Transit Briefs: LACMTA, LIRR, PATH, SEPTA, Sound Transit

The LACMTA Board of Directors on June 28 unanimously approved the establishment of the Transit Community Public Safety Department (TCPSD), whose objectives will be “increased visibility, accountability and consistent service delivery,” which LACMTA said will result in a safer transit system for employees and riders. (LACMTA Photograph)

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) is establishing an in-house transit police department. Also, MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) completes two station accessibility projects; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s (PANY/NJ) PATH surpasses 5 million riders in May, the first time since the pandemic’s onset; Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) Board approves a wayfinding signage contract; and Seattle’s Sound Transit advances the Link Operations and Maintenance Facility South project.

LACMTA 

The LACMTA Board of Directors on June 28 unanimously approved the establishment of the Transit Community Public Safety Department (TCPSD), whose objectives will be “increased visibility, accountability and consistent service delivery,” which LACMTA said will result in a safer transit system for employees and riders. The Board signed off on pursuing the in-house transit police department in April 2023.

The new TCPSD will use a “transit community public safety workforce who are trained specifically to address the needs of transit riders, as well as care-based strategies,” according to the transit authority, which handles 980,000 boardings daily on six rail lines and 117 bus routes. Currently, law enforcement is outsourced to local police departments.

LACMTA said it will now form a Transition Team of subject matter experts to begin work on the TCPSD. Additionally, a Chief of Police will be hired, and the selection process will include engaging transit authority riders and employees.

The transition to the TCPSD will occur over the next five years. “All current contract law enforcement agencies have agreed to cooperate with the transition and there will be no disruption of law enforcement services,” according to LACMTA.

The TCPSD will maintain the current number of 386 law enforcement officers deployed daily in the field, while increasing the daily deployment of Ambassadors (+141), homeless outreach (+5) and crisis intervention (+81) staff. LACMTA reported that the plan also allocates $5 million annually “for innovative public safety infrastructure improvements at transit stations.”

The new TCPSD is expected to cost $192,566,505 per year vs. the current $194,051,691 Multi-Agency Contract Cost; the LACMTA will reinvest the savings achieved “in care strategies,” it reported.

“The Board appreciates its partnerships with LASD, LAPD, and LBPD throughout the years and deeply values the officers who have worked diligently to address the critical safety needs of Metro [LACMTA] riders and employees,” LACMTA Board Member and Glendale City Councilmember Ara J. Najarian said. “For that reason, this was a difficult decision but ultimately the right one to ensure a safer, more resilient transit system for Los Angeles County.”

“This action will make Metro safer by transforming the public safety system through a new model that fits the unique needs of our transit system,” Los Angeles Mayor and LACMTA Board Chair Karen Bass said. “The Metro Board of Directors’ top priority is keeping our riders and operators safe, and we will continue to do all that we can to enhance Metro’s ability to keep riders safe.”

“On behalf of the 5,000 bus and rail members we represent, the Union expresses our sincere appreciation for the forward steps taken by the Board,” said General Chairman John M. Ellis of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART). “It’s reassuring to see the Board listened to our members and approved Metro’s own in-house safety department. We look forward to working with CEO [Stephanie] Wiggins and Metro’s management to make the approved proposal of Metro’s own in-house public safety department a reality and keep our communities safe.”

“We are addressing complex public safety issues that require a bold, new approach,” LACMTA CEO Stephanie Wiggins said. “The Metro TCPSD will go far beyond providing law enforcement to address crime. We will introduce a fresh, new public safety model that puts people at the center and addresses quality of life issues that have become so prevalent in cities and transit systems across the country.”

Railway Age reproduces, in full, LACMTA’s Q&A on the TCPSD:

Why are we doing this? And why now?   

For the past three decades, we have been outsourcing law enforcement to local police departments. Keep in mind, however, that the idea to re-establish an inhouse public safety department isn’t new. In fact, we’ve been discussing it for nearly 30 years.  

