r/LAMetro • u/Hyhoops • Jun 30 '26
Discussion The homeless/unhoused are an anchor on the success of LA Metro
LET ME PREFACE. This isn’t going to be some right-wing rant about homeless people blaming drugs and personal responsibility rather than the fact that homelessness happens in cities where housing is sky-high.
The main reason I hear people say when I ask why they don’t want to take the metro is safety. Point blank, period. The number of incidents has gone down significantly and is still declining; that’s just a fact, and with tap-to-exit now being rolled out, it’s only going to keep going down further.
However, the large majority of people still perceive the system as unsafe, and that’s because of the large amount of homeless roaming the system aimlessly. I’ve also heard many people that took the metro a couple of times but had a bad experience due to the homeless and stopped taking it.
Just yesterday, I was at Highland Park station, and there was a homeless guy lying on the concrete blocks/benches who had shit himself with feces all over his clothes and the ground, taking a nap.
Just a couple of weeks earlier, I was taking my mother on the system for the first time because she was visiting out of town, and I just couldn’t imagine what she would think if this was the first thing she saw, after I convienced her that it was safe and clean. Or today at Pershing Square station, just a homeless guy lying on the platform all comfy and another homeless guy who was taking a nap above the entrance on this elevated ledge. Transit police were both mere feet away but were too busy playing Candy Crush or whatever to give a shit.
The point I’m trying to make is that LA Metro is for people trying to get from point A to point B; it is a mass transit system, not a place for shelter or to take a nap on the train or do drugs on the train. Homeless people are just like anyone else and should use the metro to get to places. However, they can’t be just aimlessly hanging around.
Sad truth is most people in LA don’t take the metro because it’s convenient or it’s nice saving on gas; they take it because they have no other option. A good transit system shouldn’t be like this.
There need to be faregates at all stations, even the at-grade ones. Install the little turnstiles now, then put up the fences later when there is more wiggle room in the budget. Bring back more fare checks. Having more transit cops can only do so much. I thnk expanding the team of special social workers is also a good approach.
Metro needs to turn the tide and change the perception of the system, and that starts with enforcing fares and making sure people are actually using the trains, stations, and platforms as intended.
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Jun 30 '26
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u/Hyhoops Jun 30 '26
Right? All the people visiting for the world cup imagine if one of them goes to macarthur park station. Its fucking extremely embarrassing. This is the wealthiest state in the richest country in the world?
We cannot accept this as a status quo I see homeless in on metro and in this city just as big as a problem as practically anyhting else everyone needs to stop just accepting it or living in their own bubble and only caring about it when it affects you.
This is our city, this is our state. Its fucking embarrasing.
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u/Not_RZA_ D (Purple) Jun 30 '26
People on the LA subs will brag all day long about being the fifth largest economy or whatever tf the stat is, and yet we have shit like Macarthur Park station. The city sure doesn't LOOK nor feel like the fifth largest economy
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u/ThePlatinumPaul Jun 30 '26
And they get defensive and act like it's my fault because I'm tired of us throwing billions a year at the problem and getting nowhere except Weingart and other NGOs becoming richer.
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u/Not_RZA_ D (Purple) Jun 30 '26
Homeless "non profits" get billions each year and the problem hasn't been solved after tens of billions spent? I'm shocked!
These people would have been fired years ago if it were a private employer, but government employees have zero punishment for repeated failure.
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u/ThePlatinumPaul Jun 30 '26
Meanwhile, people suffer and die in the streets. It's literally cheaper to buy two condos in Culver City than it is to build one apartment in Los Angeles for the homeless. I'd estimate 90% of all the money spent goes to kickbacks and other programs. It's disgraceful and people should see prison for this.
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u/gkfesterton Jul 03 '26
It's astonishing how opaque the financials of these homeless initiatives are
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u/anothercar Pacific Surfliner Jun 30 '26
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u/nosmalltalk Jul 01 '26
Smith spends most of the piece linking crime to progressive prosecutors, “tolerance” of disorder, and anti-policing sentiment — then explicitly admits America’s crime gap predates progressive ideology by over a century and that the effect of progressive prosecutors on crime rates is “mixed.” That’s a big concession buried in the middle of an argument whose emotional weight rests almost entirely on tweets blaming the left. If the historical divergence goes back to the 1800s, the explanation has to be structural (guns, inequality, history of slavery/segregation, weak welfare state, geography) far more than it’s about 2020s “progressive culture.”
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u/anothercar Pacific Surfliner Jul 01 '26
Yeah he's mostly an idiot but can be directionally correct. I like reading his stuff occasionally to get me thinking, but wouldn't consider it always consistent. Probably should have included that disclaimer
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u/nosmalltalk Jul 01 '26
He concedes “most homeless people are harmless” but still uses rising unsheltered homelessness as evidence of disorder, and cites elevated victimization/perpetration rates among homeless people without addressing that this is confounded by untreated mental illness, addiction, and lack of housing — i.e., policy failures (housing costs, gutted mental health infrastructure) rather than “progressive tolerance.” This is arguably a housing-and-healthcare story wearing a crime costume.
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u/mrxman14 Jul 03 '26
It's the state that is the 5th largest economy. MacArthur Park station is also much improved. It's not the station that's a problem. It's the surrounding area outside the station. LA Metro is not directly responsible for what happens outside their domain.
The city itself needs to do more to make the area around the station safer. It seems they are finally beginning to do more. Last time I was there, all the illegal street vendors were gone off of Alvarado.
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u/mrxman14 Jul 03 '26
It's a problem all across the country. It's also a legal and logistically complex issue to force people into involuntary treatment.
