urbanSTL

By SeattleNative

NextSTL - MetroLink is much safer than you think

https://nextstl.com/2022/01/metrolink-i ... you-think/

quincunx wrote: ↑

Jan 24, 2022

By SeattleNative

NextSTL - MetroLink is much safer than you think

https://nextstl.com/2022/01/metrolink-i ... you-think/

Hey @SeattleNative , how do you identify "unique riders" here?

• 2019 – 132 violent crimes/2.06 million unique riders = violent crime rate of 6.03 per 100,000 unique riders
• 2020 – 64 violent crimes/928,571 unique riders = violent crime rate of 6.89 per 100,000 unique riders

• 2019 – 132 violent crimes/13 million boardings = violent crime rate of 1.02 per 100,000 boardings
• 2020 – 64 violent crimes/5.85 million boardings = violent crime rate of 1.09 per 100,000 boardings

Your article states that Metro gave out some numbers to the media and linked to an article on KMOV, but while I see the number of crimes there the ridership numbers you mentioned don't exist in that article.  Where did you pull that data? If it's publicly available, it would be good to link to it directly. If not, at least make it clearer how these numbers were sourced.

To be perfectly clear, I 100% agree with your article's conclusion. It's just best to be as transparent as you can with the data you use to support your argument.

As an aside, as a transit lay person I'm surprised that in an MSA of 2.8M people (and only ~1.6M people in STL City, STL County, and St. Clair County actually containing MetroLink stops), more than 2M different individuals boarded MetroLink at least once in 2019. I guess this is inflated by baseball/hockey boardings on gamedays and airport boardings from out of towners?  

It's too bad there's no way to differentiate the risk between, say, a worker who boards 5X/wk versus a tourist who maybe boards once or twice in a year. And I assume the data isn't specific enough to show where along the line specific crimes occurred - seeing that would help to understand which commutes are 'safer', or where more focus needs to be placed to prevent crimes.

-RBB

It’s in the 3rd to last paragraph of the linked article. As for how I came up with “unique riders” it’s laid out in the article.

Total boardings/average boardings per metro user*.35 (metrolink share of total metro boardings)


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SeattleNative wrote: ↑

Jan 24, 2022

It’s in the 3rd to last paragraph of the linked article. As for how I came up with “unique riders” it’s laid out in the article.

Total boardings/average boardings per metro user*.35 (metrolink share of total metro boardings)


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Right, so this is the 3rd to last paragraph of the linked article:

Through November 2020, MetroLink reported 64 violent crimes and another 382 less serious offenses. In the same time period in 2019, MetroLink reported 132 violent crimes and nearly 600 other offenses.

That's the number of crimes. And this is your explanation for unique users:

To calculate the number of unique riders, I took the total number of MetroLink boardings (13 million in 2019 and 5.85 million in 2020) divided by the average number of transit trips per user (18) and then multiplied that number by the percentage of trips that are MetroLink (35%). It isn’t perfect, but it’s as close as I can get without Bi-State releasing detailed data.

What I'm asking is where you got your transit numbers: 

• 13 million boardings in 2019
• 5.85 million boardings in 2020 
• 18 transit trips per user on average
• 35% of transit trips are MetroLink

I believe at least some of those have been discussed here on UrbanSTL, but I didn't see any direct citations for those numbers in the NextSTL article - though it's entirely possible I overlooked them.

-RBB

My apologies. You're right. I pulled the data from this article (and then the 5.85M came from the 55% reduction in the KMOV article but it should be 6.75M so I'll have to update those numbers). Did my best with Bi-State's lack of transparency. https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... ail%20line.

"Metro reported about 36 million boardings in 2019, with about 13.1 million of those on MetroLink, according to Federal Transit Authority data. In 2020, it reported about 21 million boardings, with about 6.75 million of those on the region’s light rail line."

I seem to be unable to find the article that said 65% of boardings are on buses and just shy of 35% on MetroLink. But just dividing the numbers in the article above gives roughly 35%.

Thanks for asking those questions and hope this helps!

Yep, that's quite helpful thanks! 

