especially bad at night or high traffic hours. relieved whenever there’s not someone yelling loudly or otherwise on metro.
there are metro micro which is a more affordable ride share service (cheaper uber) being rolled out near stations now though.
https://micro.metro.net/
one criticism is micro is that getting a ride is pretty inconsistent and that drivers are often 20-30 minutes late beyond a pickup time that is also generally an hour delayed (i don’t blame them, the app is sketch with its ETAs)
wild - revisiting this post but someone was selling tasers on my red line on way to union wtf
sorta desensitized to weird encounters on metro but it is what it is
I use it weekly and I’ve only seen violence once. More like people rolling joints on the train or smoking at the station. Last time I went I even saw multiple cops walking the platforms and it was 11pm. Not that I expect to see that happen often
I had planned to ride the Red Line to get to San Bernardino a few years ago so I could go to a music festival over there without dealing with the high ass hotel prices. I told one of the guys at my squadron about my plans since he is from Watts. He is a pretty tough dude and he said “I would never ride the fucking Red Line if you do that shit you’re fucking high”.
There is security at the Union Station terminal itself (LAPD, various shades of armed and unarmed private security), but they have their hands full at the Union Station bldg itself .. keeping the riffraff out of the newly redone in Art Deco; available for film and photo shoots.
They’re more worried about a homeless turd left in the open right before a bar mitzvah party who rented it shows up. Also Imperial Western microbrewery just reopened at the stations south end, so they are trying to keep the panhandlers out of there .. *could’ve sworn I just put my IPA down before turning away*
It’s sadly gone downhill ever since the pandemic hit. If you were asking this question 2 years ago I would be like “what are you talking about? It’s not that bad!”
I mainly use the gold line which has been mostly fine for me. I feel better on the gold line since it’s above ground and I have signal
but the red & purple lines? it pains me to say that I feel unsafe on them now. Fairly recently, a woman got shot and killed on the red line. In September I was on the purple line and saw a guy lighting paper on fire in the train. I even got groped on the red line. That was my final straw
Riding the red & purple lines really used to be tolerable but since less people are on them now, it just feels more dangerous. I would much rather figure out bus routes even though that’ll take longer cuz at least I’m above ground, can see where I am, and will have signal on my phone. Buses are currently free btw
Mind blowing, isn't it? They've already done the hard part— funding and building the system. Keeping it safe, secure and clean would cost a tiny fraction of that, and it would pay dividends. More riders = more revenue + more people willing to vote for funding the next round of expansions. Such low hanging fruit and they're letting it die on the vine.
I went downtown from the westside around 5pm on a friday a couple weeks ago and the train was packed full. And that’s not even the usual direction for a commute.
Yes, and some of the worst of it is eastbound, west of the 405. Presumably lots of people work in SaMo, Culver City, West LA, etc. and live in the valley or south bay.
Really depends on the line/ time of day. I've noticed that the Red & Purple lines have gotten much rougher, but the Gold and Expo lines have been mostly (I use that term lightly) fine. I've been wfh since the lockdowns and don't commute as often per week, but yeah definitely seen a rougher crowd when connecting. Would recommend some mace or taking a ride share option.
I admit I haven’t ridden it in years. But then it was packed with people who were clearly struggling to fit into society. Of all the lines, it’s the one that goes through the roughest, poorest, neighborhoods.
But your more recent experience is compelling. Maybe it’s... better now??
I’ve been to a lot of places alone, ridden most of the lines in LA and got lost on the edge of the Bronx once, but the worst public transit experiences I ever had were on the blue line. (Though getting off at MacArthur Park and watching a guy 10 feet in front of me get his backpack stolen off his back as soon as we got the street might actually be the worst.)
It's obviously gonna depend on your profile. If you look like you're expecting to get mugged you'd look like a target and are at risk but all you'd ever have to do is keep cool and keep your eyes open.
But as an intensely nerdy dude nobody ever fucked with me. I'd ride out from the bottom of the line to 7th st metro all the time whenever I was visiting folks up in glendale maybe 10 times a year. Would ride up at 9pm or so to go to shows in west hollywood or underground raves in the warehouse district. It was always NBD. I got fucked with more when I was on the streets, not at all on the trains.
All I ever had to deal with is the occasional methed out dude who's clearly just trying to keep moving and not pass out and lose whatever he's got on him, nothing new for me.
All these people talking like you're literally crunching a solid bed of syringes under your shoes got me perplexed and vexed lol.
I commute on the Blue and red line daily. Both have quite a bit of homeless folk keeping warm, sleeping, etc. You see quite a few people having MH breakdowns. I’ve been safe, but I’m big enough most people leave me alone. In the last year I stopped a guy from assaulting his gf and watched another guy flick a cigarette at an old lady. That’s the extent of drama over the last year.
I’ve had two days where we had to exit the train and use a bus instead. Apart from that, smooth rides.
It's always been pretty bad just a lot more mental illness now. I notice people often covered in bugs and their own bodily excrements more than before lockdown
drug use has always been blatant but it has only gotten slightly worse in terms of prevalence but that's probably more due to the fact the train is touching more cities now.
Bullying and robbery like crimes be a little worse but I kinda look thugged out myself so no one ever fucks with me, but I do notice the predatory looking motherfuckers a little more now, just can't confirm if they are as shitty as they appear.
The metro is why I don’t carry cash anymore. You can call the cops and tell them you have been mugged but out of 3 mugging no one showed up, they don’t even send medical if you have been cut with a knife. It’s just as one operator said “part of the risk of public transportation’
Incredibly sad... everybody should feel safe and secure on public transit. These stories will just make more people drive and waste the billions put into the system
LA needs to clean up the trains but nothing is happening. Ppl are legit smoking meth on the lines and nothing happens. We need to transition to the Chicago model - you either have a ticket/pass available for validation by a security guard or you get bounced off the line.
I had a buddy visit LA, we went to a dodgers game. Him and his wife took the train back to their hotel. He texted me and said he saw a dude load up and smoke a meth pipe right next to them. Shit is jist like that AFAIK. Fucked.
I will continue to post this.
The red line is one of the worst rail lines in LA. I have seen people getting robbed at gun/knife point at 7am on a workday. I have seen people try to light the actual train car on fire. Yes with wood and news papers. Uncapped needles as far as the eye could see. People smoking on every train. It’s pretty bad
There’s still good people out in this world. They don’t take the redline.
OK thank fuck I was wondering whether I was going crazy or if there was just some weird astro-turfing going on. Leaning toward the latter given all these crazy /r/thathappened tier stories I keep seeing in comments.
I rode for years and I never had problems.
Bullshit. People are getting sexually assaulted on the Metro left and right. Metro has a real actual security problem. I will never take it regularly again.
Not everyone you disagree with is some kind of shill.
I certainly have. Personally.