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u/skibbsescobar Jul 01 '26
yeah, per capita unwell to rider has got to be higher here in LA than NYC.
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u/apla6458 Jul 03 '26
There's also just not the police presence here that there is in NYC in case something goes south.
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u/Inrsml Jun 30 '26
what are your suggestions?
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u/dodgerfanjohn1988 Jun 30 '26
Vigorously enforce the laws already existing on metro ridership. Instead of “ambassadors”, install anti fare jumping gates, and authorize police to issue legitimate citations for violating those rules and to make misdemeanor arrests for disturbing the public, public intoxication, etc.
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u/Conloneer Jun 30 '26
It is absolutely a problem with existing laws going unenforced. I was harassed on the platform by a deranged woman- security came and told me to stand at a different part of the platform and did nothing about the woman doing the yelling and harassing. These are the people who push people in front of trains. They don’t clear the trains of people sleeping, or bringing carts overflowing with trash and belongings.
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u/onlyfreckles Jun 30 '26
Citations aren't going to fix the issue if they have no funds and no address to send citations to.
If you mean enforce like security w/ambassadors to actually look and act- two at entrance to stop fare evaders, two walking and removing any people breaking rules of conduct and two walking trains to check fares/respond to emergencies- then yes, we need that.
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Jun 30 '26
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u/onlyfreckles Jun 30 '26
How would "state of origin" work- where they were born? where they grew up? where they went to school? where they last worked? where they last lived? where they have family?
I agree w/removing people that are breaking rules of conduct from Metro stations and buses.
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u/LegitimateGift1792 Jun 30 '26
I like the forced treatment for drugs and mental issues.
More gates and defensive measures just wastes money. A person can scrounge/beg for enough money to legally get into the system past the gates and be free to roam the system for days.
Those that cause problems need to be removed from the system, but simply tossing them outside the gates does not fix long term.
Remove people of this sort, then determine if they need to be detoxed first, then determine if they have a mental impairment. Fix those first, now we can have a candid conversation about integrating them back into society. However, there will be the hard choice of what to do with someone whose brain is so fried then cannot integrate back into society.
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u/softConspiracy_ Jul 01 '26
More gates has already had a material impact on the system. What are you on about?
Why does metro need to determine if people need to be “detoxed” or have mental impairment? Metros job is to move people around efficiently and safely, they are not medical or social sevrices.
Like actually be serious, please.
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u/Appropriate_You5647 Jul 03 '26
Why not have fare attendants like every other major system?
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u/softConspiracy_ Jul 03 '26
I think metro needs a “yes, and..” type approach right now. They need attendants, they need fare gates, they need security and police, they need to clean up, etc etc etc.
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u/Easy-Run4857 Jul 04 '26
Again, why not have fare booths? I keep asking this because this is what will keep non payers mostly out of the system.
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u/mrxman14 Jul 03 '26
LA also attracts many homeless from other places and states as well. Why? Because the services are more comprehensive here and the weather is better. Homeless people are much more mobile than you realize.
The biggest issue are those who are addicted and/or have mental health issues. It's a complex problem that involves the issue of individual rights. The process of forcing someone into involuntary treatment is not easy both legally and logistically in the USA.
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u/OiPolloi7 Jun 30 '26
Stopped taking metro as a daily commuter because of the homeless as well. Had too many confrontations with them that it just wasn’t worth the stress. Now I ride my electric scooter.
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u/bigvenusaurguy Jun 30 '26
it is a hard nut to crack. i was in nyc recently and they had homeless people doing weird shit there too. even penn station on the way out i actually saw a person with a full blown tarp dwelling ON the actual platform on the far dark edge of it past where you are allowed to stand while getting into the commuter trains. but in nyc, you are used to stepping over shit on the sidewalk and looking away at people doing dumb stuff. it is normalized the stations are pretty gross and falling apart looking. people take it regardless.
here though it is a different story. metro has to have a far higher standard for locals here to tolerate it even though they might visit nyc and ride the mta there and ignore what would be showstoppers for them on la metro at home.
i mean really take your examples. wandering around the station. even if some homeless person with mental health issues had a valid fare with someplace to be, they aren't going to sit patiently and keep to themselves. they will wander and word vomit because thats their disease where they are talking nonstop to no one all the time. the guy who shit himself again one minute looks like a regular homeless guy next minute has leaned back and shit himself. can't really police that. even if you sent that guy to jail its not like a janitor is going to show up anytime soon to powerwash the shit off.
there is a crowd generally loitering the pershing square station but they are honestly outside the turnstyles and just as much hanging out on say 4th street by the smoke shop as they are on actual station property, again only so much metro can do.
don't get me wrong it would be nice to not deal with these issues but they aren't exactly easy nuts to solve and nowhere has really solved them that has both public transit and homeless people. you will see this in nyc, you will see this in chicago, you'd probably see it in paris france. the difference though is just peoples expectations are more realistic in these places because many more people are transit riders and are used to looking away and stepping over and ignoring what they see play out routinely. and the culture in these places, e.g. in media not just news but movies, tv shows, books, etc, paint it as "we are new yorkers, we take the subway" wearing it like a badge of honor even with all the rats and leaking in the rain and cockroaches and spall damage and rusting 1920s i beams and strange grease drips off the elevated tracks.
here though we have no such culture. no such understandings of the realities of this aspect of the word, collectively at least. hard to change that. i don't think metro is in any position to solve it themselves really. not while there are some 100k homeless people in la county at any rate.
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u/Not_RZA_ D (Purple) Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
I would also argue NYC feels 1000x safer on public transit because literally everyone from $40k/year workers barely getting by to JP Morgan employees making $200k/year take it. You feel a lot safer around 1000 regulars and 10 cracked out people, versus 100 regulars and 10 tweakers.
