Fear to Ride

— Station design makes the light rail a perfect crime scene.

Los Angeles is highly dependent on small cars. The city has one of the worst traffic congestion in the nation as it spreads along the freeways to the surrounding suburbs at infinitely lower densities. Yet, perhaps many people don’t know that it was once a yardstick for public transit development in the United States. For example, in 1946, Los Angeles completed 426 transit trips per capita.” In other words, at two visits per person per day, Los Angeles people at the time relied on the local public transportation system for 58% of their trips. Such startling numbers and achievements would not be out of place in any modern metropolis known for its transit development today. For example, in 2010, in New York City, one of the most transit-developed North American cities, transit trips for people 16 and older accounted for 55.7% of overall commuting trips, still slightly less than Los Angeles in 1946. (New York City 2010 American Community Survey one-year estimates, S0801.) In the 60 years from the middle of the last century to the present, Los Angeles transit has gone from developed to mediocre or even declining. Commuting by car dominates; the city has gone from compact to sprawling and has “earned” the notoriety of a congested city. What happened to public transportation, especially light rail?

Data shows that the average total estimated ridership per day is 0.7 million compared to approximately 3.9 million people, which considerably small proportion of people who would take the Metro in Los Angeles. However, light rail is a relatively safe commuting way. The overall light rail accident rate dropped by nearly 50% to 1.18 accidents per 100,000 train miles. Although taking light rail is a safe commuting method overall, crimes stump most people because the design of light rail station is a petri dish for crimes.

The plummeting transit ridership brings an increase in crimes. According to L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority data., In 2021, through September, there were 470 violent crimes systemwide. In 2020, over the same period, there were 375. In 2019, before the pandemic began, there were 432. Shockingly, violent crimes were up 25% from the same time last year. Robberies have dropped from the previous two years to 165, but reports of homicides, rapes, aggravated assaults, and aggravated assaults on operators were in 2021 than in 2019 and 2020. The skyrocketing crime reports push away the people to take the light rail.

Imagine an older adult shielded herself behind the escalator to see the newcomers before they could see her, which could secure her. This is a small scene in Los Angeles light rail station where the mishaps would come at any time. While on the platform, more than 90 percent of serious crime was robbery or assault against persons because the dim light and free of monitoring give the criminal chances to accomplish their goals. Less severe crimes were predominantly in the access routes to the platform from the parking lot or the street, such as stairs, elevators, or escalators. Ninety percent of less severe crimes were vandalism, and half of these incidents took place on the access routes. Because of the inside design, the weak visibility and low lighting make the platforms a desirable crime scene.

Despite the inevitable situation that people with evil minds on rail would lead to crime, the poor outer design of stations may also be an unstable factor. Take the Greenline, for example; the nine Green Line stations are all located on the adjacent freeway. In such isolated settings, patrons often express safety concerns, particularly at nighttime. Loukaitou and Liggett reveal that the platform with high crimes (Wilmington, Long Beach, Norwalk, Lakewood, and Hawthorne) also had minimal visibility from their surroundings, as they were separated from the adjacent neighborhood fabric by a high-speed freeway and interchange ramps. A careful examination of the physical environment showed some hiding places (under stairways, behind pillars) in the dark underpass stations. In other words, those sections with poor visibility potentially contribute to the crimes because criminals would ​​take advantage of favorable environments. The overall condition of the surrounding neighborhood and the concentration of undesirable places can discourage people from taking light rail because nobody would take the chance to risk their lives.

Moreover, sexual crime against people is also one of the most frequent crimes. A 2020 study by the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies found that 48% of rail users reported instances of sexual harassment. Crimes against people (assaults, robberies) tended to happen primarily at the station platforms, elevators, and stairs. Particular design characteristics of the station were found to be related to platform crime. Underpass platforms with no visibility from their surrounding areas had higher crime incidence. In the face of vicious criminals, some victims in vulnerable positions, such as the elderly, women, and children, have little room to escape. Criminal commits in a “closed and dark” space and relatively easy to run. Because of the platform design, the perfect scene and exit route may contribute to more crimes.

To increase public transportation safety, L.A. Metro has made a tremendous effort which signing a five-year security contract with several law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department, which decreased the occurrence of significant crimes. According to Dave Sotero, LA Metro’s policy dispatches about 314 police officers to patrol the system over 24 hours. This plan is effective because the crime rate in 2020 has reached a five-year low among severe crimes. Crime in the Los Angeles Metro system dropped about 17% from 2015 to 2019. In addition, public transit users rated their satisfaction with personal security at night to be 4.6 and 4.5 on buses and trains, respectively(10 means feeling the safest), according to the 2020 Customer Experience Survey. Compared to the past year’s statistics, there is a sound increase because the proportion of satisfying the Metro service steadily increases. Since this contract was signed in 2017, it is of mystery whether it will continue in the future.

There have been plausible regulations to lighten the severity of the crime, and Gang injunction is one of the achievements. Over the past three decades, many California cities and counties have instituted gang injunctions to reduce gang-related crimes. The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office (LACA) successfully fled 46 gang injunctions between 1993 and 2013. Overall, the size of the effects we observed is substantial, showing total crime was reduced by an estimated 5% in the short-term model and 18% in the long-term model. The results are more significant in assaults, suggesting that gang injunctions reduced assaults by an estimated 19% in the short-term model and 35% in the long-term model.

Additionally, more lights can properly enhance lighting brightness in the subway. In addition to the platform, trains, tracks, and evacuation routes should be increased lighting because the intensity of the light will cause a psychological deterrent effect on criminals so that they have a sense of exposure and do not dare to commit crimes easily. In addition, wider space, especially the platform, entrances and exits, transfer channels, etc., could facilitate the movement of people and evacuation in case of emergency. This movement will increase the cost of the subway, but from a security perspective, the change would be worthwhile.

Practical measurements are the start of implementing light rail as actual infrastructure construction. As light rail has its unique political and economic role, increasing security is one of the most far-reaching steps to encourage more people to take it. Taking the subway will relieve the city’s traffic pressure and change the way people travel in a more eco-friendly means. With the efficient and securing-energy commuting way, every effort to increase ridership would lead to maintaining our sustainable development. Because light rail systems produce 62% less greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than private vehicles, rising ridership through lowering crimes makes a difference in optimizing energy structure and developing an efficient low-carbon economy, preserving a sustainable world.