Twin Cities Transit Agency Launches Safety Initiatives

Minnesota’s Metro Transit agency is implementing a public safety program aimed at reducing open drug use on transit vehicles, which riders cite as a top reason for feeling unsafe, as well as enforcing fare collection, writes Jared Brey in Governing.

As Brey explains, “Pandemic-era ridership losses reduced social pressure on buses and trains, and led to increased smoking and drug use not just in the Twin Cities but all over the U.S.” To improve safety, Metro Transit launched its Transit Service Intervention Project, which partners with nonprofit service providers to “offer everything from on-the-spot health care from registered nurses to housing assistance to mental health and addiction services.”

A second phase of the plan, the Transit Rider Investment Program, “involves Metro personnel — not police — enforcing payment on transit vehicles by handing out fines and citations to fare-jumpers.”

Sam Rockwell, executive director of Move Minnesota, says the programs could help improve rider perception and increase ridership because, “More than anything else, full trains and buses are what will keep the system feeling safe.”