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User-Friendly, Safe & Clean (USC) – �A Smart City Guide to Success �for LA Metro

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Group #1

CA, LB, CL, AM, & EY

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DSO 521-Smart City Tactics, Technologies & Operations

Fall 2025

Executive Overview

THE ISSUE

• LA Metro total annual rides peaked in 2013 at 471M
• LA Metro 2024 total annual rides was 311M
• Metro continues to spend billions every year increasing services/routes, yet ridership still struggles

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PROSPECTIVE SOLUTIONS

• Make LA Metro Safe with comprehensive real-time surveillance & eliminating fair evasion
• Make LA Metro Clean with robust user reporting & tech focused solutions
• Make LA Metro Easy for riders by increasing frequency of trains/buses, as well as streamlining user-friendly experience

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LA Metro Annual Rides �(Rail, Bus, & Total)

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LA Metro FY 2026 Budget - Revenues

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LA Metro FY 2026 Budget - Expenses

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Definition of Problem/Issue

• LA Metro is one of the largest public transportation networks in the United States, ranking 2nd in annual cost (only trailing NYC)
• While 2nd in cost, it is 4th in annual ridership (behind NYC, DC, & Chicago)
• Ridership dropped for 6 consecutive years (2013 - 2019), COVID-19 decimated ridership for 2 years (2020 - 2021), and even today it is still well below the all time high (2013)
• LA Metro ridership has declined, and stayed relatively stagnant for a variety of reasons, which we intend to identify and address in this presentation

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Impacted Stakeholders

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Safe - Current Concerns

• Safety is “one of the driving forces keeping people from returning to public transportation post-pandemic” - LABarometer

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• “more than 93% of crimes — were believed to be committed by people who did not pay a valid fare and were using the transit system illegally.” - KTLA

Safe - Current Solutions

What metro has done to improve

• Ambassadors
• Metro DPS - a non-police force is in the works (Bill Scott)

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• Obstacles
• Compensation for enforcement
• Tension between Mayor Karen Bass about fares vs no fares

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Safe - Smart City Solution

• Digitization
• having ticket on an app
• deploying metro officers to check tickets/scan phones during times when the metro is less crowded or at times when crime is likely to happen
• If they don’t have a ticket, charge them
• Gates + cameras for gathering data

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Safe - Smart City Solution

• Data analytics
• Mass camera surveillance and computer vision
• Allocate security resources (officers) in a manner determined by data

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• Coordination between metro and homeless shelters
• Equity in a smart city

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Clean - Technology Solutions

• 43% of rail riders state train cleanliness is a top 3 concern (LA Metro)

Options

• Reporting System for Unsanitary Conditions
• App, like “LA Metro Transit Watch App”
• Autonomous Cleaning Robots (Singapore)
• Clean 3x faster than human workers, freeing up labor
• Data-Driven Cleaning (Paris)
• IoT sensors (dispenser counts, etc.) to efficiently clean restrooms
• 90% fewer complaints

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Clean - Technology Solutions

• Satisfaction with rail train cleanliness is up from 53% to 57%, 4 points since 2024 (LA Metro)
• Does this affect ridership?
• More research is needed to quantify
• Surveys show it does affect perceptions of the Metro

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Soure: LA Metro

Easy - Technology Solutions

• 2017 survey of former riders who �stopped using Metro:
• 11% due to unreliable service
• 18% because buses too slow/infrequent*
• 2022 Customer Experience Survey: Reliability, frequency, safety, cleanliness, homelessness are top concerns**

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*https://la.myneighborhooddata.org/2019/02/access-to-public-transit/

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**https://www.metro.net/about/metros-customer-experience-survey-identifies-reliability-frequency-safety-cleanliness-and-homelessness-as-top-improvement-areas-the-annual-survey-informs-cx-action-plan-to-address-custom/

Easy (con’t)

Increase frequency of trains & buses based �on more reliable/timely user data

• Real-time sources of data: card taps; �turnstile counters; onboard automatic passenger counters
• Forecasting; add more services based on surrounding events
• Dispatch extra buses on routes where overcrowding is detected; where action �spikes in the app
• Empower riders to contribute info via app �and become a real-time sensor network

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Easy (con’t)

If you search up, “LA Metro Rider Apps,” how many apps show up on this page?

