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Los Angelenos are fleeing public transportation amid violence, open drug-use spike: ‘Horror’

Riders board and depart the Metro Red Line subway train at the Hollywood and Vine station in Hollywood, California.

Los Angelenos are steering clear of riding public transportation as open drug use, violence and fatal overdoses skyrocket, recent reports find.

“We don’t even see any business people anymore. We don’t see anybody going to Universal. It’s just people who have no other choice [than] to ride the system, homeless people and drug users,” one unidentified train operator told the Los Angeles Times

Serious crimes, such as aggravated assault, murder and rape, on Los Angeles’ trains and buses increased by 24% last year, compared to 2021, while other less-serious crimes increased by 14%, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. 

The spike in lawlessness has left many riders unhappy, with LA Metro Safety Officer Gina Osborn reporting last month that the agency had recorded a 99% year-over-year increase in complaints from riders over other passengers possessing or using drugs. LA Metro received 1,385 reports of narcotics use last year alone, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. 

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Riders board and depart the Metro Red Line subway train at the Hollywood and Vine station in Hollywood, California. (REUTERS)

The train conductor who spoke to the Los Angeles Times recounted that he sees “horror” on a daily basis, citing how he witnessed a man masturbating in a seat earlier that day, and often sees “sleepers” — people who get high on drugs and fall asleep on trains — on his routes. 

As of March, at least 22 people have died on public transportation from suspected drug overdoses, which is more than the 21 individuals who died due to various causes in all of 2022, the Los Angeles Times found. 

The violence and drug use has apparently kept Los Angelenos away from public transportation, with ridership on the Gold Line, which links East Los Angeles to Union Station, sitting at just 30% of pre-pandemic levels in January, the outlet found. The Red Line, which runs from Downtown Los Angeles to North Hollywood, saw only 56% of its pre-pandemic levels in January. 

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Travelers walk through Union Station in Los Angeles on Aug. 24, 2022.

Travelers walk through Union Station in Los Angeles on Aug. 24, 2022. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Transit officials have responded to the spikes in crime by pledging $122 million to a program in the last year to deploy 300 ambassadors to public transportation. The ambassadors are

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