Residents of Los Angeles are abandoning the city’s public metro system amid rampant drug use, crime, and homelessness — problems shared by Dallas’ own DART system.
The Los Angeles Times reported 22 people died on LA metro buses and trains in the past two months. The death count outnumbers all of 2022. Most of the deaths occurred from suspected overdoses.
Additionally, violent crimes — including aggravated assault, rape, and robbery — skyrocketed 24% last year compared with 2021.
One train operator told the LA Times that “horror” describes what he sees on the trains every day. He was not authorized by his employer to speak with the press and declined to provide his name.
He often sees “sleepers” who get high and pass out on the train. The engineer also saw a man on the subway masturbating in his seat, according to the LA Times report.
“We don’t even see any businesspeople anymore. We don’t see anybody going to Universal,” he added. “It’s just people who have no other choice [than] to ride the system — homeless people and drug users.”
Commuters have not been seen using large portions of the Los Angeles public train system. Ridership on one line was only 30% of what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Before then, ridership numbers in the region were lower than commuter trains in other large cities.
Here in Dallas, passengers of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) system also are concerned about crime on public transportation, as figures from the agency indicate rising crime across its trains, buses, and stations.
DART spokesperson Gordon Shattles directed The Dallas Express to the most up-to-date figures, which show 996 arrests occurred at DART facilities in 2022 — a 15.7% increase from the previous year. Last year saw 1,359 offenses, a 42% jump from 947 in 2021 reported through the National Incident-Based Reporting System.
“I’m kind of afraid,” daily DART commuter Jana Hadas told local television news station NBC 5 last year. Hadas has noticed more homeless people sleeping on the trains.
Another passenger, Steven Lange, also reported to NBC 5 he was struck in the face with a glass bottle while riding a DART train. “There was glass embedded in my skin after the incident.”
He noted the “violent” attack was unprovoked. “I just think the public should know this, just for their safety. And DART should be aware that I’m concerned as a passenger of the train.”
Both Los Angeles and the Dallas-Ft Worth North Texas region, once had a thriving public transport system decades ago.
Old maps show a surprising network of public rail travel in north Texas.
This public transport system was deliberately and covertly destroyed by some major corporations and powerful men.
Denver Federal Court found them guilty of this conspiracy, but they only got some small fines.
“Taken for a Ride” is a good one hour documentary on the topic.
“How and Why Big Oil Conquered the World” is a fabulous, must-watch documentary by The Corbett Report which covers this and other topics. It also contains transcripts with source links.
https://www.corbettreport.com/bigoil/
EXCERPT
“…In 1936, General Motors formed a front company, “National City Lines,” along with Firestone Tire and Standard Oil of California, to implement a process of “bustitution”: scrapping streetcars and tearing up railways to replace them with GM’s own buses running on Standard Oil-supplied diesel. The plan was remarkably successful….”
[Much more detail follows.]
I hate to keep repeating the same prophecy but Dallas is turning into LA unless we all vote these people out of office. They are the problem because they have no answers and refuse to enforce the laws already on the books. Also take note of the one major characteristic of the homeless problem, both LA and Dallas are run by democrats. You want a different outcome to the homeless problem then don’t vote for the same lousy party. Any party or any candidate that belongs to a party that openly advocated defunding the police will never get my vote and they should not het your vote either.
Love effective, efficient use of our tax dollars!! Dart has its own police force; where are they? Not on the trains obviously.
Dart is simply another government funded jobs program where there is no ultimate accountability for ineptitude.
Try taking the Orange Line to DFW Airport. It is a rolling homeless shelter. I complained, and the DART people were responsive. However, they are fighting a losing battle.