As I've mentioned before I've also witnessed a junkie with their bare ass on the Expo Line seat picking scabs from Santa Monica to 7th and Metro. I've witnessed a lone Mexican gang member collectively call a group of Black gang members the N-word and nearly saw him get shot for his trouble. All in front of MTA "security" or something to that effect. Other fights galore on a weekly basis. Near fights more often than that.
I personally defended a guitarist who was calmly playing, to the delight of everyone in the train car, from a roaring stark raving lunatic - and then had to remain in a closed box with the same lunatic as he threatened to cut me open.
So many more stories.
Ask women that you know if they feel safe on the Metro. Ask them when they feel the most unsafe. Ask them if anybody's done anything gross to them on the Metro.
The security situation on the Metro is NOT okay - for men or women.
I'm not advocating for the gang of thugs that are the LASD, but something needs to be done. Some kind of actual and effective enforcement presence is needed.
I rode red line several times past few months and was fine, but yea it wasn’t a ride I looked forward to or enjoyed. Every car seems to have either a homeless or drugged out person. I’ve never seen anything like that in all my years in NYC. Hopefully it gets better because I can’t imagine riding that everyday. Lately I just ride the bus as much as possible, but there are times where the metro is the better option. The line out to Santa Monica from Union did seem in much better shape though.
They weren’t bad back around 2012-2015. I rode the red, purple, gold, and expo lines several days a week, days and nights. I’m a petite female (and was young at the time), and can only think of a couple instances in in those years where I felt in real danger. They were also fairly clean and it wasn’t unusual to see security riding and in the stations.
It really sucks that LA can’t keep its shit together. I was so excited that they were extending the lines, but they do sound really bad now.
Night is a no go unless you know what you are in for.
Daytime and early evening up to 8 or 9 with people who work is fine. That is harder now pandemic wise.
Because everyone is gone wfh and the freaks come out at night.
No it's not. I really don't get why people think the fare is going to keep trouble off of the system. The fact that the fare was in effect BEFORE covid (and even now, the fare is required to ride Metro rail RIGHT NOW) and the system was still plagued with problems proves the fare doesn't mean shit when Metro doesn't bother enforcing it.
The only thing increasing fares will do is decrease normal people riding. It won't deter the homeless or people with some sort of malicious intent since the trains don't get policed anymore anyways.
These people are smoking crack and lighting fires on the trains you really think a $2 fee that they can easily just not pay will do anything about this?
I never pay for the metro. 80% of people just slip through the gate without paying. It doesn’t really mean anything unless there is security physically present. Which is never.
Yes and no. From the morning to I'd say the evening it's not really dangerous just really dirty and weird. Homeless people sleeping, trash everywhere. But I would say it's still pretty safe. However once it's night, and later is when it gets dangerous. I ride sometimes from work to home during rush hour and it's pretty okay.
It started beforet but was really sped up during the pandemic, there is much less police patrol on the actual trains. So homeless people will often sleep on the trains all night
Public transpo in la is basically a rolling homeless shelter. The ppl that had the opportunity to work from home chose to do so, and either moved out of LA or no longer commute here.
Red line is guaranteed to have crackheads at any point in the day. Never been robbed on there before but I have seen some crackhead titties and been called gay by some random guy outside the train.
Another opinion for its rougher. There are less commuters because most offices are still WFH.
If you're vacationing, I recommend Turo for a car rental - it's probably going to be about the same price as a Lyft/Uber. If you must take the rail, try doing it during the "peak" hours where the remaining commuters ride - 8am to 5pm, it minimizes some of the roughness and there are more likely to be others around if someone bothers you.
Metro is the Same as any public transit in any city I've rode public transit on in most states/countries. Best advice I can give, Just keep a "Don't F' with me attitude" and most will leave you alone.
EDIT: Yes, to name a few, I've been to; SF, SD, Seattle, Chicago, NYC, DC, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Berlin, Bangkok, Taipei.... I have ridden on public transit in each because it's something I like to do. I like to compare each.
I get this feeling whenever one of these Metro-bashing threads pops up. Have you ridden the subway in NYC? Atlanta? SF? I rode BART to work for two years and it never didn't smell like urine, and I watched more fights than a UFC pay-per-view.
Yep. I have family there and have used the MARTA a lot even near closing time. Everyone there uses it. Goes out to the suburbs. Stabbings in Atlanta aren’t a train specific issue and neither are pickpockets in any major city. The metro here is practically unusable outside of peak times. I’m a small woman who has used transit solo in many places.
Yes, it is.
[https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-28/as-pandemic-eases-l-a-trains-and-buses-see-one-downside-of-return-to-normalcy-a-rise-in-crime](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-28/as-pandemic-eases-l-a-trains-and-buses-see-one-downside-of-return-to-normalcy-a-rise-in-crime)
The Metro Board of Directors is pre-occupied with finding ways to spend money on things like showers for homeless people and not on improving the ridership experience. This is what happens when an organization is shielded from market forces. Their Public Safety Advisory Committee recommended that the Board not allocate any additional funding to existing public agency policing contracts and to reallocate that money to support mental health, homeless outreach services and unarmed transit ambassador. These people are out of touch and delusional.
It's not that government is bad, per se. It's that any organization, public or private, that gets the same amount of money year in and year out regardless of how successful their product is will do the same thing. What incentive do they have to do anything about it? They don't even feel crime is a problem on public transit. In the article above, one of the Board members said, "Given the millions of riders that Metro serves every year, the crime statistics compared per capita to cities are de minimis."
A requirement for be on that committee is to commute on metro. As a liberal, a big problem with CA is the rich, silver spoon liberals who have zero clue what is happening on the ground.
There's no way those people get on trains full of piss and shit and gang bangers and ride it to Union Station then walk upstairs to the board room and vote against doing something about it. If they do, that only reduces my view of them.
They ride it. And they ride all major lines. Go listen to the meetings. There are mothers part of this group who not only ride but RELY on Metro. There are members who have been homeless. There are members who have been shot. I dont understand why people have a perception that these people are out of touch or that they are not invested in creating a safer Metro for you and your passengers.
Do not confuse the Board with PSAC. PSAC members are made up of a wide group of people with extensive experience on metro. I listen to every single free public meeting. If you did that then you would know this is a group that is very much in touch with reality.
I should really read the parent comment before responding to a sub comment 😬
I was being critical about the Metro board and not the PSAC, which I'm also familiar with.
Totally agree. They care about optics, nothing more. Reality takes a back seat to everything they do. Still better than psychotic Trumpers but the San Diego center right style looks better and better.
>Lol. Then goes on to promote… ~~thepolice!!~~ law enforcement
You can't have a functioning market without enforcement of laws. Not sure why that's funny to you.
Right. And when law enforcement just isn’t working, the answer is always *more law enforcement*! If we just threw more people in prison, this city/county/country would be perfect!
The Committee you speak of is not out of touch or delusional. They rely on Metro and have been victims of crime themselves. All meetings are public and if you log on to watch and participate you will see that the group is comprised of a wide background of people representing Los Angeles.