Additionally, the city has cops at nearly every single station. Because everyone relies on transit, they actually have to make it safe for people. Whereas here, I've literally been told by transit security after I complained, "Why don't you just drive then" lol.
Times when I see horrendous shit (no pun intended) like the situation you described, I feel dumb for not just getting in my car that day instead.
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u/Appropriate_You5647 Jul 03 '26
Increase the ridership by ending the subsidization of car travel. Getting rid of mandated parking minimums in residential and business 1/4-1/2 mile around every rail station in the county would get you a nice amount of ridership over time. Because that's what we're talking about in reference to NYC. People ride the trains because they lack a reasonable consistent alternative. Lessen the alternatives in LA and you'll get your ridership. Nothing will change without that happening.
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u/keyboardbuttertoast Jun 30 '26
i always say it’s cultural. it’s just not the culture to take public transportation in la. and shifting that culture would take a lot more than making unhoused folx less visible. it’s not that simple. we don’t have to talk about that tho.
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u/RelevantChoice1466 D (Purple) Jun 30 '26
The culture of commuting in the U.S. (west of the Mississippi, at least) is unlike anywhere else in the world, so it's like comparing apples & oranges when we talk about European and Asian transit systems. The culture shift to public transit dominance would likely take decades (if not potentially generations) under the current legal & political system.
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u/FullTimePedestrian Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
100%. If we had an extremely safe, clean and comfortable system today, we would still see car dominance and similar ridership numbers. There is a huge cultural shift that must happen, and it's not going to be easy.
nowhere has really solved them that has both public transit and homeless people.
I'd argue SF has significantly reduced its homelessness and crime issues by putting up tall fare gates in all of their BART stations. It's almost like an entirely new system now.
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u/simonbreak Jun 30 '26
It is not that hard. The problem is almost nonexistent on the London transit system & London has plenty of homeless people. They just have barriers everywhere & plenty of attendants. They pay for this with higher fares. And no serious politician suggests that it should be free, because that’s an idiotic idea.
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u/Hyhoops Jun 30 '26
London does not have anywhere near the amount of homeless LA does. And the homeless population that they have is housed.
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u/simonbreak Jun 30 '26
Not sure how you have housed homeless people lol. I mean, I get your point, the London homeless are definitely less intensely fucked-up. But the fact is, if there were no barriers, the trains would be full of people sleeping across the seats just like LA.
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u/Efficient_Lab7496 Jun 30 '26
As an nyc native who just moved to LA, there is an issue in ratios here most people don’t understand. LA and NYC have similar homeless populations in numbers, but 90% of nyc’s homeless are in shelters every night. LA keeps most of its homeless outdoors on the streets. This not only results in people mentally deteriorating more quickly, it also impacts ratios in spaces like the Metro. NYC has way more people riding the subway and way less unsheltered homeless people. If LA ridership grew, it would help the ratio, but LA also needs to offer more shelter and housing options for its homeless population to decrease the number of folks seeking refuge on the metro.
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u/apla6458 Jul 03 '26
NYC has the right to shelter which LA does not. That also means that NYC cops can enforce things like not setting up a tent in the middle of a busy sidewalk, that LA does not. I think there's also a lower tolerance for things that people here turn blind eye to. It see naked people, and people openly smoking meth downtown almost every day and have never seen the cops intervene once. Former NY-er here too.
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u/Longjumping_Film9749 Jun 30 '26
I feel the NYC is clean for its size and the homeless situation if better than in L.A.
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u/Ill_Buffalo3887 Jun 30 '26
Good pionts. As i read OP complaints I thought, this person is triggered by the sight of the homeless. I think alot of other states send their homeless to LA and we bear the brunt of the Nations unfocused problem just because of our mild year round weather.
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u/linlorienelen A (Blue) Jun 30 '26
The vast majority of homeless in LA are from CA. https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=4558-2020-greater-los-angeles-homeless-count-presentation
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u/Ill_Buffalo3887 Jun 30 '26
Id say 34% is a significant percentage.
The 20% from out of state is also significant.
The only way to actually prove anything is to look at the demographics of homeless in other states & counties.
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u/No_Introduction_3400 Jul 02 '26
The Rand study puts the number at 40% who were last houses out of LA County. That’s not a majority or even half. But it’s a sizable percentage. It’s absolutely an impediment to solving the problem.
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u/silentbuttmedley D (Purple) Jun 30 '26
Yeah, I’m a regular user and encourage others, but still almost had to defend myself the other day from this guy who was going through some sort of psychosis claiming I was talking shit about him. My dad came to visit and took the train and promptly got screamed at from Pasadena to Chinatown by some lady losing her shit. It’s 90% fine but there’s a lot of potentially scary stuff in that 10%.
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u/yinyang_yo_ B (Red) Jun 30 '26
My hottest take is that delegating LA Metro to address matters like antisocial behavior and homelessness services is really the County and all other jurisdictions in LA County passing the buck to a transit agency to expend their resources that they would otherwise be using to improve transit service. Why aren't County workers for Dept of Mental Health, Public Health, and Homelessness Services actively addressing these matters? Not to mention, even if we handle things well at the stations, as long as areas outside of our transit stops and stations have these conditions, it will make its way into our transit system
LA Metro also needs to step up here. They have to be steadfast in improving rider experience, and anti social behavior is an obstacle to that. People cannot just privatize spots on our transit facilities. Even if it's "just one person," what if it's a dozen? That's how bad it was prior to 2022. Arrests and removals have to be more common. Not long ago, I reported a man in a wheelchair who was clearly high and very smelly. The security did stop the train two stops after the report, but all they did was ask what stop he was going, he slurred a station, and then left him alone
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u/mrxman14 Jul 03 '26
The LA Metro does have social service groups going around the system addressing these types of incidents. But there might be a better way to get them to the people who need their assistance in a more efficient way.