Some background:  

In 2002, as our five-year contracts with the LAPD and LASD were coming to an end, the Metro Board of Directors reviewed the program and found that it had proven expensive, complicated to manage, and questionable in effectiveness. To address the service complexities and costs associated with that model, the Board awarded an exclusive contract to the LASD in 2003 and also requested a report on the efficacy of re-establishing an internal police department. Despite finding several good reasons to return to in-house policing, the Board took no action at that time. The security program with the LASD was too new, they thought, to warrant a definitive judgment.  

In 2017, we moved back to a multi-agency model, contracting with LASD, LAPD, and Long Beach Police Department (LBPD). Contracting with three agencies instead of one, board members believed, would help solve staffing issues, enhance the quality of service, and improve overall compliance. And while we greatly appreciate our service contracts with the LASD, LAPD, and LBPD—especially the officers who have done so much to keep riders and employees safe—we’re now at an inflection point. Here’s why:  

• Lack of oversight: Since 2017, our Office of the Inspector General has been conducting annual assessments of the law enforcement contracts with LASD, LAPD, and LBPD. Over and over, they’ve found that these models simply don’t provide enough visible presence on buses, trains, and other critical infrastructure locations. Moreover, because we can’t monitor and oversee the individuals assigned to our system, we can’t ensure they are fully patrolling it.  
• Lack of consistency: Since each of the three agencies we contract with operates independently, we have experienced inconsistent enforcement, disconnected patrol strategies, and data and reporting delays. At times, the policies of these three agencies have clashed with our own public safety mission, which is dedicated to ensuring every trip is more than safe, but also positive and dignified. 
• Skyrocketing costs: Contracting with three law enforcement agencies has also been very expensive. The cost of last year’s contract, from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, rose to $194M, a cost increase of 15 percent since the previous year. Needless to say, these increases, with very high overheads, are very difficult to sustain.  

Addressing these issues is more important than ever right now, for two reasons:  

• First, our system is growing, with several large rail projects opening over the next few years, such as the D Line Subway Extension Project, the A Line Extension to Pomona, and the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station. If there are gaps in our coverage now, expanding our system will only exacerbate them.  
• Second, we’re facing different societal challenges than we have in the past. The crises of homelessness, drug addiction, and untreated mental illness call for more nuanced, holistic responses. More than ever, we need to prioritize building positive relationships with our communities, building trust with riders and employees, offering ‘care-based’ responses reflective of each situation, and providing our riders a continuous visible presence on the system.  

How would an in-house public safety department (TCPSD) solve these issues?  

Local police departments are often trained to react to incidents instead of proactively patrolling the environment. This can be very effective in many situations—often, emergency calls come from small businesses or private residences—no one would expect law enforcement to be actively patrolling those environments! However, we don’t believe this model works as well in a transit environment. We want our officers to be visible and actively engaged with our riders, so they can deter crime before it happens. 

Establishing an in-house public safety department with direct oversight over operations and staffing will accomplish our goals in the following ways:

• We will be able to train officers ourselves and ensure that they have a deep knowledge of our operations, standards, values, and goals. Concurrently, officers will have a personal stake in Metro’s success.  
• We will be able to communicate with our officers more quickly, so that we can allocate them the resources they need. This can also mean coordinating their responses with other teams working across our system, such as Transit Security Officers (TSOs), Ambassadors, and homeless outreach personnel.  
• We will be able to ensure that our policies are implemented consistently across our 1,447 mile service area.  

Policing a transit environment, we believe, is fundamentally unique. You need to be flexible when trains and buses cross cities and jurisdictions. You need to be able to effectively communicate with many different kinds of people sharing public spaces far from their homes. You need the cultural competency to understand how people use our system, so that you can respond to conflicts effectively, or, better yet, deter them before they start.  

How will the TCPSD work?  

We’ve come up with what we call a “zone-based” deployment model. In a nutshell, this means that our service area will become one jurisdiction that we’d subsequently divide into six dedicated, system-specific geographical areas. Officers, assigned to the same zone daily, will be responsible for patrolling their assigned zones, riding buses and trains, conducting foot patrols at stations, and engaging with both riders and Metro staff within their assigned stations. The goal is to increase overall visibility on our system (something that our riders consistently ask for), thereby reducing overall calls for service.  

How is this different from what we’re doing now? Good question! Our current multi-agency model is based on jurisdictional boundaries. Say a crime occurs on an A Line train that is passing through Willowbrook, an unincorporated community that is part of the LASD’s jurisdiction, into the City of Long Beach, which is part of the LBPD’s jurisdiction. Within our current system, a situation like this could create confusion, since it isn’t clear which agency should respond, potentially resulting in no resources being dispatched at all.  

Crossing zones, however, won’t pose the same issues, as all officers would be working in the same jurisdiction. There are added benefits, too. Zone deployments allow us to track and account for officer activity in real-time, increasing accountability, and provide officers the opportunity to build relationships with the riders, businesses, communities, and Metro employees that live and work in that zone. We’re planning to assign at least one crisis co-response team to each zone, too, so we can respond to crisis situations in effective, compassionate ways, reducing the likelihood of escalation or use of force.  

How many officers will there be? What about non-law enforcement personnel?  

We developed four different service models that were presented to the Metro Board of Directors yesterday [June 28]:

Current Service Model:  

• Maintains the current levels of 386 law enforcement officers in the field.  
• Maintains current levels of 446 non-law enforcement personnel (includes TSOs, Ambassadors, crisis intervention teams, and homeless outreach).  
• Cost: $154.4 million (vs. $194 million for the multi-agency contract).     

Enhanced Service Model:  

• Maintains the current number of 386 law enforcement officers in the field. 
• Increases levels of unarmed, non-law enforcement personnel (TSOs, Ambassadors, homeless outreach, and crisis intervention teams) by 227 to 673. 
• Allocates $5 million for public safety infrastructure improvements at transit stations (CCTV cameras, weapons detection, enhanced fare gates, and more).  
• Cost: $192.6 million (vs. $194 million for multi-agency contract).  

Decreased Sworn Officers:  

• Reduces the number of officers from the baseline of daily deployed sworn officers by 40 (12%) to 246. Although there are fewer officers overall, increased visibility through zones and foot patrols will still create a stronger sense of security and presence 
• Increases levels of unarmed, non-law enforcement personnel (think TSOs, Ambassadors, homeless outreach, and crisis intervention teams) by 227 to 673.
• Allocates $5 million for public safety infrastructure improvements at transit stations (think CCTV cameras, weapons detection, enhanced fare gates, and more).
• Cost: $181.5 million (vs. $194 million for multi-agency contract).   

Increased Sworn Officers:  

• Adds 80 (20%) more officers to bring levels to 466. Some would be organized into “flex teams” for special events and others would address hotspots in the system. 
• Increases levels of unarmed, non-law enforcement personnel (think TSOs, Ambassadors, homeless outreach, and crisis intervention teams) by 227 to 673.  
• Allocates $5 million for public safety infrastructure improvements at transit stations (think CCTV cameras, weapons detection, enhanced fare gates, and more).  
• Cost: $214.9 million (vs. $194 million for multi-agency contract).  

The Board of Directors voted to implement the Enhanced Service Model—meaning that we will deploy the same number of TCPSD officers as are currently provided by contracted law enforcement while increasing unarmed, non-law enforcement personnel. The challenge we face today, we believe, has less to do with a lack of peace officers but the fact that they aren’t sufficiently visible and engaged on our buses and trains. Under this service model, officers will be riding buses and trains, conducting foot patrols at stations, and interacting with staff and riders. We think that increasing our non-law enforcement personnel is the best way to help vulnerable populations.  

How long will this transition take? 

Short answer: Not overnight. After doing extensive research and crunching the numbers, we’ve come up with a transition plan that would gradually replace existing law enforcement contract services with a new in-house TCPSD over a five-year period. Within that time frame, there will be three phases of transition:  

Phase 1: Transition Planning (year 1)   

• This phase will begin July 1, 2024. We will establish a transition team, develop standard operating procedures for the department, and hire a Chief of Police and an administrative support team.  