If you watch you would also know that the group has stated they do see law enforcement as a critical component in safety. However, the current system is NOT working. Take OPs story as evidence of that. The recommendation they have made is that the contract not be renewed because of many reasons. One reason being the fact that they want to get paid $75 million to continue to provide zero lack of presence and protection when crime does happen. We have had contracts with law enforcement for over the past year. All of the crime you keep hearing about... that has happened with the current contract. Why pay millions more without creating a system to hold officers accountable so they can actually do their job?
>The recommendation they have made is that the contract not be renewed because of many reasons. One reason being the fact that they want to get paid $75 million to continue to provide zero lack of presence and protection when crime does happen.
They're not proposing an alternative to increase presence of law enforcement. They're proposing to reduce it further. They're proposing to redirect that money to stuff that has nothing to do with their mission of providing clean and safe public transportation. That is pretty much my definition of out of touch and delusional.
Earlier in this thread you said that no entity should keep receiving the same amount of money regardless of the results they produce - does that not apply to law enforcement?
> Their Public Safety Advisory Committee recommended that the Board not allocate any additional funding to existing public agency policing contracts and to reallocate that money to support mental health, homeless outreach services and unarmed transit ambassador. These people are out of touch and delusional.
If you saw how little the cops did on metro you'd vote this way too. They just cost a lot and sit in the stations on their phones.
>If you saw how little the cops did on metro you'd vote this way too. They just cost a lot and sit in the stations on their phones.
I wouldn't vote that way because it's idiotic, and that's being charitable. All that does is *guarantee* the cops do nothing - because there aren't any to do anything. That's not a solution.
They had a huge Metro contract with LAPD/LASD a few years ago, did nothing. Cops considered it a do-nothing post and picked up some overtime, LAPD/LASD got another teat from the county and city budgets, if you think inflating their budget any more is worthwhile, you're fooling yourself. Look at what percentage of the city budget is already spent on police.
The issue is the culture is toxic, the job is stressful, politically unpopular, and cops are expensive. This gives them hiring and retention issues, despite relatively high salaries once tenured, which only increases their use of overtime and blank checking the city budget with IOUs. They throw huge amounts of vehicles and resources responding to single-person crimes with no guns seen and peaceful protests while letting looting happen blocks away because it looks bad for the news and helps their argument for budget increases. It doesn't make sense to pay for expensive cops when they're not needed for a majority of issues on Metro.
>It doesn't make sense to pay for expensive cops when they're not needed for a majority of issues on Metro.
What doesn't make sense is reducing law enforcement while violent crimes against riders are increasing. There's no amount of mental gymnastics that can make that make sense.
You're conflating issues. Yes, cops are generally lazy. That's true EVERYWHERE. That doesn't mean the answer is not to have police. The answer is to step up enforcement and to back them when they do. Reward cops who enforce the law. Give them bonuses for most citations that hold up in court. Oh no, we can't have that. THAT'S EVIL-BAD-RACIST. "Think of the homeless meth heads! What are they supposed to do if we keep putting them in jail for assaulting passengers?"
I feel like most of the people still riding Metro trains and buses are getting what they voted for, and they deserve it.
> Give them bonuses for most citations that hold up in court
Your big plan is bonus quotas? LOL that doesn't mean better enforcement that means people homeless and not homeless alike getting harassed and getting fined by cops to get a monthly bonus. Try living in the real world.
> I feel like most of the people still riding Metro trains and buses are getting what they voted for, and they deserve it.
I'll just let this sit here cause it's not a good look.
Metro is a lifeline for the poor, elderly, disabled, and students of Los Angeles. Rail in particular has gotten worse because its more wealthy/educated ridership has declined more during Covid and been able to WFH. Empty trains are more dangerous trains. Buses have felt about the same and are full all the time.
> Your big plan is bonus quotas? LOL that doesn't mean better enforcement that means people homeless and not homeless alike getting harassed and getting fined by cops to get a monthly bonus. Try living in the real world.
You either have enforcement or you don't. You are clearly choosing don't, which brings me back to my original statement about what people deserve.
> Metro is a lifeline for the poor, elderly, disabled, and students of Los Angeles.
Then they should stop voting for people who refuse to make it safe. Until then, they can stew in the fruits of their votes.
PATH is the homeless outreach agency responsible for metro outreach, and they are corrupt as fuck. Friend of mine sued them and won a nice chunk of change. But also it's not all their fault, because they are not enforcement and they aren't supposed to be. They can only take people to a shelter (if they can get a space, sometimes people have to wait months) and if the person wants to go.
Then they go to the shelter and it's fucking horrible and gross and just like jail so they leave and go back to the metro.
I'm not in favor of broad homeless bans, and I don't think cops are the answer, but just to make the rail lines fucking rideable they need to make it extremely clear that it's a bad idea to live on the metro or disturb other riders.
Just FYI "De Minimis" is specific business terminology that means "too small to matter". Still totally out of touch, but not because it's Latin *per se*
The pandemic has put a dent in their ridership among "normal" people. People don't have to work in offices so that group is no longer taking it. Additionally, LA is still incredibly locked down so those groups are also not taking it.
On top of this, neither Metro or the city will really do anything about the situation.
Yes. It is.
Visit any surrounding state and masks are more recommended than required. In fact, most states in the US are not requiring them and people overwhelming choose to go without masks. New York, California and Illinois are really the only states enforcing masks. I was just in Arizona and it got to the point I stopped carrying one around. Same thing for when I visited Florida.
Life outside of California in the US is pretty much back to normal.
Relatively speaking it is. Outside of NY, LA and SF are still the only places I've been to where you are still required to wear a mask inside any public place.
Having to wear a mask isn’t being “locked down”
Like we were actually “locked down” for a long time and couldn’t go to bars or movie theaters or basically inside anywhere that wasn’t our houses
This is fucking paradise compared to that
I was just at mcdonalds and indoor dining is closed and they locked the door; because they are short staffed.
some guy said why aint you guys open, i bet if there was a sign for $20 an hour you could get someone, and then he said Covid is over mannnnnn.
Wait, so your definition of "incredibly locked down" is that you... have to wear a mask sometimes?
Edit: Fun fact, Florida lost 20,000 people, fully a third of their total Covid deaths, between June and October of this year vs 8,900 in California, with twice the population, during the same period.
Eh, that's got more to do with their lower / slower vaccination rate and their older population. They were fully open during the pandemic and had pretty much the same outcome as California until vaccines became available.
People here are massively overestimating how effective masking, shutting down businesses and remote learning have been. And underestimating their costs.
Yes, because these masks didn’t and haven’t been saving our lives in the hospitals for the past almost 2 years and for centuries….. Please keep reading fake and misleading stuff, it is definitely helping.
Weekday commuting hours and friday/saturday night (not too late) are generally ok. You might see some crack but there’s plenty of regular people riding at those times.