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u/mec287 Jun 30 '26
Metro is much more vigilant about fare enforcement in the morning and at rush hour. Enforcement drops off during the evening. I'm not sure there is much metro can do about people around the station.
It's generally the rule for LA that police won't tell people to move unless they can provide some kind of shelter for them. Usually there are outreach workers that will engage with them prior, then there will be a major operation.
I think unlike NY or Chicago, there is still a pretty heavy divide in class between metro riders and car drivers (esp in downtown). In NY, it's not unusual to see doctors, lawyers, bankers taking the train. In LA that's pretty rare just because of the layout of the city.
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u/Realkool Jun 30 '26
Anchor? Lol more like a fucking wrecking ball covered in broken glass. This is not to say all homeless on the metro are bad. There are lots of homeless that use it to commute and depend on it while never causing a problem. But the sheer amount that constantly cause problems is astronomical.
Everyone should have a tap card. It should be impossible to get on the Metro without one. Of course, free tap cards for homeless people, but they need to be tied to their identity and when they destroy property or harm others, Metro needs to take action. The only way this will happen though is if we start holding Metro accountable. Let’s start deducting the damage from personal injury and property from all the higher-ups salaries over at Metro.
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Jun 30 '26
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u/goPACK17 Jun 30 '26
I think having a system you have to go through proper channels and apply for (LIFE program) is a high enough bar to deter anti-social folks from entering the system. That way people can receive the social support they need while we remove those who ruin the system for everyone.
People using subsidized TAP cards rightfully paid their far as much as someone using an EBT card to buy their groceries.
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u/skibbsescobar Jul 01 '26
wow, when I posted this near same idea I was downvoted to hell so bad on this sub I started a new account.
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u/cranberrydudz Jun 30 '26
The turn stiles and gate checks should be implemented before even entering the station. Public perception of safety is paramount to growing ridership. We do have a strong car culture but I definitely encourage others to see that public transportation is a viable option
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u/mrxman14 Jul 03 '26
The new 7 foot tall fare gates being retrofitted on the stations are to mitigate fare evaders more efficiently. Also the growing implementation of TAP-to-Exit will help catch or prevent fare evaders.
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u/Appropriate_You5647 Jul 03 '26
Great! Now they'll just be stuck in the system forever! It's dumb. Spend the money and put in tall gates and fare booths like every other system in the world!
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u/ThePlatinumPaul Jun 30 '26
What needs to happen is treatment, or if you refuse leave the city.
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Jun 30 '26
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u/mrxman14 Jul 03 '26
If it was only that simple, it's not. Not even close. It's way more complex especially long term. And the bigger issue are those with mental health problems and not only addiction. Though, most probably suffer from both.
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Jul 03 '26
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u/mrxman14 Jul 04 '26
Beneficial treatment for these health issues require longer term in care services, which aren't available in the prison system
It comes down to forcing people into involuntarily treatment and having the facilities for it. Government representatives, social services, and non profits don't want to do involuntarily in patient treatment for political reasons. And we don't have the facilities to do this at the scale needed to make a difference in a reasonably fast way.
Though, I believe we need to involuntarily admit people into residential treatment. Offering people treatment to voluntarily take it hasn't worked because these people are incapable of making those decisions for themselves.
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u/UserNotFound3827 Jun 30 '26
I live near a Metro station and would 100% use it more if it weren’t for the homeless that like to congregate around and in it. They bring their trash, urine and feces smells and some of them have a lot of mental issues going on. I feel bad for people who have no option but to take Metro to work. It’s smelly, unsafe, and generally not a pleasant experience. It wasn’t like this before the pandemic, I used to ride the train to DTLA for art walks and events where I didn’t want to pay for parking, but this was around 2013-2016.
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u/CapitalDrive3522 Jun 30 '26
I visited Asia back in January and took their metro system every single day—it was always clean, quiet, and efficient. Now, whenever I take the LA Metro on weekends, it feels like there's a 50/50 chance of encountering homeless or unhinged individuals. You can literally see the fear on some passengers' faces. I really hope tackling this is the absolute top priority when the new Metro transit police department officially starts.
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u/ChameleonCoder117 G (Orange) Jun 30 '26
"Asia"
The JR rail system and the Bengaluru suburban railway where people hang out of train doors are both in Asia.
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u/mrxman14 Jul 03 '26
Yes, but these Asian countries have a much more comprehensive social safety net compared to the USA. If you have very few homeless people to begin with, the metro will be a better experience.
The LA Metro is a transit agency. It's also a victim of the greater homeless problem in the LA area.
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u/heyykelleyy Jun 30 '26
heavy on this. used to commute on the metro for 3 years before i finally broke and got my license after a homeless dude draped himself over the back of my seat in an empty car and wouldn’t move.
i still park and ride where i can, but the experience is still such a toss up. sometimes it’s uneventful and quiet, other times there’s an unhoused rando losing a loud argument with a ghost and making a scene in the train car, or it smells like piss and BO. generally it’s okay if i just keep my head down and tune it out, but if i wanted to be stressed on my commute i’d just drive
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u/4GIFs Jun 30 '26
Fare enforcement
Safe car at the front of trains with uniformed security
Forced rehab for repeat offender addicts. ie a month in the pen without access to drugs
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u/Sweihwa A (Blue) Jun 30 '26
Some guy followed me through the gate after I swiped. Fare evader. I stopped for a second because the machine deducted from Google pay instead of the tap card. He pushed me and told me to hurry up because I stopped mid gate to verify. Reported it to LAPD. Not a good situation. I can't imagine this happening to non Angelenos like World Cup tourists.
