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I'm David Nazar.

Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the world.

And while most big cities like New York and Chicago or Boston and D.C. built their transportation infrastructure simultaneously with their city, well, L.A. did not.

The result for Los Angeles to get from one part of the county to another, you'd better have a car and several extra hours to sit in horrendous traffic each day.

Or could there possibly be a better option?

Public transportation, for example, and Metro, with its many trains and busses crisscrossing L.A. County and beyond.

Everywhere from downtown L.A., Hollywood and LAX to Beverly Hills, Santa monica and the San Fernando Valley Metro has ambitious goals to get millions of motorists out of their cars and make L.A. Transportation the best in the world a goal not without its challenges.

May well be the that nobody wants.

Los Angeles County has more people living here than any other county in the U.S. About 10 million residents, many of them living in their car, navigating a concrete maze of interstate freeways, highways, streets, roads, avenues, boulevards, bridges.

This concrete jungle spans over 4000 square miles, making L.A. County one of the largest in the world.

Life can be tough out here if you have to commute every day.

Jennifer Vitus knows all about this.

So I'll tell you from my personal perspective, having driven across the county in very long distances, I much prefer to be on a train or bus than I do in a car because the gridlock is stressful.

The gridlock is has an effect on people's mental health.

It has an effect on your body, your back, your mobility.

Ultimately, we know that people who take transit walk more.

We know that it helps them from a health perspective.

To give you an idea of how bad L.A. traffic is, here are just a few examples.

To get from downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley on the freeway in your car, which is about 20 or 30 miles, depending upon which valley city you're traveling to, that commute can take an hour or two in bad traffic to get from downtown L.A. to Long Beach.

About 25 miles can also take about an hour or two.

And don't even try taking the local city streets, thoroughfares like Wilshire or Olympic Boulevards to get from downtown to Santa monica, which is about 15 miles.

That can also take a couple of hours in traffic.

So you get the idea.

These days in L.A., there's no such thing as going against the traffic.

That's why lots of folks are taking L.A. metro trains and busses throughout the county.

Can you blame them?

They hate their cars, hate the horrific traffic, hate the horrendous gas prices.

And so they're riding the rail.

Jennifer Venus is with Metro, the Los Angeles Public transportation System.

We met with Venus in the Little Tokyo Arts District Station, which launched in June of 2023 as part of Metro's Regional Connector project.

That project, which together the metro system of the Metro rail system.

So now with this new station and a few others, you can go from, as you said, to Long Beach with a one seat riding of East L.A. to Santa monica with a one seat ride.

We're also working on projects to go through the sapulpa to pass potentially, and connect the San Fernando Valley down to Los Angeles.

We're extending what's known as a Purple line or D line, and that's going to go farther west than it does now and then.

Ultimately, we're also working on a light rail line for the East San Fernando Valley.

So we do have a very ambitious transit growth plan.

We are obviously preparing for the Olympics, but also preparing to leave a legacy for Angelinos to be able to get around anywhere they want across the county using transit.

It's really sort of connecting and bridging this massive county together, isn't it?

Yes, it really is.

It makes a significant difference for the people.

Los Angeles makes transit a lot more feasible for you to go all over the county, making sure that the people across Southern California can get where they need to go affordably and with ease.

What are they telling you?

What are you.

Hearing?

We also hear that we also do have a large number of customers who rely on us, who rely on us to get where they need to go, that maybe they don't have a car or maybe they can't afford the gas because gas prices are through the roof right now.

So there's a lot of folks who know where they can get that.

They can get across the county using Metro and really, truly appreciate it.

The buildout of the Metro transportation system began a decade ago and continues today.

And as Venus explains, Metro is helping get people to their destinations more quickly, more economically and possibly more comfortably with state of the art engineering throughout the entire system, especially with the trains which quietly run deep underground throughout downtown in the City of Angels, without disrupting anything at street level or the high tech engineering or the many underground elevators, walkways and terminals engineering that helps link massive L.A. County together.

Then there's the unique commissioned artwork of all kinds some pieces, several storeys high that metro strategically placed on the walls all throughout the various stations.

So riders have a fine art museum, ambiance of sorts.

All this as a multiyear metro construction project, further tunnels its way underground and above so that motorists can avoid the growing traffic.

And as L.A. Metro continues to carve out the best possible transportation future for Los Angeles and beyond.

Metro was also met with some challenges.

For some context, we take you back to February 2016.

When I first began reporting about the L.A. metro system.

What we found back then here at the downtown L.A. Metro Station at Seventh and Hope Streets were many people hopping the gate at the entrance and riding for free.

Fare evasion was a bad problem for Metro, and we also found there wasn't much security, if any, out here to keep riders safe.

And people I interviewed back then told me they were nervous.