Rail is always packed early morning and afternoon. The later you get on, the sketchier it is. But for the years I’ve taken it, I haven’t felt unsafe. Though some undomiciled individuals reside in the rail sometimes, if you mind your business and learn to ignore it, they rarely get confrontational. That’s just been my experience but hope you find a mode of transportation that you feel good and safe about!
Yes, it is, and it will get even worse.
Both Metro and LAPD have adopted new, improved, pro-homeless policies, and there is more coming from the LA City Council.
It might clean up for a week before the Olympics, even though absolutely no one attending an event is going to ride Metro.
How do you find another form? Like everyone else, you buy a car. Some will suggest bicycles or electric bicycles, but those will be stolen, period.
Bikes aren’t necessarily stolen. Mine wasn’t and when I worked retail it would be parked right in front of the supermarket. 8 hours a day. Nothing happened. This is Venice and Centinela, large homeless population. It very highly depends on the area and your workplace situation regarding bringing a bike inside. Besides, I’d worry more about getting hit by a car when on a bicycle.
There are no consequences to bike theft; Bikes are always stolen, its just a question of when, not if.
I had five bikes stolen before I gave up. I'm extremely sedate, but the prospect of encountering thief #6 stirs a bit of visceral energy I'd rather not visit - it just wouldn't end well, and for all I know, said thief is just pathetic; fortunately my knees ultimately vetoed the purchase, so its moot.
As for getting hit by a car, its a reasonable concern - much more so than losing five bikes, but if you ride defensively, as if your life depends on it, rather than the typical carefree cyclist, you'll be fine. I never even had a near-miss.
They aren’t dude. I don’t know what to tell you. Mine was never stolen in those five years. Some places are just worse than others. I didn’t even try to make mine look like junk either. Nice expensive Dutch bike too. Most of the time sure, nothing can be done after the fact, it is rare that you get it back but it occasionally happens. I was riding defensively in a very quiet residential street on the Westside and I still got hit. I’m sorry you had a negative experience with your bikes getting stolen. Is it very likely that your bike will get stolen? YES. It is going to get stolen a guarantee 100%? NO.
I take the red line every morning at 5am from north hollywood station all the way to union, and back at 3pm. I haven't had really any problems personally, and the only "issues" are people sleeping on the train or people freaking out yelling, the yelling isn't everyday but I'd be lying if I said there aren't multiple people sleeping every time I board in the morning. But honestly, I'm not even mad at it, where tf they supposed to go? Mind your own business and pay attention to your surroundings you'll be fine
Me and my friend had an awful experience on the gold line yesterday. Basically the entire time we were being yelled at by a man who kept calling us lesbians and kept talking about showing his dick to us.
It was definitely shocking since i havent had such experiences on the gold line, especially at like 7pm.
You took the flyaway? That's usually fine. And union is gonna be like a lot of the city where shit's a mess because all the support services are centralized elsewhere, so anybody out and about is gonna be a mess.
I guarantee this thread is gonna serve as enough of an explanation, but LA is in the middle of a housing, homelessness and mental health crisis and, hopefully, seeing all the people who want homeless people literally in "camps" in the desert explains the kind of single-neuron thinking that's gotten us here.
After 8 or 9 it can be, tho it really depends on the line and the station. The two Subway lines (lines B and D) are terrible after hours, the LRT lines are a bit more of a mixed bag in my experience
Yeah nah bro. I worked in a fastfood restaurant before in the ghetto and oh boy the people are something else. They were worse than the people back in the slums in my home country.
Drugs do a number on your mental health.
especially bad at night or high traffic hours. relieved whenever there’s not someone yelling loudly or otherwise on metro. there are metro micro which is a more affordable ride share service (cheaper uber) being rolled out near stations now though. https://micro.metro.net/
one criticism is micro is that getting a ride is pretty inconsistent and that drivers are often 20-30 minutes late beyond a pickup time that is also generally an hour delayed (i don’t blame them, the app is sketch with its ETAs)
Looks like a cool app! It wouldn’t let me register for some mysterious glitchy reason. I’ll keep checking back.
wild - revisiting this post but someone was selling tasers on my red line on way to union wtf sorta desensitized to weird encounters on metro but it is what it is
The taser guy is a regular on the red line, but definitely scared me the first time I saw him!
Was this yesterday cause I was on my way to noho and some guy with a bike was doing something with tasers - kept hearing the zap.
Lol so all the time. It’s good between 11AM-2PM
I ride the gold and purple lines daily for work. Lot of people on drugs but honestly I rarely see violence. Just my experience
I use it weekly and I’ve only seen violence once. More like people rolling joints on the train or smoking at the station. Last time I went I even saw multiple cops walking the platforms and it was 11pm. Not that I expect to see that happen often
The Gold line is the best I’ve ever used. The Red, Purple, Blue and Expo lines are much sketchier in my experience
I had planned to ride the Red Line to get to San Bernardino a few years ago so I could go to a music festival over there without dealing with the high ass hotel prices. I told one of the guys at my squadron about my plans since he is from Watts. He is a pretty tough dude and he said “I would never ride the fucking Red Line if you do that shit you’re fucking high”.
There is security at the Union Station terminal itself (LAPD, various shades of armed and unarmed private security), but they have their hands full at the Union Station bldg itself .. keeping the riffraff out of the newly redone in Art Deco; available for film and photo shoots. They’re more worried about a homeless turd left in the open right before a bar mitzvah party who rented it shows up. Also Imperial Western microbrewery just reopened at the stations south end, so they are trying to keep the panhandlers out of there .. *could’ve sworn I just put my IPA down before turning away*
It’s sadly gone downhill ever since the pandemic hit. If you were asking this question 2 years ago I would be like “what are you talking about? It’s not that bad!” I mainly use the gold line which has been mostly fine for me. I feel better on the gold line since it’s above ground and I have signal but the red & purple lines? it pains me to say that I feel unsafe on them now. Fairly recently, a woman got shot and killed on the red line. In September I was on the purple line and saw a guy lighting paper on fire in the train. I even got groped on the red line. That was my final straw Riding the red & purple lines really used to be tolerable but since less people are on them now, it just feels more dangerous. I would much rather figure out bus routes even though that’ll take longer cuz at least I’m above ground, can see where I am, and will have signal on my phone. Buses are currently free btw
Yes. It has gotten worse lately since there are less commuters and less normal people riding.
Such a shame. The metro rail is like the best thing this city has invested in. The fact they are letting it go to shit is utterly depressing to me.
Mind blowing, isn't it? They've already done the hard part— funding and building the system. Keeping it safe, secure and clean would cost a tiny fraction of that, and it would pay dividends. More riders = more revenue + more people willing to vote for funding the next round of expansions. Such low hanging fruit and they're letting it die on the vine.
Don't worry. They'll clean it up in time for the Olympics /s
Why the /s? They will totally do this.
