LA Metro's outreach division coincides with falling crime and rising ridership
A dedicated care-based services division pairing homelessness outreach with public safety staff accompanied an 8-month ridership rise, a 6.7% drop in violent crime, and a 57% decline in unhoused riders on the system.
This is not our reporting
This story was reported and published by Smart Cities Dive. What follows is our summary of it, and why it matters for people writing policy.
Read the original at Smart Cities Dive ↗Our summary
The reporting finds that Los Angeles Metro logged eight straight months of ridership growth through July, aided by new rail extensions and World Cup event service, while violent crime on the system fell 6.7% in 2025 and the population of unhoused riders dropped 57% since 2024. Those gains followed the agency's creation of a dedicated care-based services division that coordinates 24 outreach teams with public safety and code-enforcement staff, alongside record customer satisfaction of 87%. For transit agencies elsewhere grappling with declining ridership and safety concerns, the piece suggests pairing outreach-focused homelessness response with enforcement can move the numbers rather than relying on policing alone.
Read the full story at Smart Cities Dive ↗
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