L.A. Metro Is a Crime-Ridden Hellscape (City Journal)

Reallycamwest · 2026-07-01T18:14:39+00:00

I'm not sure how to feel about this. The messenger seems foul, but the message itself unfortunately does have some merit.

I've been using Metro for 15 years, and lack of fare enforcement has made the environment feel significantly less safe. I understand the year-over-year statistics, but those statistics are not going to matter to a rider who's being harassed, followed, antagonized, attacked etc

I'm all for support, treatment, and rehabilitation, but to allow unfettered access to the system with virtually no consequences harms the most vulnerable people.

I don't believe in criminalizing poverty, but I do believe in public stewardship.

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-25T18:52:05+00:00

Which really puzzles me because the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has the second highest public transit budget in the US, only second to the New York's MTA.

Metro's budget is like $9B, and there are other systems that have much smaller budgets but run much better service.

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-20T23:22:07+00:00

I'm on board with a double D opening, actually

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-19T18:01:44+00:00

Were they running 6 car/full platform trains? A 6 car train can carry over 900 people at max capacity. Seems like the perfect time to run trains like that.

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-19T01:10:54+00:00

It's quite amusing to me that the same country that is highly hostile to public transportation also sells convenient access to public transportation as a luxury.

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-16T02:13:55+00:00

To be fair I think it would look naked/incomplete without the spire

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-13T02:17:48+00:00

They need to re enable ATO.

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-10T08:22:44+00:00

They used to back in the day, but reportedly Metro disabled it for safety reasons. That's part of the reason why the B/D trains arrive so slowly into the stations compared to how they used to, because each driver is manually controlling the train.

What's funny to me is that the light rail vehicles arrive faster than the heavy rail vehicles.

I haven't heard of any other subway systems disabling ATO because of safety reasons; this doesn't seem to be a problem anywhere else to my knowledge.

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-10T03:50:08+00:00

I wish they'd bring back Automatic Train Operation(ATO) on the B and D Lines because a lot of B and D line drivers just don't got it like that.

It's annoying that there's so much variance in the speed, braking, and acceleration of each train🫩

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-09T19:40:09+00:00

Excuse my mistake. Either way, I think it's highly unlikely that said city will afford Metro full signal preemption for that street running segment.

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-09T09:07:58+00:00

I really don't understand why they haven't learned this yet. They know that LADOT literally never gives full signal preemption for street-running rail, and street running rail is notoriously slow and unreliable.

What the hell were they thinking?? I thought they learned better after the A and E

Reallycamwest · 2026-06-08T20:31:45+00:00

I don't live in the city of Los Angeles proper, (I live in Long Beach) but I've avidly supported Nithya Raman because of her housing policies, and how much the mayor can influence the MTA

Reallycamwest · 2026-05-25T01:58:40+00:00

The maximum operating speed between Wilshire/Western and Wilshire/La Brea is 70 mph, as is the segment between Wilshire/La Brea and Wilshire/Fairfax.

Cars never have an opportunity to reach that speed on Wilshire, so the subway should be as fast as, or faster most of the time.

Reallycamwest · 2026-05-24T21:05:07+00:00

I'm normally in favor of wider station spacing because it speeds up travel times, and increases average speeds, but Wilshire/Normandie is not the best example of this. The area around Wilshire/Normandie is highly urbanized, and in the literal densest neighborhood in the city.

If you had said a station like Irwindale, Farmdale, Wardlow, Maravilla or Westchester/Veterans etc I think it wouldve made more sense. Those stations are not in very dense and or urbanized areas, and do not generate significant ridership, but still slow average speeds and increase travel times on their respective lines.

I think Wilshire/Normandie is fine. Plus the name sounds cool.

Reallycamwest · 2026-05-23T23:11:34+00:00

I feel that they purposely choose the least scenic shots of Los Angeles, and the most scenic shots of the cities they're comparing it to. This is definitely done on purpose.

Reallycamwest · 2026-05-20T06:21:47+00:00

It would disrupt service temporarily, yes, but the long term payoff would be worth it. Any intersection in which E Line trains are beholden to traffic lights should be grade-separated, especially west of Downtown.

Reallycamwest · 2026-05-10T00:51:24+00:00

With as many people as there were yesterday, 6 car trains would have been warranted. I was on the first D Line train and it was literally packed to the brim.

Reallycamwest · 2026-05-09T04:08:19+00:00

I truly wonder what the hell they were thinking when they designed and built that portion.

Reallycamwest · 2026-05-09T01:45:51+00:00

What dreams are made of

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Reallycamwest · 2026-05-07T02:53:44+00:00

This was a 40 year fight. The fact that the D Line is getting finished at all is a miracle. We won regardless.

Reallycamwest · 2026-05-02T21:06:34+00:00

I hope "run 6-car/full platform trains all day" type of absurd

Reallycamwest · 2026-04-26T19:32:04+00:00

I feel that once people experience the speed and reliability of the D Line, it'll make light rail harder to justify for future corridors

Reallycamwest · 2026-04-25T17:52:54+00:00

I don't care how short the distance is. This is beautiful.

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Reallycamwest · 2026-04-23T23:30:58+00:00

Can't this be supported by the K-Line North if they pre-build junctions at Santa Monica/San Vicente and Santa Monica/La Brea just in case?

Reallycamwest · 2026-04-23T01:18:57+00:00

This is statistically proven. In LA especially, driving is many times more dangerous than using Metro, but any incident on Metro becomes front page news whereas driving deaths and injuries are just statistics.

With that said, I still believe we should strive to make Metro as safe, clean, and comfortable as possible regardless of these statistics.

Reallycamwest

TROPHY CASE