Why transit safety in L.A. is also a climate issue


To the editor: The latest assaults on Metro trains and buses are disturbing and disheartening. As somebody who depends closely on mass transit, I puzzled whereas studying in regards to the assaults if I would discover myself a passenger on a bus when one thing like that occurs.

I recall the buses after I first began using in my youth. They had been usually packed and by no means air-conditioned. It by no means occurred to anybody at the moment to have fold-down seats for somebody in a wheelchair, a lot much less two individuals in wheelchairs. The enhancements over time have been putting.

Now, I’m curious in regards to the police response occasions. Most of all, I’m within the restoration of those that had been attacked, one in every of whom was a bus driver. The drivers are all the time courteous, and I all the time attempt to keep in mind to thank them for his or her service.

Extra broadly, it’s dispiriting to assume that we stay in a time when the soundness of Earth’s environment might have been unalterably eroded due to fossil fuels, an erosion that I can’t assist however marvel won’t even exist had been public transportation so secure, handy and splendid, that solely a idiot would drive.

Ronald Webster, Lengthy Seaside

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To the editor: It’s time for Los Angeles and Metro to name within the Nationwide Guard.

I’ve been using public transit right here since 1950. It was a enjoyable and nice solution to journey round L.A, however not anymore. Unruly passengers have taken over the system, particularly on our two subway traces and the sunshine rail traces. The prepare operators lock themselves of their cab and pull down the shade.

All of the whereas, unruly passengers play loud music, eat their lunch, go away their mess on the seats and ground and do regardless of the hell they wish to do whereas on the trains.

It’s time to get powerful and produce again regulation and order on L.A.’s public transit system.

Ralph Cantos, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Metro trains are nonetheless unsafe and unsanitary.

I just lately took a journey on a Metro prepare to Lengthy Seaside. The seats had been filthy and I felt so unsafe that I took an Uber on my return journey.

Seats on trains in different components of the world are chrome steel or onerous plastic, that are straightforward to wash and disinfect. On Metro trains in L.A., the seats are lined in material and filthy.

I noticed mentally challenged passengers strolling up and down the vehicles yelling at passengers. There wasn’t a single police officer or Metro worker in sight. Why would I wish to danger my security and take one other journey on this method?

There needs to be a cop on each prepare who is definitely strolling and patrolling the vehicles.

Andrew Ko, San Marino