Mayor Karen Bass hopes to boost Metro ridership, saying it 'cannot be mostly system of last resort'

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Metro has transportation projects throughout Southern California that are opening or under construction, but they've been plagued by safety issues.

Riders are complaining about cleanliness while homeless people use trains as shelter.

"Metro cannot be mostly a system of last resort," said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. "It must be a system of first choice."

On Monday, Metro's leadership team, including Bass and the new Metro Board Chair, reassured the public that riders are being heard.

"The alarming increase in random attacks on our bus operators highlights the fact that we must do more to keep our employees and customer safe," said said Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins. "Thanks to our board, we're growing our Metro transit security by 45% and we're deploying all the new officers to bus riding teams. We don't have the resources to put a transit security officer on every bus, but by targeting these resources to the places that need them the most, we can make our busses even safer than they are today."

According to Metro data, ridership has increased since pandemic-era lows, but as of June, numbers were still only three quarters of pre-pandemic ridership numbers.

Bass said her top priorities for the city centers around homelessness and public safety, which are also top priorities for Metro.

"We must acknowledge that ridership is still down and the reduction is disproportionally among women riders who say they do not feel safe," said Bass. "Almost 50 people have died on the Metro system just this year, so we are increasing our homeless outreach teams by 50%."

Wiggins said Metro's goal is to place 900 people sheltering on Metro into interim or permanent housing by summer of next year.

In addition to investments in public safety and efficiency, Metro is investing $201 million into its cleanliness efforts, funding 10 roving cleaning teams and hiring more custodians.