Don't take our word for any of this.

Just read some of the comments.

According to many of the posts, crime and a lack of security was very concerning.

Some wrote that for the most part, there were no security officials out here, and they personally had witnessed various crimes or were crime victims themselves.

So fast forward to today.

Has anything changed where crime and safety are concerned?

Well, here's what we found.

When I spoke with many riders taking the trains throughout the day.

The majority of riders say they're very worried about their safety.

Now, to be fair, some folks say that things have gotten somewhat better this past year, especially given the fact that there seems to be more of a security presence out here or at least more than a few years ago to help deescalate potentially dangerous situations.

However, almost every person we talked to today agrees that violence, crime and homelessness are serious metro problems.

There's definitely just a lot of people that you're not sure where they're coming from or how they're doing.

So you see a lot of behavior that I have seen, like people just be very argumentative of random fighting, breaking out.

Someone who's on the subway probably more for shelter than transportation.

And I don't know, something could always happen.

Feels that way.

To put it in perspective.

I won't ride the train alone.

I will make come away with somebody else.

Why is that?

What are your concerns?

I lived in Hollywood for a long time and stop with the same things.

People that are making their home there.

It makes it a little bit intimidating to get on and off.

Once you're on the train, it's not too bad.

Like you said, you can kind of just sit far away, whatever.

But the stops themselves are really unpredictable.

I feel like I've seen at least, like two robberies definitely going on the train or like, people fighting, like, on the train itself.

I've seen it from here all the way to Northridge.

So you see some some stuff happening for sure.

There's a lot of homeless people to scare me.

I mean, three days ago, I saw that something was on, right?

Yeah.

I'm concerned about the safety.

For me and for others.

And you have to watch everything around you.

So you have to be cautious about.

Okay, I'm getting to this destination, but you have to be more concerned about your safety and how you want to get to the next destination.

Have you seen crimes out here?

I have seen crime with the drugs on the train.

We can't even catch the bus at Alvarado anymore due to homeless, due to drugs, due to crime.

It's gotten that bad out here.

Yeah.

Whether the public realize it or not.

Every aspect of your experience actually has direct contact understanding of the security of a place.

Robert Gummer is a metro senior executive officer.

Gummer helps lead Metro with everything from emergency management, security operations and law enforcement to system improvements, safety strategies and analytics.

This as he helps facilitate various collaborations and partnerships with local, state and federal agencies to provide Metro the highest safety standards.

He's a former Army sergeant who served in Iraq.

A former FBI agent for nearly a decade and FBI expert on emerging technology.

And more recently, he was with the NFL helping build their global security operations center.

Today, Gummer is with Metro.

A lot of technology already in place.

You know, the very fact that we have two trains that we have operated two times in the headways.

That's technology in motion.

We look at it from a security lens.

It really gets down to situational awareness.

Our ability to respond is based on our ability to actually know what's happening.

So when we look at things, it's taking what we have already.

Our camera systems are enhancing them, finding ways to alert on safety, security.

So far, since you look at the yellow line here, this state beyond the yellow line, ideally those systems will be get alert if someone were to go across to potentially have a safety issue, if someone is on the ground longer than a set period of time or there is, I guess, anomalous behavior.

So they fight or something is breaking out.

We should go to get that alert in real time as opposed to only getting a phone call or someone's, you know, sending attacks or someone's doing whatever to let us know.

We should know that advance.

But to get resources there.

What are the things that you're on the lookout for here?

There's a host of issues that you have on the security front.

You know, some could be an overdose.

Unfortunate drug overdose, some could be a fight, you know, a scuffle, a disagreement between the visuals, unsafe acts, individuals potentially, you know, contemplating suicide.

All of those are issues that are here.

Vandalism is a big thing.

Anything you don't know.

Crime is a major concern for a lot of the riders here.

What are you hearing from the riders and what are you doing to keep them safe?

Because riders are scared today.

Absolutely.

Over the past year, as long as I've been here, there's been a lot of initiatives to retake the system as well.

One thing that we recognize is that there's a lot of resources out there on the system itself.

Resources that nature wants to see, but it won't necessarily work at a cost to each other.

So we start with this multilayered approach, getting feedback from a rider that not everyone has the same things that make them feel safe.

So for some law enforcement presence, it makes them feel safer.

For others, that makes them feel more along for others and care based services or things that they're looking to see for others.

That's not what they are looking for, for law enforcement.

So we recognize that there's not an end all be all solution for everyone.

So we're using all the solutions and have them all in place.

But instead of just having them installed at the station inside the system, they all work in concert for each other, recognizing that your presence does matter.

And that changes the perception that a individual patron is alone in a dark station by themself.

Do we still have challenges with very invasion and focused officer?

Absolutely.

