As crime fell 6% last year on Metro Transit, ridership increased by nearly the same amount, officials announced Monday. Still, ridership hasn’t rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.

Metro Transit says the year-over-year ridership growth can be partially attributed to programs making transit more affordable and easier to use.

For instance, University of Minnesota and other college students took nearly 2.8 million rides using Universal Transit Pass, a 33% increase from 2023. It allows students to ride as often as needed at no direct cost; student fees cover program costs at the U of M.

Last year was the third consecutive year that ridership grew, with Metro Transit providing about 47.5 million rides; before the pandemic, in 2019, Metro Transit provided 77.9 million rides.“People are voting with their feet, and they’re telling us they value the kind of frequent and reliable service we’re providing in our METRO corridors,” said Charlie Zelle, chairman of the Metropolitan Council, which operates Met Transit, in a statement.

Average weekday ridership last year was 143,696. Ridership in bus rapid transit corridors increased nearly 14% from 2023, and three new BRT lines will open this year.

This year’s Metro Transit budget forecasts less than 10 percent of revenue will come from fares, said Drew Kerr, spokesman.

1,000+ citations for smoking

There were 7,402 crimes reported on transit last year, 6 percent fewer than 2023. The top incident documented was smoking, followed by trespassing and damage to property.

Last year’s total included 1,127 citations for smoking, compared with 322 citations in 2023. The citations reflect “an increased focus on enforcement,” said Interim Metro Transit Police Chief Joe Dotseth. It stems from riders complaining about smoking and staff observing infractions.

There were 4,539 crime reports in 2021 and 5,901 in 2022. Metro Transit notes that the numbers were down because those were low ridership years due to the COVID pandemic and that officers’ proactive work, such as issuing citations for smoking, has driven the numbers up. Because of a federal change in collecting crime data, comparing data before 2020 is difficult, Kerr said.

Violent crime was down 15 percent year-over-year — there were 1,004 reports to Metro Transit police vs. 1,178 last year.

While there have been homicides at light rail stations, the Nov. 29 shooting of Sharif Darryl Walker-El Jr. on a Green Line train in St. Paul was the first homicide on board a light rail train since the Blue Line started 20 years ago and the Green Line 10 years ago, according to Metro Transit. His shooting remains under investigation by Metro Transit police.

The building that connects St. Paul’s Central Station to the skyway, which was the scene of a double homicide in 2022, was closed soon after. The move was described then as temporary, though it’s still closed. There isn’t a date set for reopening it, “but we are actively working to add resources there,” said Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras.

There is now supplemental security at Central Station, plus Safety Ambassadors from St. Paul’s Downtown Improvement District will begin monitoring light rail stations and nearby bus stops in downtown St. Paul this month.

Influx in hiring

Metro Transit is continuing to grow its Transit Rider Investment Program (TRIP), comprised of civilian agents who ride the light rail and expanding to the BRT system. They issue administrative citations for nonpayment of fares, educate passengers about the code of conduct, and share information about routes and schedules.

TRIP agents and community service officers completed over 500,000 fare inspections in the first year. “That’s a notable increase from the amount of fare inspection we were able to do in 2023,” Kandaras said.

Metro Transit is also further investing in supplemental security, and working to recruit more police and community service officers.

“We are taking a whole community approach to public safety, and the results are speaking for themselves,” Dotseth said.

Metro Transit says the hiring of more than 450 new operators last year, the most in the agency’s history, supported service improvements. There are now more than 1,300 bus and train operators working for Metro Transit, and they’re still hiring.

They have an “acute need” in maintenance areas, including for bus and train mechanic technicians, said Chief Operating Officer Brian Funk, noting that starting wage is nearly $40/hour. Funk said they’ve tried innovative approaches — 11 people recently graduated Metro Transit’s classroom and on-the-job learning apprenticeship program, and they’ll next be spending time working as technicians alongside other journeyworker-level technicians.