When Emma Spooner moved to St. Paul two summers ago, the cautions she received about Metro Transit proved justified.

The lack of police on the Green and Blue line light-rail trains, she said, “gave people free reign to do whatever they wanted,” including openly using drugs.

“One time, I had this guy masturbating right next to me,” she recalled. “That was awful — and that was at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday.”

Spooner, 28, said she’s never seen an official police presence on the trains.

In response to rider feedback like Spooner’s, Metro Transit has spent the past five years planning and implementing sturdier safety and security objectives. Improving conditions at stations and in vehicles is key to restoring pre-pandemic ridership levels — and the public’s trust.

Metro Transit leaders have been acknowledged for their ongoing efforts: At the American Public Transportation Association’s Rail Conference last month in Baltimore, they accepted the Gold Award in the Safe, Effective and Clean category for Light Rail/Streetcar.

To Metropolitan Council Transportation Committee Chair Reva Chamblis, who led the work group, the achievement “solidified all of the work that was done over the past five years.”

And ridership has continued to grow in recent years, with Metro Transit providing about 47.5 million rides in 2024 and 50.9 million in 2025; before the pandemic, in 2019, Metro Transit provided 77.9 million rides.Yet, this national recognition does not translate to overt enthusiasm in the average Twin Cities rider. Based on feedback to the Pioneer Press, the perception of riding Metro Transit still feels largely negative to many frequent riders.

Riders especially described hesitance to ride the trains, with several telling a reporter it was a “last resort” and something that they will “go out of their way” to avoid.

Official visibility

Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras said she had the chance to hear about passengers safety concerns when she made it a challenge to ride every route operated by the agency in her first year in the position.

While some riders said they look for alternative options of transit whenever possible, she also learned that riders feel safer when official presence is visible on the system.

That’s why building layers of official visibility is a key focus of Metro Transit’s Safety & Security Action Plan, developed in late 2021, which identifies more than 40 action items.

Since the implementation of the plan, officer activity levels are higher than ever before: Metro Transit reports that police officers, community service officers or TRIP (transit rider investment program) agents are now present on more than 40% of all light-rail trips.

“(Officers are) addressing problems before they happen really at record levels,” Metro Transit Police Chief Joseph Dotseth said. “We’re constantly talking about our officer activity numbers increasing. Every quarter, I’m like, ‘it can’t get higher,’ but it keeps getting higher.”

At St. Paul’s Central Station downtown, officer Collin Bensen spends the hot summer afternoons in full gear, catching up with his co-workers and greeting riders as they wait for their trains. When he gets in the train car, people take note of his presence, and some even stop to make small talk. No one acts out of line.

Dotseth said he hopes to continue increasing officer presence and positions while reimagining relationships between Metro Transit police and the public through a “community-centered approach.”

“Historically with law enforcement, that trust has diminished over time,” said Sgt. Hela Maurer, who’s worked for Metro Transit since 2019. “I feel I have to go out there and bridge it.”

Continuously bringing more staff on board will only increase opportunities for connection and, in turn, greater perception of safety, Dotseth said.

Data collected by the agency corroborates the improvement Metro Transit leaders pride themselves in. The number of customer complaints fell by more than 27% between 2024 and 2025. And in a 2025 Customer Satisfaction Survey, 49% of respondents said they agreed or strongly agreed that they feel safe on trains, up 16% from 2023.

Women riders

However, women riders particularly say incidents of past harassment and unsafety continue to deter them from frequenting the trains.

Ann Redding, who rides the bus almost every day, tells people not to ride the train. “It is too unsafe,” she said. Particularly as a 70-year-old woman of a smaller stature, she worries about being a defenseless target, which is why at one point she avoided the train for years.

Redding has been an avid bus rider since she moved to the Twin Cities in 1978. In prior decades, feelings of unsafety were few and far between, she recalled, but that has changed for the worse in the past decade, as she’s witnessed drug abuse, harassment and deplorable behavior — things she attributes to lazily enforced fares. Today, she continues to almost exclusively take the bus.

Spooner agrees that buses feel safer. But even on the day of her conversation with the Pioneer Press, Spooner witnessed the harassment of a female Metro Transit worker who was checking tickets on her bus to work.

“She was just doing her job and (a man) was yelling at her for being rude and bad at her job and made some misogynistic comments,” she recalled.

To improve conditions for women in public transit, Metro Transit is participating in the national 30×30 initiative to have 30% of the force be female officers by 2030. Nationally, women represent less than 14% of sworn officers. In the Metro Transit Police Department, just under 20% of sworn officers are female; their command staff is currently 33% female.

Sgt. Maurer said those numbers only made her want to do the job more. “We want to represent the community that we serve, the young women and girls out here,” she said.

Maurer’s representation of women extends beyond her daily duties: She is a liaison with the women police association and the highest-ranking female Ethiopian officer in the state of Minnesota.

“We bring different perspectives as women, and we’re able to de-escalate situations by communicating,” Maurer said. “Women are more likely to gravitate towards me in things like domestic or sexual assault.”

Spooner agreed that a positive of seeing more women in official roles is the lived experience they can bring to the job. “But I do fear for them, too,” she said. “It’s not just the female passengers (that get harassed), but also the women working.”

In the incident with the female worker, Spooner said witnesses were quick to jump in and de-escalate the situation. In a way, they reinforced Metro Transit police’s community approach, defined by Dotseth as “everyone working towards a common goal.”

‘Headed in the right direction’

Metro Transit leaders understand that the national award does not mean their work is over, but rather “it’s a signal that we’re headed in the right direction,” Kandaras said. “We are committed to continuing to respond to feedback.”

Spooner said she would not let any fear stop her from taking the bus. “I wouldn’t ever dissuade anyone from utilizing (Metro Transit),” she said. “I think it makes a big difference how we talk about it, too — not letting one bad experience or a couple of bad experiences make people afraid … 99.9% of the time, it’s just fine.”

Recently, Redding said she took the train for the first time in months to commute to Menards. She encountered no problems on her ride.

Still, on the way back she took the bus, hopping from the Route 67 bus to the Route 2 and then the Route 18 on her way home.

“I did not want to press my luck,” she said.

It’s hard to earn back the trust of the riders, Redding said, especially when they’ve had negative experiences that define their perception of the system as a whole.

Maybe Metro Transit could incentivize those who can prove they’ve ridden the train in the past by giving them a few free passes to try taking it again, Redding suggested.

“They’re not going to believe it from someone else,” she added.

“They will have to see it for themself.”