Fare compliance is real, but the bigger goal is to change the transit vibe

If you haven’t been on a Twin Cities light rail train in a few years, you’re not alone. Transit ridership is down over the last five years, still hovering about two-thirds of its pre-COVID peak. 

There are a lot of interlocking reasons for the decrease, and other U.S. cities have seen greater rebounds. Attracting riders back to the light rail system is a tall order after years of nuisance problems like smoking and disorder. Just like other central public spaces, the transit system bears the brunt of the concentration of poverty and drug addiction.

But things have been quietly changing on the metro’s trains. For one thing, when you ride light rail these days, more often than not you’ll see people from Metro Transit keeping the peace, checking fares or standing watch over the platforms.