What we're constantly working amongst each other to find those real time solutions that matter.

Jennifer Vito says another metro security solution has been the agency's use of ambassadors all throughout the stations here.

It's a pilot program currently that the board just approved for us to make it a permanent part of the Metro system.

They are unarmed, but very well-trained individuals who are trained in everything from trauma informed response to customer experience to transit operations.

And what they do is they help customers as they go about their journey.

They help Metro by letting us know reporting anything that might they might see for what it could be a mess or it could be a safety situation.

They're deployed alongside our transit security as well as our law enforcement.

It's a multilayered approach to make sure that we can keep our customers safe, but also make sure that they feel safe.

Take me through what your day is like out here.

What do you do each and every day?

Well, each and every day we pretty much just assist the riders.

A lot of riders come from out of the city.

They come from different countries.

Sometimes we it's hard to maybe translate for them.

You know, we're able to escort them to different places.

They need to go around the city.

So definitely also first response is that they get injured if they need any medical assistance.

We're here to help them with that.

So, you know, daily work is basically here for the community.

And as Metro continues its ambitious goal of eventually becoming the best transportation system in the world, and as officials continue to build out of a transportation infrastructure for one of the largest counties in the world.

Despite all the challenges, safety, security and otherwise, riders are also appreciative of Metro's Herculean effort.

I personally think that with the expansion of Metro, that it will get better.

I have a car, but because I'm working in downtown now, I really I can't do a parking here.

It's too expensive.

So now I take the train again.

And now joining me to further the discussion is Stephanie Wiggins.

Stephanie is the CEO of L.A. Metro.

Stephanie, thank you so much for being here.

A return guest on this program.

Wonderful to join you, David.

Thank you so much.

Let's begin with the obvious question.

Why is having the most ambitious transportation plan in the U.S., why is that going to really contribute on so many levels to improving L.A. County and beyond?

Give us an overview as we begin we begin the interview.

Well, you know, transportation is can be so transformative for a community.

And what we're doing in L.A. County with transportation is we're meeting a number of ambitious goals, whether it's dealing with the climate challenges and the environmental benefits of going transit, going on transportation, whether it's as an economic stimulus for development, small business, obviously getting people connected from traveling to jobs, education, health care, all of it is critically important.

And transportation serves as the great connector for that.

When you think about what's happening in L.A. County, as we are recovering from the pandemic, we have the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games coming, which will be car free car free.

You won't be able to drive your car to any of the venues.

It's an enormous opportunity for transportation and public transportation and specifically to really be really a critical component of making sure that L.A. can continue moving.

You know, it's such a component.

I began this broadcast telling our audience that Los Angeles was sort of at a disadvantage.

These other big cities like New York, Chicago, D.C., what have you.

Their transportation system was built out as their city was built.

We were sort of late to the game.

And I was saying, if you don't have a car in L.A., I mean, you're sitting, you know, pulling your hair out two or 3 hours on the freeway, although I said, what if Metro, what if public transportation could be an option?

And it seems like it is becoming more of an option these days, Stephanie.

Well, you know, David, you're right about our historic soul crushing traffic, and I'm glad to share that with L.A. Metro.

We are in the middle of a rail renaissance.

We are building out our network.

Like you said, the legacy systems on the East Coast have been there for quite some time and they have their existing network.

We're building it based upon our local sales tax initiatives that have been passed.

And so we are building out our network over the last 12 months.

We just added about ten new stations, a new rail line to our system.

And every year between now and 2028, we are going to be opening up another major project, whether it's extending our subway system all the way from downtown L.A. to UCLA, where you can get there in 20 minutes instead of today, it takes you a minimum of 90 minutes.

We're adding a connection on our K line to the airport, which any major city, any global city has a direct transit connection to the airport will be opening hours next year.

So it's an incredible opportunity as we are beginning to develop and expand that network so we can be a transit first global city like we see in the East Coast and even across the world.

We have a big problem here with homelessness.

We have a problem with folks who are poor.

Let's be honest.

Poverty.

Can transportation can an improved transportation system, Stephanie, help with the homeless situation, help with low income folks improve their situation?

Absolutely.

We see it happening every day.

First of all, housing is so expensive in L.A. and for more affordable housing, people use transportation to actually be able to get that American dream and own that home and also be able to still have a very good paying job in the downtown areas.

We're also, though, saying that we can play a role and have been playing a role and helping provide more homeless outreach teams to provide access to services.

We are an employer.

We are a significant employer with our construction program where we specifically focus on local hire opportunities, particularly to serve the most vulnerable populations.

And we see that program working to actually provide jobs.

And then, of course, we have an ambitious joint development program where we make property that we have vacant and surplus property that we have available.

We encourage the development of affordable housing, affordable housing to be built adjacent to our transit system.