Phase 2: Resource Planning and Recruitment (years 2-5) 

• During this phase, we will focus on recruiting and training new personnel, leveraging expertise from other transit agencies (six of the ten largest US transit agencies already have in-house transit police departments). We’ll also create an organizational framework in order to fully operationalize the new public safety department within the 5-year time frame.  

Phase 3: Monitoring and Evaluation of TCPSD (ongoing) 

• Beginning in year 1, we will develop performance monitoring programs in order to establish expectations and benchmarks for TCPSD officers. We will  also establish a civilian oversight committee and a plan to become an accredited law enforcement agency through CALEA by year 5 of operation.  

So here’s the (multi) million dollar question: How much will this all cost?  

The cost of the Enhanced Service Model selected by the board remains slightly lower than the current FY24 budgeted amount for the contracted multi-agency law enforcement services. The FY24 budget for our multi-agency law enforcement contracts is $194 million, and the fully operationalized TCPSD by year 6 is projected to cost $192.5 million (which also includes supplemental non-law enforcement staff and other enhancements; see above). Initially, the overall budget will increase from FY25-FY27 due to spending on supplemental contracted enforcement services while we invest in the transition. Actual costs will include direct costs for de-mobilizing contracted law enforcement services, beginning in year two of implementation.  

LIRR

New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on June 28 reported that LIRR’s Amityville and Lindenhurst stations on the Babylon Branch are accessible to all in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Crews have completed building, testing and activating elevators connecting from the street to both stations, which are elevated some 200 feet above street level. These are the second and third stations on the Branch to be made accessible this year.

MTA said LIRR received $17.9 million in federal formula funds, which includes money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to do the work at Lindenhurst station—part of a nine station, $169 million, design-build stations upgrade package. The Massapequa Park, St. Albans, Laurelton, Locust Manor, Valley Stream (escalator replacement and elevator replacement), and Auburndale (elevator replacement) stations will also be made ADA compliant. Copiague station, also on the Babylon Line, was made fully accessible May 16, and Amityville Station was made fully accessible on June 10, with the help of $15.4 million in federal formula funds. In addition to the new elevator and sidewalk, upgrades include new ADA parking, electrical and mechanical improvements, replacement of platform tactile strips, communication and safety security systems, wayfinding and ADA signage, LED lighting, and Help Points.

“As the Long Island Rail Road continues to reach post-pandemic ridership records, it is especially important that everybody is able to use this amazing system,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. “We need this system to be accessible for parents with strollers and people with mobility issues. And I am proud that the LIRR is now 90-plus percent accessible, 113 stations out of 126 stations, thanks to MTA Construction & Development and the project team who continue to deliver projects on time and under budget.”

“C&D is taking lessons learned from subway accessibility contracting and applying them to the railroads with great success,” MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer said. “Innovative procurement methods like bundling and design-build allow the MTA to deliver projects better, faster and cheaper.”

In other LIRR news, the commuter railroad in April set Rob Free as President, following six-months of service as Acting President. 

PATH

May 2024 marked the first month that PATH rapid transit surpassed 5 million riders since the onset of the pandemic, PANY/NJ reported June 28. The system served nearly 5.1 million passengers, up 5% or about 254,000 passengers, from the previous post-pandemic monthly record set in October 2023. It was an increase of 11% from May 2023, and 70% of May 2019’s total.

Average weekday ridership on PATH also reached a new post-pandemic high in May: 192,651 passengers, up 4% from the previous post-pandemic high recorded in October 2023. May 2024’s average weekday ridership was a 12% gain over May 2023 and 67% of May 2019’s figure.

Ridership was nearly equal to pre-pandemic levels on weekends, according to PANY/NJ. Average Saturday ridership in May 2024 was 94% of May 2019 levels, while average Sunday ridership was 98% of May 2019 levels.

In a related development, PATH’s new tap-and-go fare payment system became available systemwide in May.

