Letters to the Editor: Transit safety isn’t just about crime. It’s important for climate change too

To the editor: The recent assaults on Metro trains and buses are disturbing and disheartening. As someone who relies heavily on mass transit, I wondered while reading about the assaults if I might find myself a passenger on a bus when something like that happens.

I recall the buses when I first started riding in my youth. They were often packed and never air-conditioned. It never occurred to anyone at that time to have fold-down seats for someone in a wheelchair, much less two people in wheelchairs. The improvements over the years have been striking.

Now, I’m curious about the police response times. Most of all, I’m interested in the recovery of those who were attacked, one of whom was a bus driver. The drivers are always courteous, and I always try to remember to thank them for their service.

More broadly, it’s dispiriting to think that we live in a time when the stability of Earth’s atmosphere may have been unalterably eroded because of fossil fuels, an erosion that I can’t help but wonder might not even exist were public transportation so safe, convenient and luxurious, that only a fool would drive.

Ronald Webster, Long Beach

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To the editor: It’s time for Los Angeles and Metro to call in the National Guard.

I have been riding public transit here since 1950. It was a fun and pleasant way to travel around L.A, but not anymore. Unruly passengers have taken over the system, especially on our two subway lines and the light rail lines. The train operators lock themselves in their cab and pull down the shade.

All the while, unruly passengers play loud music, eat their lunch, leave their mess on the seats and floor and do whatever the hell they want to do while on the trains.

It’s time to get tough and bring back law and order on L.A.’s public transit system.

Ralph Cantos, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Metro trains are still unsafe and unsanitary.

I recently took a ride on a Metro train to Long Beach. The seats were filthy and I felt so unsafe that I took an Uber on my return trip.

Seats on trains in other parts of the world are stainless steel or hard plastic, which are easy to clean and disinfect. On Metro trains in L.A., the seats are covered in fabric and filthy.

I saw mentally challenged passengers walking up and down the cars yelling at passengers. There wasn’t a single police officer or Metro employee in sight. Why would I want to risk my safety and take another ride on this system?

There should be a cop on every train who is actually walking and patrolling the cars.

Andrew Ko, San Marino