Metro Transit aims to fight crime, litter with new approach: two-car trains instead of three

Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
·2 min read

Concerned about light rail ridership numbers that are still half what they were before the pandemic, Metro Transit plans to launch a modest experiment along the Green Line. Through at least mid-August, instead of having three light rail cars pull up to station stops, passengers will now board two-car trains.

What’s the difference? In a word: density. The hope is that more passengers nestled more closely together will curb negative behaviors and make it more likely that customers will encounter a Metro Transit police officer or community service officer during their ride. It will also make litter pick-up easier at the end of the day.

Fewer cars could, in theory, even help with on-time performance, which has slid for the Green Line from 81 percent for end-to-end arrival times in 2019 to an on-time performance of 75 percent last year.

“A lot of times people are holding the doors at the station,” said Drew Kerr, a Metro Transit spokesman. “Fewer doors, fewer doors to hold open.”

The goal is that improving perceptions of safety, punctuality and cleanliness will lure passengers back to light rail. The Metropolitan Council endorsed a new safety and security action plan in June that promised to seek ideas for ridership improvements from staff and passengers alike, Kerr said. “This is one of the ideas that came up through that process,” he added.

Reducing the numbers of cars isn’t likely to save much money, as it won’t reduce the number of drivers. As for actual crimes, year-over-year crime reports have fallen for the past two years, a trend that continues into 2022, Kerr said. Metro Transit employs 100 full-time officers, 54 part-time officers and 13 community service officers who continue to board trains and buses.

Still, the perception of public safety is as important as any data when it comes to luring paying customers back to the fold.

Metro Transit will evaluate in mid-August whether the two-car trains made much of a difference.

On social media, some riders have already raised concern about sitting more closely together during a pandemic, or having fewer options to pick from if they choose to switch train cars because a fellow passenger is acting out.

“I think we feel relatively confident that we’ll be able to accommodate our current ridership with these two-car trains versus three-car trains and still get people to their destination pretty comfortably,” Kerr said.

Some longtime transit riders have complained about reductions in service, from bus routes to train departures, which once ran overnight. The last eastbound Green Line train now departs downtown Minneapolis for the downtown St. Paul Union Depot at 11:30 p.m., even on weekends.

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