However, some people will not be convinced with only carrots. That being said, I would really like for us to eventually get to a fareless system. Quality freedom of movement around the city should be accessible to all, regardless of income. That's just not a reality I see us getting to anytime soon, so I'll settle for baby steps to increase safety in other ways for the time being.
Having female only carriages after rush hour like in many modern cities would make it a lot safer for transit users. I see sexual harassment all the time. It is not good to speak up because so many undesirables are armed.
The problem here is that saying we need to fund more mental health resources doesn't fix things if there is no money for such and certainly doesn't solve the problem in the short to medium term.
No money? There’s already enough money, we’re just not funding the programs that actually need to be funded.
@@eazydee5757And which are those?
I never had this irrational fear of public transit because taking public transit buses was my main form of transportation growing up
You're a tall dude
This video is well done. But more cops on transit makes me just as uneasy as the current safety situation on transit, and that's an argument thar we can't ignore. There's real, very valid reasons and both perosonal and community trauma that come from not wanting police in such close proximity to you in everyday situations, especially in south la. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have a coercive force on trains and buses. But real soultions thar bring real, lasting change need to be built with the leagcy of our nation's histort in mind, and how it still affects us today.
Then what do you suggest instead?
So do nothing