A) Two apps

B) Four apps

C) Eight apps

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Easy (con’t)

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Easy (con’t)

Quotes from the internet (Reddit):

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“I've looked into the public transportation options for when I'm [in LA] and it seems to require a TAP card. They also have an app from what it looks like, so what I'm asking is if there is any way I can get by without creating an account, since it seems to require a US address to register one? … Just not sure what my options are here, as in my probably very biased opinion, the system we have here in Sweden is a lot simpler.” (3 years ago)

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“Why is the Transit app such rubbish?” (2 years ago)

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“My goodness - this would be incredible if the team could �pull it off, versus needing 5-6 apps on my phone to ride a Metrobike, manage my tap card, etc.” (8 months ago)

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Easy (con’t)

All-In-One Metro App:

• Accurate times & live location tracking
• Report safety or cleanliness concerns
• Purchase passes & add funds
• Transition taps to digital environment as one easy option (can keep card as well)

Bottom line: Trip planning, fare payment, and customer communications in one app for a more user-friendly experience

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Benefit Analysis

Easy

• A single app can bring in thousands of riders per route per month
• San Antonio’s VIA goMobile+ app
• Aim to increased the number of returning riders:
• 11% due to unreliable service
• 18% because buses too slow/infrequent

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Benefit Analysis

Safety

• Increased safety = Increased riders
• Valley Metro (2025)
• Incidents drop over 50%
• Ridership increased 21%
• Minneapolis-St. Paul (2024)
• Crime fell by about 17.5%
• Ridership increased 9%

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Benefit Analysis

Clean

• Limited studies about correlation between cleanliness and ridership
• Cleanliness tends to be coupled with safety
• LA can pioneer this type of study:
• Create a ‘cleanliness index’
• Pilot in 6–8 stations / corridors
• Run pre/post measures
• Pair with a communication campaigns

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Agents of Action

• LA Metro (CEO: Stephanie Wiggins) - Write, revise, and execute the plan for the app in collaboration with the agencies below
• Anthony Crump (Community Relations - Project Delivery) - follow-through on the project and organize with other community relations team like Jennifer Vides (Chief Customer Experience Officer) to gather feedback
• Zoé Zeigler (Marketing) - educate consumers, promote the app

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Agents of Action

• Ray Sosa (Chief Planning Officer) and the Countywide Planning & Development Team
• coordinate with local governments and city council members to gain buy-in
• Nalini Ahuja (Chief Financial Officer) - organize funding for the project
• Janitorial staff - respond to cleaning requests
• Transit Operations: Conan Cheung (Chief Operations Officer), Edna Stanley (Deputy Chief Operations Officer – Transit Service Delivery)
• Service Development, Scheduling & Analysis - analyze data from past Metro ridership to schedule more services at key hours

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Agents of Action

• LA ITA (CIO: Ted Ross) - Review LA Metro’s plan and needs to build a well-suited app
• Eduardo Magos (Applications Bureau) - oversee the build, implementation, and maintenance of the app
• LADOT - collaborate with LA Metro to provide information on DASH and express buses operated by LADOT
• Mayor Karen Bass and Mayor’s Office - oversee funding and service improvement

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Agents of Action

• Local City Gov./transit authorities - coordinate with LA Metro to provide app functionality and consistent value throughout the region
• William Scott (LA Metro Chief of Police and Emergency Management) + LAPD - coordinate to respond to in-app reports for safety

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Engagement Plan 

1. Announce that an all-encompassing metro app is in development
2. Hold public meetings in key locations (near stations where ridership is affected by fare evaders), looking for feedback + suggestions. At the same time, reach out to businesses and engage them in these events (to help provide better transit for their employees)
3. As app is developing, keep in touch with beta testers from different demographics - avid riders, non-avid riders, young, old, etc.
4. During app rollout, heavily advertise, emphasizing the new “user-friendly, safe, and clean” metro.

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Funding Method

• Public-private partnerships to deploy tech
• Grant Programs
• FEMA Transit Security: protect public
• Clean California: clean transit centers
• Sell & resell naming rights for lines/stations
• LA’s entertainment sector uniquely suited
• Comparable markets: $MM per line, per year
• Depending on financial levers used, estimate $120MM initial funding can be generated

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THANK YOU FOR READING!

- AZPatsFan

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