A progress report from Metro Transit

Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

•••

Metro Transit officials reported that their efforts to improve safety in and around buses and light-rail trains are beginning to show results. They said at a Monday news conference that even though crime increased 32% in 2023 over the previous year, criminal activity peaked in January, then declined as the year went on due to increased presence of police and others throughout the system.

And yet officials gave that preview of their quarterly report to the Metropolitan Council, which operates the transit agency, just two days after a 27-year-old man was shot in the stomach Saturday night during a robbery attempt on a Green Line train in downtown St. Paul. The victim’s injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The shooting is the type of headline-producing incident that further damages trust in public transportation. And it indicates that Metro Transit and its partners have more work to do on public safety if they hope to increase ridership. Serious crimes like the weekend Green Line shooting increased nearly 20% systemwide in 2023 over the previous year, Metro Transit statistics show.

Officials reported that systemwide ridership grew by about 15% in 2023 and is now nearly 60% of pre-pandemic levels. “I want to emphasize that we are recovering and coming out of COVID, so ridership is also up,” Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales III said. No doubt a large percentage of the decline in ridership is due to remote work, but potential riders also want to feel safe when boarding buses and trains.

In November, the Star Tribune Editorial Board project “Systemic insecurity: Saving Twin Cities light rail” looked at community concerns about public safety that had undermined the LRT system’s viability. As part of that project, the board made eight key recommendations for improvement.

They noted that Metro Transit is still struggling to hire police and community service officers (CSOs). The agency currently has 113 officers but is authorized for 171. Five new officers will be sworn in next week, and 20 people are on track to become CSOs. In the past few months, CSOs have recorded more than 12,000 fare inspections and issued more than 800 citations.

The agency now has contracts with several private security groups, some of which are on patrol 24/7 at the seven most troubled stations — including the Lake Street/Midtown and Franklin Avenue LRT stations and the Chicago Lake Transit Center and Uptown Transit Station in Minneapolis, as well as the Brooklyn Center Transit Center.

There are 10 community-based organizations working on transit to address issues including homelessness and substance abuse. Since last fall, those groups have made more than 700 contacts and made 300 referrals to shelter/housing, treatment and other services. In a recent editorial, the Star Tribune Editorial Board noted the progress made on fare enforcement.

One of the Star Tribune Editorial Board’s recommendations — enclosing LRT stations to enhance security as St. Louis, Mo., is doing — remains under consideration, Kandaras said, with a consultant’s recommendations expected later this year.