“Metro should look at root causes.”ĪCT-LA has suggested Metro make physical improvements to stations that so riders feel safer, such as better lighting, and hiring elevator attendants to watch for illegal activity - something the BART system in Northern California is doing. “This is the most they’ve ever spent on law enforcement contracts and it is not getting them the result they want and need,” De Leon said on Friday, May 5. Some claimed that law enforcement officers just drive around a station and do not get out of their patrol cars. She pointed out that many Metro board members wanted more input on how police and sheriff deputies patrol the system but were voted down when the board approved extending the contracts. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)īut De Leon objects to the large amount being spent on law enforcement. LA Metro Board on Mavoted to extend contracts for law enforcement on the system with LAPD, Long Beach PD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. As far as attending to the homeless, she added: “If we want long-term results we have to connect them to housing.” An LAPD officer patrols Union Station Tuesday, June 28, 2022. “We do see the increase of funding toward mental health services and outreach as the right direction for Metro,” said Scarlet De Leon, campaigns director for ACT-LA, a coalition of 44 organizations focused on transit and housing justice. County as well as transit systems in Philadelphia, Seattle and Portland, for example, is not unique to Metro, calling it “daunting.” But the presence of hundreds of the unhoused, as well as recent incidents of Metro-related crime that led the radio and TV newscasts, has kept away potential riders, he said. Reed said the homeless problem, affecting all of L.A. A Metro survey counted 800 homeless sheltering on the Metro system on any given night. Last month, Wiggins said homeless outreach teams in March connected 1,093 people to services and of those, 15 were placed in permanent housing. “How will pouring more money to improve the system work, and how will we know?” “The important thing is accountability,” he said on Thursday, May 4. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)īart Reed, executive director of The Transit Coalition, which keeps watch over Metro, said foremost on riders’ minds are the troubling sights, sounds, smells and actions, such as people doing drugs on platforms and train cars, and recent stabbings at B (Red) Line stations. A man gets high on the platform of the Westlake/MacArthur Park Metro subway station on Monday, March 13, 2023. “We know riders want our system to be cleaner - and that a cleaner system is a safer one,” said Metro in a prepared statement on the budget. Instead of cleaning trains and buses only at the end of service, they will also be cleaned while in service, Metro reported. The budget includes a $23.6 million increase over last year to hire 24 more full-time custodians and 50 temporary cleaning workers for the B (Red) and D (Purple) Lines, which run through central L.A. – After hearing from the public at town hall meetings about dirty train cars, Metro responded. – The total cost of law enforcement contracts with Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Long Beach Police Department will grow 3.7%, from $169.5 million to $175.8 million. It will increase investment in bus service by 6.6% over last year.īut the larger percentage increases address safety, homelessness and cleanliness: It will provide 8.9 million hours of service - 9.6% more than pre-pandemic levels, and for rail, that comes to 27.5% more than pre-pandemic levels. Metro’s budget allocates $2.4 billion to operate its system, a modest 5% or $113 million increase over last year’s budget. County residents use Metro rail to and from sports and entertainment events. ![]() County’s traditional employment centers have become less busy due to remote work,” CEO Stephanie Wiggins wrote in her budget letter to the board.Īnother approach to attract riders is to enhance weekend ridership, which is rising as more L.A. ![]() “Demand for transit services has changed, especially on weekdays as L.A. As more remote workers return to the workplace, Metro wants to entice motorists with cleaner, more reliable service. LA Metro has crafted a proposed $9 billion budget with a two-pronged goal: increasing ridership to fit a post-pandemic workforce and adding resources that will shift the perception that its transit system is unsafe to ride.Ī look at the numbers in a 2024 fiscal year spending blueprint that runs from July 1 through Jpoints out the mammoth transit agency’s priorities.įirst, ridership on its seven rail systems is at 58% of the pre-pandemic level, while bus use is at 78% of the pre-pandemic level.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |