Translate
Violent, Societal Crimes Decrease for Second Consecutive Year as Customer Satisfaction Reaches Record Highs
Violent Crime Fell 6.7%, Societal Crime Fell 33% in 2025
Metro Launched Safety Hub to Provide Public with Timely Safety Information
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) today announced significant progress in improving safety across its bus and rail system. Violent crime declined for the second consecutive year in 2025, reaching its lowest level since 2021, while customer satisfaction with safety measures reached record highs.
Violent Crime on Metro fell 6.7% percent in 2025 compared to 2024. The agency attributes this reduction to its comprehensive, three-pronged public safety strategy focused on maintaining an engaged and visible presence of uniformed personnel, enhancing access control and strengthening partnerships to address societal issues, that impact the transit environment, including homelessness, addiction and untreated mental illness.
“The Metro Board has made public safety our highest priority, and we are seeing measurable returns on those investments,” said Fernando Dutra, Metro Board Chair and City of Whittier Council Member. “By strengthening access controls, expanding frontline presence, and building a modern Department of Public Safety, we are creating a safer transit environment for riders, employees, and communities across Los Angeles County.”
In addition to the decline in violent crime, Metro also saw a 33% decrease in Crimes against Society, including trespassing, narcotics and weapons. Crimes against Property, which include theft and vandalism, remained relatively flat year-over-year and were likely impacted by increased copper wire theft, which the agency is hard at work developing new interdiction and mitigation to combat those efforts.
In its October 2025 Pulse Survey, Metro surveyed more than 9,000 riders and found that its customer satisfaction rate of 87% is directly attributable to a cleaner and safer system.
“Our riders are telling us they feel the difference,” said Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins. “They see more a visible presence, stronger access controls and teams ready to help. Safety and customer experience go hand in hand, and our 2025 results show that when we invest in both, we create a transit system people can trust.”
Protecting frontline employees remained a top priority. After completing the rapid retrofit of fully enclosed bus operator barriers across its entire bus fleet in 2024, Metro saw a 50.5% year-over-year reduction in bus operator assaults and a 67% decrease in the number of operator assaults that required medical transport.
Building Out the Department of Public Safety
To sustain and accelerate this progress, Metro began establishing its Department of Public Safety (DPS) under the leadership of Chief Bill Scott, a 35-year law enforcement veteran who joined the agency in June 2025 as Metro’s inaugural Chief of Police and Emergency Management. DPS is working to integrate modern transit policing, physical security, crisis intervention, and community-centered engagement into a single coordinated public safety ecosystem.
During Chief Scott’s first six months, DPS formalized its mission, vision and organizational structure that will incorporate modern transit policing strategies, physical security, crisis intervention, and intentional, community-centered engagement across our transit system.
Engaged and Visible Presence
Metro continues to contract with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) to provide contracted law enforcement services across the system. In 2025:
- Officers conducted approximately 123,000 bus boardings, and over 116,000 train boardings.
- Officers performed approximately 500,000 TAP card inspections.
- Enforcement activity resulted in more than 2,300 arrests for criminal activity, including possession of illegal weapons and narcotics, and arrests of individuals with outstanding warrants conducted during TAP card inspections.
The agency further deepened its commitment to an engaged, visible frontline presence. In 2025, the Metro Board approved a collective bargaining agreement to create an in-house Transit Ambassador Department and expand Ambassador coverage to more bus routes and rail lines.
Transit Ambassadors play a vital role in welcoming riders, reporting issues, supporting crisis intervention, and connecting people to resources, complementing law enforcement and security teams as part of Metro’s layered safety approach.
“While we continue to contract with LAPD and LASD, we are simultaneously building a new Department of Public Safety that will balance the enforcement work of sworn officers with transit security officers and care-based services, such as homeless outreach workers, community intervention specialists, licensed social and psychological clinicians, peer support specialists and ambassadors,” said Metro Chief of Police and Emergency Management Bill Scott. “Through this integrated public safety ecosystem, we are transforming safety across our transit system.”
Enhanced Access Control
To address fare evasion and ensure that those on the system are there specifically for the purpose of transit, Metro expanded its TAP-to-Exit pilot program in 2025, requiring fare validation upon exiting at Union Station and Pomona North, bringing the total to four stations. At stations where TAP-to-Exit has been implemented:
- Reported security incidents on the Transit Watch App declined by 40%
- Rider satisfaction with the program reached 95%
Metro plans to expand TAP-to-Exit to seven additional stations in 2026.
In March 2025, Metro launched a pilot program installing reinforced, taller fare gates at 28 high-volume stations. Transit Watch incidents related to security concerns, vandalism/graffiti, and cleanliness declined by 69% at stations with new gates. To date, 22 stations have been completed, with the remainder scheduled for installation by Spring 2026.
Addressing Societal Issues with Compassion
Metro also continued to lead nationally in addressing homelessness, addiction and untreated mental illness on transit through partnerships with local nonprofits. Through its HOME (Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement) program, Metro deploys multidisciplinary teams across the transit system, offering resources in real time to individuals in need.
In 2025, Metro connected thousands of individuals to housing and services, reduced homelessness on the system by 38 percent according to the 2025 Point-in-Time count and helped save 129 lives through Narcan deployment. In 2026, these efforts have been formalized through the newly announced DPS Care-Based Services Division.
Preparing for Major Global Events
As Los Angeles prepares to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Metro continues to strengthen its emergency preparedness and large-scale event capabilities.
In April 2025, Metro opened its 26,000-square-foot Emergency Security Operations Center (ESOC). The facility significantly enhances Metro’s ability to command, control, and communicate during both routine incidents and large-scale emergencies. The ESOC centralizes real-time intelligence, enabling faster decision-making to protect riders, employees and critical infrastructure while minimizing service disruptions.
Throughout 2025, Metro also:
- Conducted dozens of emergency preparedness exercises.
- Expanded cellular connectivity in underground sections of the K Line and Regional Connector.
- Delivered safe, incident-free service for numerous regional and international events.
In addition, Metro also opened its LAX/Metro Transit Center in June 2025. For the first time LAX opened its doors nearly a century ago, travelers can connect to the airport by Metro rail through a station with one of the most robust security footprints on the system. Metro also expanded the A Line from Azusa to Pomona, opening four new stations with taller faregates.
These accomplishments demonstrate Metro’s growing capacity to protect the transit system while keeping Los Angeles County moving safely and reliably.
Safety Hub
As part of the agency’s efforts to increase transparency and accountability, Metro also announced it launched its safety hub on its website this week. The hub is designed to provide information about Metro’s progress on making the system safer and includes a dashboard with detailed statistical information.
About Metro
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is building the most ambitious transportation infrastructure program in the United States and is working to greatly improve mobility through its Vision 2028 Plan. Metro is the lead transportation planning and funding agency for L.A. County and carries nearly 1 million boardings daily on a fleet of 2,200 low-emission buses and six rail lines. The latest October 2025 customer experience survey showed that customer satisfaction has risen to 87%.
Stay informed by following Metro on The Source and El Pasajero at metro.net, facebook.com/losangelesmetro, x.com/metrolosangeles , x.com/metroLAalerts and instagram.com/metrolosangeles.
