Los Angeles is not London and their dreams of getting Southern Californians into public transportation will be a big problem. The goal is safety. If the system is not safe people are not going to patronize the service. We have three years to make an impression for the Olympics, and it will be evident that our politicians will be falling behind. As someone who wants to minimize gasoline consumption and save on parking when traveling to Los Angeles for cultural events, it makes me question the safety for other passengers and the agency operators who drive the buses when you meet some of the clientele that will make choice riders reconsider using public transit.
It is unfortunate that people who utilize public transit must develop awareness when dealing with people who might end up having severe mental disabilities such as schizophrenia where you risk the possibility of being assaulted or deal with uncomfortable voices in the heads of those individuals. Yes, those individuals do deserve access to public transportation, but unchecked mental illness is a liability to the public and the individuals themselves. I want those individuals to be self-sufficient as possible where they will not be on the street such as a communal assisted living facility depending on their condition. I agree that we need to link these people who may be homeless and or have chronic medical conditions to services, but transit should not be an unofficial homeless shelter either.
Gating the rail facilities is a good idea, but it also requires more staffing. If people have the money or access to use the services, they are not as likely to harass other customers and vandalism is reduced. I did see staffing when I went to Union Station at 5pm to take the B line to Hollywood where a service clerk and a security officer were talking to the customer who did not have a TAP card that they are not going to be given access. Staffing ratios need to be looked over in other agencies such as Washington DC and New York City to make sure there is coverage as needed to help reinforce the new policies.
For the night owl routes for Metro and Foothill Transit, I think having security at least on 50% of the trips from 11p-6am would be ideal. And places such as the upstairs bus bay at the transit plaza in Union Station should be patrolled at least once every 30 minutes for 2–3-minute stop over late at night. A call box is helpful, but it’s only one part of the solution.
I used public transportation regularly in my teenage years until my mid thirties until I attained my first car, but if we want to keep up regular ridership and encourage choice riders to give it a chance, we need to push the safety issue big time.