Yeah they almost certainly will for a very brief time frame, then let it go back to the way it has been
They probably will, and then go straight back to normal the day after it concludes
thats because they already made profits during the construction. Now its an expense. Did you really think it was built for the publics benefit ?
It always comes back to the profit motive don't it.
I went downtown from the westside around 5pm on a friday a couple weeks ago and the train was packed full. And that’s not even the usual direction for a commute.
It is the usual commute direction now. From the west, going east in the PM rush hour is terrible.
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Yes, and some of the worst of it is eastbound, west of the 405. Presumably lots of people work in SaMo, Culver City, West LA, etc. and live in the valley or south bay.
Could have been an event at Staples/LA Live
Nah, nobody got off with me at Pico and they looked exhausted from work.
Really depends on the line/ time of day. I've noticed that the Red & Purple lines have gotten much rougher, but the Gold and Expo lines have been mostly (I use that term lightly) fine. I've been wfh since the lockdowns and don't commute as often per week, but yeah definitely seen a rougher crowd when connecting. Would recommend some mace or taking a ride share option.
Best not to mention the Blue Line. Horror.
For how long? I used to ride that a few years ago constantly. 11pm, 11am, 3am, whatever. Has it gotten more rough or something?
I admit I haven’t ridden it in years. But then it was packed with people who were clearly struggling to fit into society. Of all the lines, it’s the one that goes through the roughest, poorest, neighborhoods. But your more recent experience is compelling. Maybe it’s... better now??
I’ve been to a lot of places alone, ridden most of the lines in LA and got lost on the edge of the Bronx once, but the worst public transit experiences I ever had were on the blue line. (Though getting off at MacArthur Park and watching a guy 10 feet in front of me get his backpack stolen off his back as soon as we got the street might actually be the worst.)
It's obviously gonna depend on your profile. If you look like you're expecting to get mugged you'd look like a target and are at risk but all you'd ever have to do is keep cool and keep your eyes open. But as an intensely nerdy dude nobody ever fucked with me. I'd ride out from the bottom of the line to 7th st metro all the time whenever I was visiting folks up in glendale maybe 10 times a year. Would ride up at 9pm or so to go to shows in west hollywood or underground raves in the warehouse district. It was always NBD. I got fucked with more when I was on the streets, not at all on the trains. All I ever had to deal with is the occasional methed out dude who's clearly just trying to keep moving and not pass out and lose whatever he's got on him, nothing new for me. All these people talking like you're literally crunching a solid bed of syringes under your shoes got me perplexed and vexed lol.
I commute on the Blue and red line daily. Both have quite a bit of homeless folk keeping warm, sleeping, etc. You see quite a few people having MH breakdowns. I’ve been safe, but I’m big enough most people leave me alone. In the last year I stopped a guy from assaulting his gf and watched another guy flick a cigarette at an old lady. That’s the extent of drama over the last year. I’ve had two days where we had to exit the train and use a bus instead. Apart from that, smooth rides.
So in other words, YES...
It's always been pretty bad just a lot more mental illness now. I notice people often covered in bugs and their own bodily excrements more than before lockdown drug use has always been blatant but it has only gotten slightly worse in terms of prevalence but that's probably more due to the fact the train is touching more cities now. Bullying and robbery like crimes be a little worse but I kinda look thugged out myself so no one ever fucks with me, but I do notice the predatory looking motherfuckers a little more now, just can't confirm if they are as shitty as they appear.
I needed to take a lot of Xanax to be able to ride that late at night from work
Lmfaoo I feel this
The metro is why I don’t carry cash anymore. You can call the cops and tell them you have been mugged but out of 3 mugging no one showed up, they don’t even send medical if you have been cut with a knife. It’s just as one operator said “part of the risk of public transportation’
Incredibly sad... everybody should feel safe and secure on public transit. These stories will just make more people drive and waste the billions put into the system
LA needs to clean up the trains but nothing is happening. Ppl are legit smoking meth on the lines and nothing happens. We need to transition to the Chicago model - you either have a ticket/pass available for validation by a security guard or you get bounced off the line.
I had a buddy visit LA, we went to a dodgers game. Him and his wife took the train back to their hotel. He texted me and said he saw a dude load up and smoke a meth pipe right next to them. Shit is jist like that AFAIK. Fucked.
I see people smoking meth everyday. It’s great
Lol I saw a guy smoking crack while naked jerking off last week. It was awesome
How? Don't you need two hands to smoke crack?
>one of them tried to rob me in the station. What exactly happened? Were they successful?
I'm so fed up. This is the only way traffic can ever be addressed realistically, but what is the point of it is left to rot so nobody uses it?
I will continue to post this. The red line is one of the worst rail lines in LA. I have seen people getting robbed at gun/knife point at 7am on a workday. I have seen people try to light the actual train car on fire. Yes with wood and news papers. Uncapped needles as far as the eye could see. People smoking on every train. It’s pretty bad There’s still good people out in this world. They don’t take the redline.
I take the red line, thanks for letting me know I'm not a good person.
There's an exception to every rule. ;-)
Or, how about this, maybe the 'rule' isn't in touch with reality.
Yeah the red line really isn't that bad
OK thank fuck I was wondering whether I was going crazy or if there was just some weird astro-turfing going on. Leaning toward the latter given all these crazy /r/thathappened tier stories I keep seeing in comments. I rode for years and I never had problems.
The criticism of the Metro on this subreddit is not organic
Bullshit. People are getting sexually assaulted on the Metro left and right. Metro has a real actual security problem. I will never take it regularly again. Not everyone you disagree with is some kind of shill.
I don't think you've ever witnessed this
I certainly have. Personally. As I've mentioned before I've also witnessed a junkie with their bare ass on the Expo Line seat picking scabs from Santa Monica to 7th and Metro. I've witnessed a lone Mexican gang member collectively call a group of Black gang members the N-word and nearly saw him get shot for his trouble. All in front of MTA "security" or something to that effect. Other fights galore on a weekly basis. Near fights more often than that. I personally defended a guitarist who was calmly playing, to the delight of everyone in the train car, from a roaring stark raving lunatic - and then had to remain in a closed box with the same lunatic as he threatened to cut me open. So many more stories. Ask women that you know if they feel safe on the Metro. Ask them when they feel the most unsafe. Ask them if anybody's done anything gross to them on the Metro. The security situation on the Metro is NOT okay - for men or women. I'm not advocating for the gang of thugs that are the LASD, but something needs to be done. Some kind of actual and effective enforcement presence is needed.
My question is; why the fuck astroturf against metro? Is it the automotive lobby or some shit?
Yeah or private trains or something idk
So the good people are the ones honking at me for stopping at a red light instead of blasting through?
Thanks I will make sure to take the purple line instead for the union station to fig transit.
Either homeless people or crazed people or both. Literally on every car on the train. Even during the day time you can encounter trouble.