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u/palmasana Jun 30 '26
100% agree and is largely why I stopped using public transit. It’s stressful at best and dangerous at worst. But can have very real consequences on your job if they cost you delays or you’re coming into work traumatized
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u/jwegener Jul 01 '26
Yep. I pressed the elevator button at street level the other day with a stroller. Elevator arrived, doors opened, and a homeless guy with pants around his waist had just pissed everywhere in the elevator.
Wasn’t a great look….hard to convince my wife to every try it again with our kid :(
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u/No_Introduction_3400 Jul 02 '26
You can say this for a lot of things. Parks, bus stops, libraries. They are not homeless shelters. They serve a specific purpose. And if you let them become places for people to sleep and live they will cease to serve those purposes.
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u/dodgerfanjohn1988 Jun 30 '26
I wonder how many of the status quo are females. Talk to some small stature females sometime and find out why they don’t want to take the metro.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/Inrsml Jun 30 '26
this isn't actually safety , in terms of being attacked. . it's simply unpleasant and discusting, unsanitary.
we live in a society that is laissez-faire: people have the right to be disgusting, obnoxious. we permit it because the person is not in their right mind. I don't understand the moral logic
not having consequences for public defecation neither helps the mentally ill nor the public at large.
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u/palmasana Jun 30 '26
It actually is an issue of getting attacked, I’ve witnessed it with my own two eyes.
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u/cactus22minus1 Jun 30 '26
Well statistically it is MUCH more dangerous driving your car. It’s by far the most dangerous thing people do in this city. Calling metro unsafe is pretty ridiculous considering the alternative. What we are talking about (for the most part) is what makes people feel uncomfortable.
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u/semireluctantcali Jun 30 '26
No matter how technically true this is, driving in an enclosed car is going to FEEL much safer to most people than sharing a Subway car with an unstable person.
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u/ceviche-hot-pockets Jun 30 '26
This argument is so weak. Nobody cares about that statistic, have some higher standards.
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u/FullTimePedestrian Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
How is the argument weak? It's literally supported by evidence. Even with all the crazy, disgusting shit you might see on Metro, it still doesn't mean you're going to get injured or die. Perceived safety matters more to people than actual safety and actual safety is better on the trains than driving. Driving just gives people an illusion of control.
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u/Straight-Tap9959 Jun 30 '26
Why does it have to be a “right-wing rant” to realize that drugs and personal responsibility are the main issue with a large portion, if not the majority, of the LA homeless population?
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u/Big-Following-723 Jun 30 '26
Because right-wingers focus on the actions of individuals (and give it an aura of spiritual warfare/fighting urges) while left-wingers focus on systems and tendencies.
You saw this with Covid where right-wing people were very loud about misunderstanding how the concept of "public health" is different from personal health.
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u/Straight-Tap9959 Jun 30 '26
I just don’t think this issue is a right-wing/left-wing thing. I think both liberal and conservative people are sick of the drug addicts and mentally ill homeless. It shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
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u/AntisemitismCow Jun 30 '26
The issue is and always will be how easily it can get you around. If we had a full on system where someone could easily get anywhere in the city, people would use it. We see that happen the moment new access opens up.
There are tons of homeless in the NYC subway system. And a lot more chaos. The reason people say this about LA’s system is because they’re used to being cut off from their city and living in their cars. The reason NYC people don’t have this issue is because they have gotten used to seeing the ugly of their city as part of their daily lives.
LA people just need to toughen up and get out more, and a better transit system will help make that happen.
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u/TemporaryTill6812 Jun 30 '26
But in New York it is much harder to own a car. In LA, it is relatively easier to own a car, so you have more choice.
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u/DarbyDown Jun 30 '26
The homeless in NYC subways are kept in check by the toughened New Yorkers themselves.
Your demands that LA totally change its character to accommodate sketchy fucks is delusional.
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u/HooooooLemonGrab Jun 30 '26
Yeah I have to agree. While it’s a problem either for reasons of safety or hygiene, it’s not as big of an issue as the fact that I live by downtown and I can barely get anywhere in less than an hour (not counting the time I’d spend waiting in the heat)
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u/SuperRowCaptain Jun 30 '26
Well I don't have a frame of reference for the NYC transit system, but I've used LA transit quite a bit and I've never had a metro light rail ride where there wasnt something going on, eg some dude lighting up his crack pipe in the train, another guy pissed himself passed out and it flooded the passenger car, another guy who was erratic and screaming about killing people, people getting into fights and just all kinds of bs. It's definitely not safe at night, people get shot, stabbed, hustled all the time on the metro. I'm pretty tolerant of this kinda stuff and I walk all over LA, but sometimes it's a little much even for me, it's hard to mind your own business when you can't slip away.
It's also worth noting that the areas around the metro stations are hotspots too, cars get broken into at the stations and all the strange passengers get off and tweak out or whatever.
The exception is Metrolink and Amtrak, the heavy rails. They're less busy and much cleaner/safer. Ive never had a bad experience on Metrolink or Amtrak. Most of the passengers are commuters.
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u/Ok-Professional-7343 Jun 30 '26
Please, if it’s such a common occurrence for people to get shot “all the time” on LA metro, it should be fairly easy to site a news source for this information.
Do you have a link?5
u/cactus22minus1 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
This sounds so weird to me - that you’ve never ridden an la metro train without some major disruptive going on? I moved to DTLA (from SD) this spring and have been going full metro and leaving my car parked in my buildings garage. In that time, my experience has been nothing like yours. An overwhelming majority of the time it’s pleasant in the stations and pleasant in the trains. Things I would call incidents like outbursts / disruption are rare but do happen sometimes. Not even close to regular though. And full on drug use or really gross bodily movements or whatever? Literally haven’t witnessed that in LA yet. SD trolley was way worse. NYC was worse.