SEPTA

SEPTA is unifying the Market-Frankford Line [L], Broad Street Line [B], Norristown High Speed Line [M], and routes 10, 11, 13, 15, 34, 36, and 101 and 102 into what it is calling “a single, easy-to-use network with new maps, signage, and communication: SEPTA Metro.” The goal, it said, is to make these lines accessible and easy-to-use.

The transit authority Board on June 27 approved a contract with Nova Industries LLC to design, fabricate, and install new signage and wayfinding for 27 stations on the Broad Street Line [B] and in Center City, according to the transit authority. Phase 1 of a multi-phase project, the station overhauls will begin later this year and continue into 2025. Phase 2, which includes the remainder of the Market-Frankford Line [L] and Subway-Surface Trolleys [T], will begin next year.

SEPTA reported that the improvements include:

• “Easy to see and read colors, letters and numbers for each SEPTA Metro line. This will improve visibility, clarity and accessibility for all.
• “New maps and signs that show bus connections and highlight SEPTA’s most frequent bus lines, along with the entire Trolley network.
• “New station entrance signage and illuminated pylons to make stations easier to find.
• “New ‘neighborhood maps’ and exit signage to help riders find their destinations.
• “Adjusting station names to eliminate duplicates, such as ‘Girard’ (Broad-Girard) on the Broad Street Line and ‘Girard’ (Front-Girard) on the Market-Frankford Line, and merging complexes, such as ‘15th St/City Hall’ instead of having two separate station names: ‘15th St’ and ‘City Hall.’”

A preview of new SEPTA Metro signage debuted in April as part of the opening for the new Drexel Station at 30th Street. That station will continue to feature new maps and wayfinding as the project progresses, according to the transit authority.

This project is coordinated with updates to SEPTA’s website, mobile app and data feeds “to enhance digital wayfinding tools,” SEPTA reported. Planned improvements include releasing more real-time information; working to significantly reduce “ghost buses”; and piloting new, easier-to-read bus detour signage to align with the larger wayfinding improvements, it added.

“The overarching goal of this project is to make the system easy to understand and navigate for everyone who uses it,” SEPTA CEO and General Manager Leslie S. Richards said. “We’re unifying our subway, elevated, and trolley lines into a single, easy-to-use network that makes SEPTA accessible and welcoming to all.”

SEPTA in 2021 first proposed grouping its Rail Transit Network—comprising the Market-Frankford Line, Broad Street Line and Norristown High-Speed Line, as well as the 10, 11, 13, 15, 34, 36, 101, and 102 routes—under SEPTA Metro. It launched its Wayfinding Master Plan in 2020.

Sound Transit

Sound Transit on June 27 reported that its Board selected the South 336th Street site in Federal Way as the future location of the Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF) South. The Board had previously identified the site as the preferred alternative in 2021 after publication of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (see maps, left).

The OMF South will store and maintain Link light rail trains for future Link expansion, including service to West Seattle and Tacoma, while providing 610 permanent jobs within the project site, according to Sound Transit. It will also include a test track for 24-hour conditioning and testing of new light rail vehicles. When completed, OMF South will service about 144 light rail vehicles for cleaning and repairs. Additionally, a 1.4-mile connecting track will run to the site from the Federal Way Link Extension.

The OMF South project will now advance to final design work and construction. The Board has identified a target in-service date of 2029 and “actions are being taken to accelerate the current schedule to achieve that date,” according to the transit agency.

“Due to land constraints, we had limited options before us for this new Operations and Maintenance Facility,” Sound Transit Board member and King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer said. “I believe this is the most cost-effective decision we could make as good stewards of taxpayer dollars. At similar facilities, the average employee wage is $45 an hour—that’s more than $85,000 a year. I’m glad these impactful jobs supporting regional transit will be in South King County.”

“With the OMF South site now selected, we look forward to working with our project partners to advance final design, build, and operate a world-class facility to serve the region for generations to come,” Sound Transit Interim CEO Goran Sparrman said.

Early last month, Sound Transit and the Federal Transit Administration issued the Final EIS for the Operations and Maintenance Facility South.