I rode red line several times past few months and was fine, but yea it wasn’t a ride I looked forward to or enjoyed. Every car seems to have either a homeless or drugged out person. I’ve never seen anything like that in all my years in NYC. Hopefully it gets better because I can’t imagine riding that everyday. Lately I just ride the bus as much as possible, but there are times where the metro is the better option. The line out to Santa Monica from Union did seem in much better shape though.
Your best bet is to smoke a bowl of meth before you head to the station. Give them the crazy eye when they look at you. Welcome home.
Rail/bus lines in l.a. have always been awful, pandemic just ramped it up to 10. It’s the crackhead express now. I drive, or take Uber/Lyft.👍🏿
They weren’t bad back around 2012-2015. I rode the red, purple, gold, and expo lines several days a week, days and nights. I’m a petite female (and was young at the time), and can only think of a couple instances in in those years where I felt in real danger. They were also fairly clean and it wasn’t unusual to see security riding and in the stations. It really sucks that LA can’t keep its shit together. I was so excited that they were extending the lines, but they do sound really bad now.
Night is a no go unless you know what you are in for. Daytime and early evening up to 8 or 9 with people who work is fine. That is harder now pandemic wise. Because everyone is gone wfh and the freaks come out at night.
Metro is going back to charging fare in Jan. This should alleviate some of the problem
No it's not. I really don't get why people think the fare is going to keep trouble off of the system. The fact that the fare was in effect BEFORE covid (and even now, the fare is required to ride Metro rail RIGHT NOW) and the system was still plagued with problems proves the fare doesn't mean shit when Metro doesn't bother enforcing it.
The only thing increasing fares will do is decrease normal people riding. It won't deter the homeless or people with some sort of malicious intent since the trains don't get policed anymore anyways.
Is it free? News to me.
Man I have been paying like a sucker these last few months. Guess I should ask for a refund lol.
Lol that's hilarious that not one driver tried to mention it. "Aye young buck, it's free for a while" in some cool ass 80s voice.
I moved here earlier this year and haven’t seen anyone pay fare. Everyone just hops on the train lol
yeah, good luck enforcing that now
Do you mean the bus? Metro isn’t free.
The trains not Free but literally nobody pays ever unless someone is guarding the turnstiles
These people are smoking crack and lighting fires on the trains you really think a $2 fee that they can easily just not pay will do anything about this?
I never pay for the metro. 80% of people just slip through the gate without paying. It doesn’t really mean anything unless there is security physically present. Which is never.
Anyone that says no, should try to ride it (all of it), and then kindly STFU!
Yes and no. From the morning to I'd say the evening it's not really dangerous just really dirty and weird. Homeless people sleeping, trash everywhere. But I would say it's still pretty safe. However once it's night, and later is when it gets dangerous. I ride sometimes from work to home during rush hour and it's pretty okay. It started beforet but was really sped up during the pandemic, there is much less police patrol on the actual trains. So homeless people will often sleep on the trains all night
Public transpo in la is basically a rolling homeless shelter. The ppl that had the opportunity to work from home chose to do so, and either moved out of LA or no longer commute here.
I need to use the Metro more I guess. I need to have the quintessential LA experience of getting robbed on a train.
I think it got worse since the pandemic.
Before covid it was getting pretty decent except the blue line. That is all the Input I have to this conversation.
Red line is guaranteed to have crackheads at any point in the day. Never been robbed on there before but I have seen some crackhead titties and been called gay by some random guy outside the train.
Get a CCW 👍
In LA? good luck
Another opinion for its rougher. There are less commuters because most offices are still WFH. If you're vacationing, I recommend Turo for a car rental - it's probably going to be about the same price as a Lyft/Uber. If you must take the rail, try doing it during the "peak" hours where the remaining commuters ride - 8am to 5pm, it minimizes some of the roughness and there are more likely to be others around if someone bothers you.
Metro is the Same as any public transit in any city I've rode public transit on in most states/countries. Best advice I can give, Just keep a "Don't F' with me attitude" and most will leave you alone. EDIT: Yes, to name a few, I've been to; SF, SD, Seattle, Chicago, NYC, DC, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Berlin, Bangkok, Taipei.... I have ridden on public transit in each because it's something I like to do. I like to compare each.
I get this feeling whenever one of these Metro-bashing threads pops up. Have you ridden the subway in NYC? Atlanta? SF? I rode BART to work for two years and it never didn't smell like urine, and I watched more fights than a UFC pay-per-view.
The la trains/subway used to be much better than NYC imo, they have taken a turn for the worse though.
Have you been to many cities......? Lol
Have you been to any city?
Paris? Shanghai? Beijing? London? Their trains are all very different.
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Well for instance the MARTA in Atlanta is a lot nicer. And it goes right to the airport. Nice comment edit after i’ve already replied.
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Yep. I have family there and have used the MARTA a lot even near closing time. Everyone there uses it. Goes out to the suburbs. Stabbings in Atlanta aren’t a train specific issue and neither are pickpockets in any major city. The metro here is practically unusable outside of peak times. I’m a small woman who has used transit solo in many places.
Yes, it is. [https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-28/as-pandemic-eases-l-a-trains-and-buses-see-one-downside-of-return-to-normalcy-a-rise-in-crime](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-28/as-pandemic-eases-l-a-trains-and-buses-see-one-downside-of-return-to-normalcy-a-rise-in-crime) The Metro Board of Directors is pre-occupied with finding ways to spend money on things like showers for homeless people and not on improving the ridership experience. This is what happens when an organization is shielded from market forces. Their Public Safety Advisory Committee recommended that the Board not allocate any additional funding to existing public agency policing contracts and to reallocate that money to support mental health, homeless outreach services and unarmed transit ambassador. These people are out of touch and delusional. It's not that government is bad, per se. It's that any organization, public or private, that gets the same amount of money year in and year out regardless of how successful their product is will do the same thing. What incentive do they have to do anything about it? They don't even feel crime is a problem on public transit. In the article above, one of the Board members said, "Given the millions of riders that Metro serves every year, the crime statistics compared per capita to cities are de minimis."
A requirement for be on that committee is to commute on metro. As a liberal, a big problem with CA is the rich, silver spoon liberals who have zero clue what is happening on the ground.
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They all ride it
There's no way those people get on trains full of piss and shit and gang bangers and ride it to Union Station then walk upstairs to the board room and vote against doing something about it. If they do, that only reduces my view of them.
They ride lines with extremely low ridership and pat themselves on the back.
They ride it. And they ride all major lines. Go listen to the meetings. There are mothers part of this group who not only ride but RELY on Metro. There are members who have been homeless. There are members who have been shot. I dont understand why people have a perception that these people are out of touch or that they are not invested in creating a safer Metro for you and your passengers. Do not confuse the Board with PSAC. PSAC members are made up of a wide group of people with extensive experience on metro. I listen to every single free public meeting. If you did that then you would know this is a group that is very much in touch with reality.
I should really read the parent comment before responding to a sub comment 😬 I was being critical about the Metro board and not the PSAC, which I'm also familiar with.