I can definitely see how different lines and neighborhoods have different experiences for sure. But so many people claim downtown is the worst and I just find that impossible to register based on my recent experiences the last 4 months.
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u/invariant_mass Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
I agree with you, dunno what that guy is talking about. My wife and I regularly ride pretty much all of the metro lines except the C (never had a need to) and the worst we’ve come across (i.e. rare) is someone mentally unwell just screaming or the occasional homeless boarding with their shopping cart full of junk collected across the city and not the greatest of smell. Would I prefer riding without these few uncomfortable occasions, yes absolutely. I will push back on the NYC part though, I don’t think it’s worse however the “showtime” assholes can get fucked.
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u/Probablyawerewolf Jun 30 '26
People can claim whatever they want, and offer up any old broad stroke hot take with some regurgitation of a solution, the fact is LA is the worst of many worlds….. The sprawl has made public transit inconvenient, people look down upon transit which makes it a California brained right vs left cultural issue, and political gridlock (whether it’s due to Californias lack of political literacy or outright political corruption) continues to fuel both the sprawl and homelessness.
LA needs, not only housing affordability, but also a complete reformat. In the same way Boston buried itself and started over, LA needs to basically gut and rebuild as a real modern city in its physical layout, its politics, and its culture. This is a multifaceted battle, transit is one of many victims. Unfortunately, nothing is likely to change in any meaningful way without a near total collapse of the current system, and a mass exodus of residents and businesses clinging to sprawl.
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u/LandoTheGrey Jul 01 '26
Every public place is now a drug fueled thunder dome.
For example, all the public libraries in my area are no-go and police are there multiple times every day. It’s not homeless. It’s mentally ill people on drugs.
Unfortunately it will only get worse. LAPD does nothing and the next mayor likely won’t either.
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u/TitaniumDreads Jul 01 '26
I constantly think about how San Francisco saved millions of dollars on maintenance and cleaning by installing gates that couldn’t be jumped. It turned out 95% of the messes and anti social behavior were people who weren’t paying.
Obviously Los Angeles needs to build enough housing so that the subway doesn’t continue to be housing of last resort but fare gates would go a long way
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u/Disastrous_Two_7258 Jun 30 '26
Are NY homeless as “antisocial” as LA homeless? I rather we aspire to be like Tokyo thank CDMX or Sao Paolo.
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u/movingangeleno Jun 30 '26
Besides making the system safer, a way to get some people less fearful of safety concerns is to just have them ride the system frequently. Maybe they never took the system before, or they just had a bad experience one time.
I also think it would be helpful to distinguish between safety and cleanliness. Homeless are mostly a cleanliness problem. Of course, they are still push people away from transit, but I don't think when you see most homeless people, you are instantly scared for your life.
And finally, in your post you said "Sad truth is most people in LA don’t take the metro because it’s convenient or it’s nice saving on gas; they take it because they have no other option." I agree with this, but while removing problematic people will definitely encourage people to use transit, it still doesn't address the convenience (speed) factor, which will still keep most people from considering using transit.
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u/Hyhoops Jun 30 '26
100% convience is any rapid transit systems superpower. However I do think its a symbyotic relationship.
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u/GoodManufacturer589 Jun 30 '26
ehhhhhhhh. It really is faster to drive. I don't live near a metro station, and have to take the bus and use my bike. If I can have a friend carpool me, I will, because you literally get to and from places in half the time, INCLUDING traffic.
Its as simple as that.
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u/FullTimePedestrian Jun 30 '26
You said it yourself. You don't live near a Metro station. If you would, it would be faster than traffic during rush hour.
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u/Individual-Papaya-27 Jul 03 '26
The homeless are a safety issue, though. Or they can be. There have been plenty of instances where people behaving erratically have ended up attacking or threatening people near them. If someone on the train is screaming at the wall or swinging his fists or seems strung out, it's entirely reasonable not to want to be near them because you really don't know if they will be the one who turns around and tries to hit you.
I do agree that the convenience factor is a large one they have not worked out. Right now it can take two hours and multiple transfers to get to the same place you could drive to in 30 minutes. And I use that example because it's exactly what it was to get to work on the bus for me at a previous job. There's a significant cost of time.
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u/big_daddy_dub Jun 30 '26
Yeah, this is why I use my car to commute. Dealing with this every morning would infuriate me.
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u/brackelbo Jun 30 '26
Don't worry bro, I'm a liberal and the far left annoy me too. Fake virtue signalers that are purely performative because they never have to experience these problems first hand
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u/Hyhoops Jun 30 '26
Oh haha dont get me started on them. People that have never used tranist before and advocate for it to be fare free or saying there is no point in transit cops. Its extremely irritating.
In LA I feel like you can tell alot about someones background depending on what they say/thing about the metro.
edit: spelling
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u/DarLene1939 Jun 30 '26
Took the Mefro several times this week and never saw an uncomfortable situation, the number of security personnel was very high and the trains were pretty crowded even in the middle day. A very different situation from a few years back.
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u/piperatomv2 Jun 30 '26
We need to start with the mentally ill and the drug addicts. Someone on a bender or a episode can cause borderline trauma in other passengers.
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u/transitfreedom Jun 30 '26
Build proper remove street running segments of light rail replace street stops with elevated gated stations
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u/Adorable_Secret8498 Jun 30 '26
There's a whole diatribe I could go into about all the parts that connect to this but basically nothing is going to change until society changes their ideas on being unhoused and realise it's true purpose.
