K Line opened its first phase on October 10th

[BOORGONG]

Originally Posted by BGS91762

I’ve been riding the Green (C) line to LAX for almost 30 years and have never had a problem. I hope that some of these people that are so scared never use public transportation anywhere, lol

But, but, the end is nigh, don’t you know? Lol

[vincenze]

Originally Posted by BGS91762

I’ve been riding the Green (C) line to LAX for almost 30 years and have never had a problem. I hope that some of these people that are so scared never use public transportation anywhere, lol

Do you use the subway at night or early morning time? That's when trains are empty and the homeless go down to use them as hotels.

[BGS91762]

Originally Posted by vincenze

Do you use the subway at night or early morning time? That's when trains are empty and the homeless go down to use them as hotels.

I usually use them during the day especially in the morning when most of the people are commuters. Probably why I’ve never had a problem.

[vincenze]

Another woman was killed at the Universal City subway station.
The police says it wasn't the first victim of the murderer.

[vincenze]

The murderer has assaulted Metro passengers many times.

Nowden, who is 45 years old and described by police as homeless, has been in trouble for harassing and attacking Metro passengers in the past.

In July 2019, Nowden was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon while on probation for attacking another passenger earlier that year, the Police Department said Tuesday.

Nowden was arrested several more times this year, including in February when he was arrested for an assault at the same Red Line station, police said.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by vincenze

Another woman was killed at the Universal City subway station.

“I will not ride our transit system by myself. I’m afraid,” L.A. County Supervisor and Metro board member Kathryn Barger said last week as Metro declared a safety emergency after Soza Arauz’s killing and called for stepping up security measures, including the use of facial recognition technology.

But so many people have no other transportation options, and the region does not function without them.

So what are they to do with their fear?

When people can’t commute to and from work, school and the business of the day without fear, when we become suspicious of those around us and the most vulnerable among us are placed in the greatest peril, those failures are our failures.

We can tighten transit security, but we’d do better to create a society in which buses and trains don’t become last-resort mobile shelters for the homeless, mentally ill and addicted.

Arauz Soza 'was stabbed without provocation by a man who grabbed the bag she was holding,' according to L.A. Dist. Atty. George Gascón. Her accused killer has a criminal record that includes a 2019 attack on another Metro train passenger. He pleaded no contest and under terms of probation was ordered to stay away from Metro trains, but how would anyone have enforced such an order?"

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...st-hours-alive

[vincenze]

The murderer has been assaulting passengers every other day.
The police let him go every time.
That's the current policy by the guys who open new multi-billion stations without any safety guards.

[vincenze]

There are more policemen at the subway stations now.

They just shot a person who tried to attack them at Vermont/Sunset.

[CA4Now]

Metro leaders have to commit to major changes to keep the system safe and viable. One of the ideas that agency officials are discussing is creating an in-house transit police department, which should come up for a vote by Metro’s governing board in the next month or two. It’s worth considering as part of a necessary public safety overhaul.

The current arrangement is not working well. For 30 years Metro has largely outsourced security to law enforcement agencies. At the moment, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles and Long Beach police departments split responsibility, making accountability difficult. Some of the agencies patrol the system using officers on overtime shifts, which means they have less day-to-day familiarity with the system and riders.

The recent spate of violence shows there are major gaps in communication and prevention. For example, the man suspected of stabbing Soza Arauz had been banned from Metro previously for assaulting a passenger. But there is no regular communication among the courts, law enforcement and Metro staff to flag people with stay-away orders. It’s a serious problem if a relatively small number of offenders are allowed to continually harass passengers.

Last year Metro hired 48 additional in-house security staffers specifically to ride the buses on routes that have higher-than-average crime and safety concerns. Officers with contracted law enforcement agencies patrol bus stops at the beginning and the end of route, but don’t typically stay on problematic bus lines. Metro officials want to hire more security personnel to increase the number of bus-riding teams...

...This is the moment for Metro to finally develop a comprehensive approach to safety — and put it in place quickly. That means having consistent personnel, whether sworn police officers, security guards or other unarmed staff, who patrol the buses and trains every day, develop relationships with operators and commuters and are empowered to enforce the laws and the code of conduct. Riders deserve safer bus and rail service. And Metro is doomed without it.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...il-service-now

[Cloudy Dayz]

Just an outsider's observation. I think LA Metro Rail has a lot bigger problems to worry about than crime. The crime rate wouldn't stop me from riding it, but practicality would.

Looking at the system map, it's a mess. Let's say I'm in the San Fernando Valley and I want to get to LAX. Looking at the map I would have to take the G Line and transfer to the B Line and then transfer to the E Line and then transfer to the K Line, and then I still wouldn't be at the airport.

Who's going to do that? I haven't tried looking up the schedules, but I'm pretty sure that many transfers would take the better part of a day just to get to the airport. Google Transit doesn't even give directions for the rail lines. It routes you on bus lines to save time. So you have a rail system that will take much longer to get where you are going then the bus would.

I don't know what the solution would be, but I can't foresee that system ever being successful.