A hearing in the House Transportation Committee Thursday on improving safety on light rail trains.
Metropolitan Airports Commission VP of Government Affairs Mitch Killian testified about how people coming to town for conventions are even refusing to ride the train due to ongoing safety issues.
“Those people that are coming to conventions walk straight to our information booths and say, ‘how can I ride rail?’ It's surprising they don't just go for Uber every time,” Killian says. “They don't go for taxis. A lot of them come in with the expectation that they can get on light rail and we are hearing complaints from them. They might ride it one way, but they don't ride it back because they're afraid.”
Killian says it's shocking how bad things have gotten.
“The open drug use is just incredible,” says Killian. “I mean, even with cameras on them, they'll open, and it's not marijuana use, it's crack and things like that. Open pipe smoking right in the open next to our passengers. A very regular occurrence.”
The Chair of the Metropolitan Council also testified, outlining the steps Metro Transit is taking to improve safety. Among them is increasing police and security officers on trains despite staffing challenges, utilizing real time cameras, and renovating train stations to deter criminals.