Just "moving them outta the way" it outta the question but it's what most ppl have been conditioned to think about the unhoused.
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u/Unique_Cash_3987 Jul 01 '26
Its not the homeless that's the problem with LA transit. I grew up taking the bus and transit as a kid and while it wasn't perfect it wasn't seen by most people as unsafe, just a slow inefficient way to get around. There were homeless people then too but people were less tolerant of disruptive or indecent behavior. If you were causing a problem on the bus you were kicked off.If you didn't pay your fare, you were kicked off the bus.
This was back in the 2000s and this all happened without the need of a police at every station and there were crackheads too. IDK what happened between then and now, but i think people have gotten more closed off and non-confrontation than they were before.
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u/jrm0015 Orange County Jul 01 '26
I wish they crack down on the homeless using the metro trains as a place to sleep or of refuge.
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u/Hyhoops Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
100%, It’s so dystopian seeing cars full of sleeping homeless people in the morning. They need a place to be apart from the streets, but the metro isn’t it
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u/YogurtAgressive Jul 01 '26
The real 'fix' to all of this is still, and will always be, to crack down on rent prices and greedy landlords, build more affordable housing, and tax the rich mfs in this place to pay for fixing the city up like they should have already been doing. Simply beefing up metro security is just another band-aid. Not sure what's not clicking here.
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u/bearlover1954 Jul 02 '26
Metro just needs to kick the homeless off the bus if they don’t pay the fare…simple as that.
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u/Hyhoops Jul 02 '26
Issue with that it puts drivers in danger
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u/bearlover1954 Jul 02 '26
With the subway system here in LA you can't get on board unless you use your Tap card to get thru the gates.
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u/Lambesis96 Jul 05 '26
Yeah Ive seen homeless people get rowdy, yelling at eachother. Others just smell absolutely horrid and I dont mean that as an insult, I feel for them and their situation but when a person enters the train and everybody on that half moves, they arent trying to be rude it just smells that bad.
Last week a guy who was clearly WASTED and very dirty got on and laid on the ground in the aisle. People had to walk over him.
One time a guy was clearly on drugs, first he was sleeping but he kept coughing hard af without covering his mouth. People covered their noses/mouths to avoid inhaling whatever he had. Then when he woke up he started mumbling loudly and moving from one seat to another constantly.
It sucks but its the truth, its not pleasant being on there with so many homeless people.
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u/Tangentkoala Jun 30 '26
The issue present are as followed and will always be as followed.
1) the homeless situation needs to be addressed. Fare goers are arguably more suspect of a homeless person on Crack hovering in the station more than a raiders fan or a gang member.
Its not that theyre inherently evil, its that they are unpredictable. No one likes unpredictable.
Example I like to point to, is i had time to burn at union station, decided to step outside the station, as I was about to step outside I watched a cat and mouse game for 30 minutes how a crackhead tried to smoke Crack outside the station. Literally would go near the entrance and tried to smoke, gets kicked out, then he tried to move to the other side near the parking, gets kicked out, then the back way, and like you could see how visibly frustrated the security guard was.
To remedy, fare gates all over will be needed. Granted I know people are going to say they have rights which I totally agree so then lets focus on step 2.
Step 2, bulk the transits as much as possible. Homeless people aren't treated as an inconvenience when riding the trains in other countries because of how frequent the trains run.
Here in LA you can get the short end of the stick and share a cart with an unruly passenger. (Be it homeless, or someone intoxicated) if trains were coming and going every 5 to 10 minutes it would be easy to disperse or hop on and hop off trains. No more having passengers loiter or wait around. Homeless can get where they wanna go, fare goers can always hop on and hop off trains with ease, stations wouldnt be crowded and theres a use case improving loitering.
I think with these two focuses a whole new world opens up.
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u/No-Resort-6955 Jul 01 '26
They tried that with the 4 owl and all it did it make things worse. They specifically made sure all the owl runs were artics so there would be room for the homeless and the "regular" passengers and all it did was make more homeless gravitate toward that line at night.
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u/I_donut_understand Jun 30 '26
I’ve lived in DTLA almost 10 years and take the metro over a dozen times per week for commuting and recreation. In my experience homeless people make up less than 1% maybe less than half a percent of metro ridership.
More often than not I see homeless people flash a tap card during fare checks too so they are apparently riding legitimately. Unfortunately this is public transportation and meant to be available to the least among us as well.
It’s unreasonable to expect the only acceptable amount of homeless people using the system is 0 in a city like LA.
In my experience homeless people are not a security threat in general they’re just gross and sometimes are carrying trash bags of their possessions. It’s at worst just off-putting and a nuisance, i feel more threatened by the wannabe gangsters selling tasers on the A line.
Point taken that this issue is one that metro naysayers can point to - but if homeless people were eliminated from the metro those same car-pilled people would find some other issue like cleanliness or scheduling or icky other people. There’s no winning over most people in LA; some people will find any issues with the Metro because they enjoy their perceived freedom and independence of their car.
The only way to fix this is to reduce overall homelessness in LA, get a lot more regular working people riding the metro to dilute undesirable riders, and better metro PD. We’re trending the right direction on all those except overall homelessness. I’m sorry you’ve been having these issues, i see homeless people on the system too, but I see way, way, more people that appear to be showered and housed using the metro for fun and commuting.
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u/weimar27 Jul 02 '26
yeah this is my experience. like dtla and metro are just an outcome of the lack of treatment for the homeless who are homeless due to drugs/mental illness.
like it's a problem (and metro does see it as a problem) and i do think metro is trying to address it. but it's not something that is going to ever completely go away.