-RBB

not sure where this would go, but Washington State Supreme Court is weighing whether fare enforcement is kosher. I assume that if it is ruled as no good, then a lot of systems are going to add turnstiles to try to capture fares. Hopefully it will encourage some to go fare free.


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SeattleNative wrote: ↑

Jan 26, 2022

not sure where this would go, but Washington State Supreme Court is weighing whether fare enforcement is kosher. I assume that if it is ruled as no good, then a lot of systems are going to add turnstiles to try to capture fares. Hopefully it will encourage some to go fare free.


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Could go either way. I mean we don’t stop drivers to see if they paid their taxes without a reasonable suspicion like expired plates

Heck, we don't even stop them WITH expired plates.

what about Amtrak? will they have to stop checking tickets on trains? or is it not "enforcement" as long as they check everyone's tickets? is it "enforcement" when i board a plane and they scan my ticket? when i go into a movie theater? (just kidding nobody goes to the movies.)

that reminds me: guy sitting next to me on the train from Chicago to St. Louis waited until the train left Chicago before *trying* to buy his ticket. conductor told him to buy a ticket from the next stop but never came back to check. (maybe he was fired because he asked to see a ticket.) not sure if the guy ever bought one. wonder how often that happens.

A new $10M new public safety and transit operations building will be built at the Emerson Park station in East. St. Louis:  https://www.bnd.com/news/politics-gover ... 44233.html

"The station will be home to offices for the St. Clair County Mass Transit District, the sheriff’s department and a 911 call center."

"The 16,000-square-foot, two-story building at 905 N. 11th St. is expected to take 20 months to build."

"The proximity to MetroLink and buses will allow dispatchers to quickly communicate with officers and transit operators if a problem arises, Kern said. Fiber-optic cables will connect MetroLink stations along the entire bi-state route to the Emerson Park Station."

Also, not necessarily Public Safety but this was included in the article too. I wasn't aware of Chestnut Health Systems till now, but overall sounds like this is a good program to have to help those in need:

"At the Belleville Transit Center, which is being renovated, Chestnut Health Systems will double its staff size to help riders experiencing mental health issues and homelessness. Staff will ride transit in Illinois, including to and from Emerson Park..."

Edit: Ok, so someone posted a link with a rendering before... didn't realize this was the same thing.  For those who don't like to clink every link to read stories, this is basically the high level overview + new info about the Belleville Transit Center.

StlToday - Missouri House approves plan to allow guns on public transit

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/cri ... 2a92b.html

^ missouri is so irreparably f*cked.

Guns on transit and no abortions. It is kind of embarrassing how the state holds itself back, as well as its two largest cities.

Idk if this is even legal,  metro operates thanks to a congressional compact.

Speaking of banning abortion. They also want other Missouri’s to sue those Missourians that get one out of state and also track where people have sex

I have ridden metro a few times the past few weeks and it is not to say they dont but I was never asked to display my ticket nor did I see a guard on the train.  In the past I have

The bill allows guns on transit, which many of us know people already carried on there anyway. This changes nothing besides it being allowed now.

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Mar 10, 2022

The bill allows guns on transit, which many of us know people already carried on there anyway. This changes nothing besides it being allowed now.

People doing it anyways is I think a poor justification for legalizing something especially in regards to gun control, it's still poor policy to encourage more guns in more places.

just more culture war from MO R's. god forbid they do anything constructive or useful.

Next is guns in financial institutions and schools/universities.

 

urban_dilettante wrote: ↑

Mar 10, 2022

just more culture war from MO R's. god forbid they do anything constructive or useful.

The meaningless symbolism is how politicians deflect criticism for not doing anything constructive or useful.

^ well, in this case i think it's more about working up their neanderthal base and enacting christofascism. i honestly don't think MO R's are worried about whether or not it looks like they're doing anything constructive.

StlToday - ‘Huge project’ to finally add ticket gates to MetroLink kicks off

The request for proposals marks a significant step since Roach announced the project in November, a largely unexpected development that reversed years of Bi-State policy and came after consultant reports that never recommended ticket gates, arguing fare evasion had little correlation with crime.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... d67d1.html