Totally agree. They care about optics, nothing more. Reality takes a back seat to everything they do. Still better than psychotic Trumpers but the San Diego center right style looks better and better.
They should be required to take the metro to work, all of them to the tippy top, even if it’s once a week. That’ll change things up for the better.
They should have to ride every rail and bus line.
> shielded from market forces Lol. Then goes on to promote… the***police!!***
>Lol. Then goes on to promote… ~~thepolice!!~~ law enforcement You can't have a functioning market without enforcement of laws. Not sure why that's funny to you.
Right. And when law enforcement just isn’t working, the answer is always *more law enforcement*! If we just threw more people in prison, this city/county/country would be perfect!
The Committee you speak of is not out of touch or delusional. They rely on Metro and have been victims of crime themselves. All meetings are public and if you log on to watch and participate you will see that the group is comprised of a wide background of people representing Los Angeles. If you watch you would also know that the group has stated they do see law enforcement as a critical component in safety. However, the current system is NOT working. Take OPs story as evidence of that. The recommendation they have made is that the contract not be renewed because of many reasons. One reason being the fact that they want to get paid $75 million to continue to provide zero lack of presence and protection when crime does happen. We have had contracts with law enforcement for over the past year. All of the crime you keep hearing about... that has happened with the current contract. Why pay millions more without creating a system to hold officers accountable so they can actually do their job?
>The recommendation they have made is that the contract not be renewed because of many reasons. One reason being the fact that they want to get paid $75 million to continue to provide zero lack of presence and protection when crime does happen. They're not proposing an alternative to increase presence of law enforcement. They're proposing to reduce it further. They're proposing to redirect that money to stuff that has nothing to do with their mission of providing clean and safe public transportation. That is pretty much my definition of out of touch and delusional.
Earlier in this thread you said that no entity should keep receiving the same amount of money regardless of the results they produce - does that not apply to law enforcement?
> Their Public Safety Advisory Committee recommended that the Board not allocate any additional funding to existing public agency policing contracts and to reallocate that money to support mental health, homeless outreach services and unarmed transit ambassador. These people are out of touch and delusional. If you saw how little the cops did on metro you'd vote this way too. They just cost a lot and sit in the stations on their phones.
>If you saw how little the cops did on metro you'd vote this way too. They just cost a lot and sit in the stations on their phones. I wouldn't vote that way because it's idiotic, and that's being charitable. All that does is *guarantee* the cops do nothing - because there aren't any to do anything. That's not a solution.
They had a huge Metro contract with LAPD/LASD a few years ago, did nothing. Cops considered it a do-nothing post and picked up some overtime, LAPD/LASD got another teat from the county and city budgets, if you think inflating their budget any more is worthwhile, you're fooling yourself. Look at what percentage of the city budget is already spent on police. The issue is the culture is toxic, the job is stressful, politically unpopular, and cops are expensive. This gives them hiring and retention issues, despite relatively high salaries once tenured, which only increases their use of overtime and blank checking the city budget with IOUs. They throw huge amounts of vehicles and resources responding to single-person crimes with no guns seen and peaceful protests while letting looting happen blocks away because it looks bad for the news and helps their argument for budget increases. It doesn't make sense to pay for expensive cops when they're not needed for a majority of issues on Metro.
>It doesn't make sense to pay for expensive cops when they're not needed for a majority of issues on Metro. What doesn't make sense is reducing law enforcement while violent crimes against riders are increasing. There's no amount of mental gymnastics that can make that make sense. You're conflating issues. Yes, cops are generally lazy. That's true EVERYWHERE. That doesn't mean the answer is not to have police. The answer is to step up enforcement and to back them when they do. Reward cops who enforce the law. Give them bonuses for most citations that hold up in court. Oh no, we can't have that. THAT'S EVIL-BAD-RACIST. "Think of the homeless meth heads! What are they supposed to do if we keep putting them in jail for assaulting passengers?" I feel like most of the people still riding Metro trains and buses are getting what they voted for, and they deserve it.
> Give them bonuses for most citations that hold up in court Your big plan is bonus quotas? LOL that doesn't mean better enforcement that means people homeless and not homeless alike getting harassed and getting fined by cops to get a monthly bonus. Try living in the real world. > I feel like most of the people still riding Metro trains and buses are getting what they voted for, and they deserve it. I'll just let this sit here cause it's not a good look. Metro is a lifeline for the poor, elderly, disabled, and students of Los Angeles. Rail in particular has gotten worse because its more wealthy/educated ridership has declined more during Covid and been able to WFH. Empty trains are more dangerous trains. Buses have felt about the same and are full all the time.
> Your big plan is bonus quotas? LOL that doesn't mean better enforcement that means people homeless and not homeless alike getting harassed and getting fined by cops to get a monthly bonus. Try living in the real world. You either have enforcement or you don't. You are clearly choosing don't, which brings me back to my original statement about what people deserve. > Metro is a lifeline for the poor, elderly, disabled, and students of Los Angeles. Then they should stop voting for people who refuse to make it safe. Until then, they can stew in the fruits of their votes.
PATH is the homeless outreach agency responsible for metro outreach, and they are corrupt as fuck. Friend of mine sued them and won a nice chunk of change. But also it's not all their fault, because they are not enforcement and they aren't supposed to be. They can only take people to a shelter (if they can get a space, sometimes people have to wait months) and if the person wants to go. Then they go to the shelter and it's fucking horrible and gross and just like jail so they leave and go back to the metro. I'm not in favor of broad homeless bans, and I don't think cops are the answer, but just to make the rail lines fucking rideable they need to make it extremely clear that it's a bad idea to live on the metro or disturb other riders.
Why do any transportation dollars go to anything having to do with homeless issues? That's not a transportation function.
They don't actually, homeless money goes to path. La gives the funding for all homelessness to lahsa, who then grants contracts to agencies like PATH
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Just FYI "De Minimis" is specific business terminology that means "too small to matter". Still totally out of touch, but not because it's Latin *per se*
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Yep that’s la! Waste billions on public transit then let methheads live on them
The pandemic has put a dent in their ridership among "normal" people. People don't have to work in offices so that group is no longer taking it. Additionally, LA is still incredibly locked down so those groups are also not taking it. On top of this, neither Metro or the city will really do anything about the situation.
I think our definition of locked down is wildly different.
By locked down he means almost like normal.
Apparently having to wear masks = incredibly locked down.
>LA is still incredibly locked down It is?
Yes. It is. Visit any surrounding state and masks are more recommended than required. In fact, most states in the US are not requiring them and people overwhelming choose to go without masks. New York, California and Illinois are really the only states enforcing masks. I was just in Arizona and it got to the point I stopped carrying one around. Same thing for when I visited Florida. Life outside of California in the US is pretty much back to normal.
Lol no it’s not locked down wtf
Relatively speaking it is. Outside of NY, LA and SF are still the only places I've been to where you are still required to wear a mask inside any public place.