So let's talk more about that.

You are a transportation organization.

How does a transportation or I really should say who does a transportation agency partner with, in other words, who you collaborate with to really help bring all this housing to Los Angeles?

There is a housing shortage.

So what exactly are you and your collaborators doing?

Be more specific.

Well, specifically, what we've done is we've reached out to the development community and we've talked about our goals for affordable housing.

And so we have a joint development program with the goal of actually developing 10,000 new housing units by 2031, and we want half of them, at least half of them to be affordable housing.

And so what we've recently done talking to the developer community about what it's like to do business with L.A. Metro, they identified some improvements that make that can make it easier for them to really work with us and come on board to be a developer of housing.

And so we've implemented those improvements.

We think we think we can now cut down the time it takes from our our hearing, their proposal to getting to actually a turnkey from ten years to five years.

David.

And so we have a whole new program, our joint development program, where we are inviting a number of developers to actually be pre-qualified with us and opening up our whole portfolio of properties that are available.

And we want these developers to partner with community based organizations, nonprofit developers, and to organize teams to then approach us about exclusive negotiating agreements to actually advance that joint development opportunity.

Stephanie, I've heard you use the term over the years transportation equity, and as a sort of contextual background, you know, you talk to progressives or liberals, equity is their favorite word.

You talk to conservatives and folks on the right, they hate that word.

When you say transportation equity, what do you mean, What does that mean?

It really means fairness.

And as we look at how we invest our dollars to improve mobility, to reduce congestion, to improve the quality of life for residents, one of the things we do is we say we do it with an equity lens, and that is recognizing, okay, where do we have the greatest need and to make sure we're investing where there is the greatest need so that the outcomes and the benefits can be shared regardless of where your zip code is.

We don't want to make you know, we're we're wanting to be intentional so that we make the best investment and the best outcomes and benefits to those who need it the most.

Too often in my line of work, we always thought of equity as geographic equity.

Right.

And you realize if you only look at geographic equity, you look at the outcomes, you actually discover that the area of lower income that has fewer transportation options continues to be in that low ranking because you're not taking into account.

From a fairness perspective, there's an underdeveloped, underinvested area.

And to actually level the playing field, you may temporarily need to direct more resources in that particular area to actually level up and then have a level playing field.

And that's what we're doing in L.A. Metro, and it's working.

This is no easy task.

This is a Herculean project.

I'm an Angeles, though, and whether I'm in the car in downtown Los Angeles or on the west Side in the Beverly Hills area or the west West L.A., UCLA area, Santa monica, it seems there's some type of construction going on somewhere with Metro.

Having said that, this thing has got to be costing a ton of money.

So is this taxpayer dollars?

Is there a public private partnership?

In other words, how much is all this costing and who's paying for it?

We're fortunate that L.A. County residents have voted to tax themselves $0.02 sales tax.

So that's about a cup of coffee per person.

Right.

To build this significant network.

But I really see it as an investment that L.A. County residents are making in themselves in this infrastructure, because that return on their investment is, like I said, reduced traffic congestion, better air quality, less pollution, more job creation, more educational opportunities.

It really is transforming lives, transforming the way people move and really improving both environmental and health outcomes.

And in our final 30 seconds.

Tell our viewers the different ways, the options to take the Metro.

I'm old school.

I just like a ticket of ideas, all kinds of apps.

You can scan your phone there, the tickets.

Give us an overview of that.

We're really trying to make it so much easier to go Metro.

And yes, we have apps.

We have our transit app, we have mobile apps.

You can actually purchase your tap card and put it on your Apple wallet.

Obviously, we have the traditional tap card, which is really fun.

And I prefer because we have all kinds of different designs of fun designs on our tap cards.

You can do it online on metro dot net, on tap to go.

But essentially we have customer centers.

So the old fashioned way, David, is to walk into a customer service center.

We want to be available to people to access their fare any way that's easy for them.

And so we're really excited about that.

And one of our newest programs is with our schools.

And actually we have a program called Go Pass where they get free tap cards through their schools so they only have to go inside their school to get their free tap card.

And it's a great, great program.

Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins, just a quick ten second drop in a shout out to you.

I know you get tons of requests from reporters and journalists like me for interviews.

Too many to be able to accommodate.

So I want to tell you how honored I am.

Thank you for being a guest, Stephanie.

And explaining Metro.

It's a vital situation in transp Thank you.

And everything you do for climate justice and the environment.

Thank you, David.

Thank you, Stephanie.

Now.

For more information about our program, just click on to KLCS.org and then click Contact us to send us your questions, your comments, even your story ideas.

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Contact me there.

You know, I'll get back with you and be sure to catch our program here on PBS or catch us on the PBS app.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I'm David Nazar.