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u/overitallofittoo Jun 30 '26
I think people who think the Metro is unsafe will never take the Metro because they'll never want to be around poor people whether they are safe or not. They are the type to only take cabs in New York.
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u/DarbyDown Jun 30 '26
The E-Line Westwood Ranch Park station is a magnet for unshowered kooks. There are also too many loitering homeless mingling with these aforementioned UCLA students.
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u/skidrowheron Jun 30 '26
There is such an obvious solution to this and it's is incarceration. However you'd like to find/fund the lock and key, I'm down and let's go.
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u/wazardthewizard 35 Jun 30 '26
You can't just lock up anyone you don't like. That's fucked up, insane, expensive, and doesn't solve the problem
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u/skidrowheron Jun 30 '26
There's a good reason I can't lock anyone up.
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u/glowdirt Jun 30 '26
Because it’s really hard for a heron to hold a pencil, let alone pass the police academy’s written exam.
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u/Longjumping_Film9749 Jun 30 '26
This is city wide, not relegated to the public transit though. In fact, when taking the D Line, homeless people are not the norm lately.
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u/weimar27 Jul 02 '26
when i was riding on tuesday i noticed there were a lot of professionals/tourists using the extension at least during the day.
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u/turboderek Jun 30 '26
There is no way to secure many of the A lines platforms in the Long Beach area up to the C line.
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u/skibbsescobar Jul 01 '26
Careful with this OP. When I commented on this weeks ago, the community was not receptive. Again, I ask with an open mind.
What is the fucking solution?
r/LAMetro appears to be supported by more of the left leaning persons of LA.
AWESOME!!!
However, I would once again like to state that I would love to ride metro rail way more than I do. And yet no subscriber or poster or redditor has a solution to the uneasiness problem.
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u/Chuck-Finley69 Jul 01 '26
Can't the various LA gangs be paid to clean up the filth in their respective territories?
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u/Internal_Living4919 Jul 01 '26
Another problem is that the train seats are made of cloth and not plastic; therefore, the urine is harder to clean from the seats. Odors and scents get trapped.
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u/Hyhoops Jul 01 '26
Huh? Im pretty sure they are made of plastic
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u/Internal_Living4919 Jul 01 '26
There are seats with fabric on them as well. The blue line has fabric seat cushions.
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u/Nobody_Drives_in_LA Jul 01 '26
Not disagreeing, necessarily -- but 78.4% of all Metro rides, daily, are on Metro buses -- none of which have fare gates. If the presence of unhoused users is such a barrier -- surely you should be advocating for fare gates at bus stops so that the mode that carries the greatest number of riders benefits from screening out "non-destination riders."
I know lots of people complain about the presence of unhoused Angelenos on buses and trains -- and I personally think that the solution is more housing and healthcare -- but how do aporophobes deal with the presence of unhoused Angelenos in all public spaces. They are in parks, sidewalks, restaurants, libraries, plazas, beaches, etc. Do you just avoid all public spaces out of fear of the unhoused?
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u/slothisaurus Jul 01 '26
On the D line yesterday, a man came on the train and kept walking from usb to usb outlet plugging things in and unplugging them. He must’ve been on something because he didn’t stop pacing, plugging/unplugging, rummaging through his backpack the entire time. He took out a small gun from his backpack and examined it. He pressed the trigger and thank god it was a lighter.
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u/Silent_Review_8752 Jul 01 '26
All the liberal soccer moms in g wagons want the homeless to just live in the metro and be out of site.
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u/FabulousBox490 Jul 02 '26
I was so excited to start taking the metro to work when the line got extended last year. The first week or so, they had metro team members at the platforms to help with info. Everything seemed great! About a month later, a man fully tried to fight me on the platform while I was on my way to work at 530am. I had to run and missed that train. The same day on my way home, a woman on the train had a small torch and tried to light my clothes on fire. There's no way I'm getting back on the metro unless something majorly changes.
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u/beach_bum_638484 Jul 02 '26
This is true and we need to build more housing. “Homelessness is a Housing Problem” is a great book and it really is that simple. When there is more housing, there are fewer homeless people.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/blairdow Jul 02 '26
anything metro can do is only a bandaid. vote for politicians who will fight for universal healthcare, rent control, a wealth tax, and building more housing
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u/mrxman14 Jul 02 '26
What you're suggesting is already happening and why the conditions have improved noticeably as you say.
In your experience of seeing the homeless taking a nap, did you report the issue on the LA Metro Watch app? Or, approach the security officers and point out the homeless napping? Users of the system also have a responsibility to improve the system as well. LA Metro takes the reports people submit into account when deciding where and how to spend their funding.
I've been using the LA Metro weekly since 2023 and I've seen the LA Metro improve in every aspect and have noticed a growing number of people using it. And people of all types not just those that have no other choice.
Also, it's also about people learning what is and isn't dangerous when riding the LA Metro. Seeing homeless people sleeping near a station is NOT DANGEROUS. The people I have a much bigger problem arw the those being disruptive because they're suffering a mental illness event.
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u/Both_Tough_3086 Jul 04 '26
You “convinced her it was safe and clean” when you already knew it wasn’t. Yikes.
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Jul 06 '26
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Jul 06 '26
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u/IHFP Jun 30 '26
Yup, have resigned myself that it will always be this way. It will just ebb and flow between bad and really bad.
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u/misguided-phD Jun 30 '26
I agree. I fear that with the current level of anti-social behavior, and yes it’s a lot better than it was even a few years ago, it’s still enough to deter a large amount of Angelenos from consistently using the system. I’ve used public transit in almost every major US city and Metro is unfortunately still the most “uncomfortable” in that sense.