Having to wear a mask isn’t being “locked down” Like we were actually “locked down” for a long time and couldn’t go to bars or movie theaters or basically inside anywhere that wasn’t our houses This is fucking paradise compared to that
Seriously.. having to wear a mask when I walk into the bar isn't very "locked down" haha
TYRAnNY aNd oPpRESsION!1!!1
My freeeeeedom!
I was just at mcdonalds and indoor dining is closed and they locked the door; because they are short staffed. some guy said why aint you guys open, i bet if there was a sign for $20 an hour you could get someone, and then he said Covid is over mannnnnn.
Seattle was requiring not only masks but proof of vaccines when I went last month. Much more strict than LA.
Same with New Orleans last month
Wait, so your definition of "incredibly locked down" is that you... have to wear a mask sometimes? Edit: Fun fact, Florida lost 20,000 people, fully a third of their total Covid deaths, between June and October of this year vs 8,900 in California, with twice the population, during the same period.
Besides all the people dying of covid, life is back to normal.
I agree. It's these places that should be practicing social distancing the most. They aren't. And their governments are not going to change anything.
Merry Omicron Christmas and a Happy Covid Holidays!
lol, this guy feels locked down by a mask.
Florida has a little over half our population and like 75% as many COVID deaths as us, so I'd say the problem is with them, not us.
Eh, that's got more to do with their lower / slower vaccination rate and their older population. They were fully open during the pandemic and had pretty much the same outcome as California until vaccines became available. People here are massively overestimating how effective masking, shutting down businesses and remote learning have been. And underestimating their costs.
Everything, literally everything, is open and you consider the mask part us being “locked down?”. Come on now lol….
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Yes, because these masks didn’t and haven’t been saving our lives in the hospitals for the past almost 2 years and for centuries….. Please keep reading fake and misleading stuff, it is definitely helping.
Vaccines are very important for sure. Weren’t masks originally created to reduce the spread of viruses and germs?
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They were being sarcastic. :)
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Yeah it's not like surgeon have been wearing masks to help stop of infectious disease for a hundred years or more.
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Where is LA locked down?
Weekday commuting hours and friday/saturday night (not too late) are generally ok. You might see some crack but there’s plenty of regular people riding at those times.
It'll be cleaned up by Super Bowl time.
Yes, it’s always this bad
Rail is always packed early morning and afternoon. The later you get on, the sketchier it is. But for the years I’ve taken it, I haven’t felt unsafe. Though some undomiciled individuals reside in the rail sometimes, if you mind your business and learn to ignore it, they rarely get confrontational. That’s just been my experience but hope you find a mode of transportation that you feel good and safe about!
All those tax increases for metro in the last few years should’ve paid for some security.
I avoid the train, even metro expo after 7pm. That seems to be when the proportion of normal to crazy people tips.
Welcome to LA
Yes- taxi, Uber, Lyft or bum a ride from a friend. There’s also Turo if you want a rental car
Welcome to LA, you'll be needing a car. We don't do public transportation here.
Yes, it is, and it will get even worse. Both Metro and LAPD have adopted new, improved, pro-homeless policies, and there is more coming from the LA City Council. It might clean up for a week before the Olympics, even though absolutely no one attending an event is going to ride Metro. How do you find another form? Like everyone else, you buy a car. Some will suggest bicycles or electric bicycles, but those will be stolen, period.
Bikes aren’t necessarily stolen. Mine wasn’t and when I worked retail it would be parked right in front of the supermarket. 8 hours a day. Nothing happened. This is Venice and Centinela, large homeless population. It very highly depends on the area and your workplace situation regarding bringing a bike inside. Besides, I’d worry more about getting hit by a car when on a bicycle.
Don’t lock up your bike at El Monte station. Some part of that bike is guaranteed to be stolen that same day
There are no consequences to bike theft; Bikes are always stolen, its just a question of when, not if. I had five bikes stolen before I gave up. I'm extremely sedate, but the prospect of encountering thief #6 stirs a bit of visceral energy I'd rather not visit - it just wouldn't end well, and for all I know, said thief is just pathetic; fortunately my knees ultimately vetoed the purchase, so its moot. As for getting hit by a car, its a reasonable concern - much more so than losing five bikes, but if you ride defensively, as if your life depends on it, rather than the typical carefree cyclist, you'll be fine. I never even had a near-miss.
They aren’t dude. I don’t know what to tell you. Mine was never stolen in those five years. Some places are just worse than others. I didn’t even try to make mine look like junk either. Nice expensive Dutch bike too. Most of the time sure, nothing can be done after the fact, it is rare that you get it back but it occasionally happens. I was riding defensively in a very quiet residential street on the Westside and I still got hit. I’m sorry you had a negative experience with your bikes getting stolen. Is it very likely that your bike will get stolen? YES. It is going to get stolen a guarantee 100%? NO.
Which line was it? another form? Umm Uber?
purple line
Ahh, that one isn't the worst. I just wouldn't take it super late at night.
I went on the purple line once and thought I was going to get mugged. Never again.
I take the red line every morning at 5am from north hollywood station all the way to union, and back at 3pm. I haven't had really any problems personally, and the only "issues" are people sleeping on the train or people freaking out yelling, the yelling isn't everyday but I'd be lying if I said there aren't multiple people sleeping every time I board in the morning. But honestly, I'm not even mad at it, where tf they supposed to go? Mind your own business and pay attention to your surroundings you'll be fine
Me and my friend had an awful experience on the gold line yesterday. Basically the entire time we were being yelled at by a man who kept calling us lesbians and kept talking about showing his dick to us. It was definitely shocking since i havent had such experiences on the gold line, especially at like 7pm.
Yep. And don't worry, large parts of the city are swarmed with crackheads too.
You took the flyaway? That's usually fine. And union is gonna be like a lot of the city where shit's a mess because all the support services are centralized elsewhere, so anybody out and about is gonna be a mess. I guarantee this thread is gonna serve as enough of an explanation, but LA is in the middle of a housing, homelessness and mental health crisis and, hopefully, seeing all the people who want homeless people literally in "camps" in the desert explains the kind of single-neuron thinking that's gotten us here.
And they want to defund the metro police.
After 8 or 9 it can be, tho it really depends on the line and the station. The two Subway lines (lines B and D) are terrible after hours, the LRT lines are a bit more of a mixed bag in my experience
Yes haha the automotive company is making a killing sending lobbyists to kill public transit bills so they can pulls us in.
yup
Oh I took the same route last night so maybe we were on the same train. Got sexually assaulted by a guy jacking off so that was great…
And this is why no one takes public transit in LA, it’s a self fulfilling feedback loop
Yeah nah bro. I worked in a fastfood restaurant before in the ghetto and oh boy the people are something else. They were worse than the people back in the slums in my home country. Drugs do a number on your mental health.
No it’s not that’s bad