Title
Light Rail Safety Update
Description
This report provides the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee an update on Light Rail safety and security.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
Summary
The City of Phoenix and Valley Metro are committed to delivering safe, reliable, high-quality transit experiences for customers. The priority is keeping customers safe by maintaining continuous presence of security across the 28-mile light rail system and collaborating with the City's partners, contractors, and community resources.
Enhanced Light Rail Security Operations Plan
To address community concerns regarding the level of safety on light rail vehicles and facilities under the management of Valley Metro, the Phoenix Police Department Transit Unit and Allied Universal Security created an Enhanced Security Plan to support the Valley Metro staff responsible for ensuring the safety of the light rail system. During each iteration of the Enhanced Light Rail Security Operations Plan, squad-size elements of the Transit Unit comprised of one sergeant, four to six detectives, and five to six police assistants were placed on selected light rail platforms to be immediately available to identify individuals who were determined to be trespassing or engaging in theft of services by the Valley Metro fare inspectors who were on the platform and assigned to inspect each arriving light rail vehicle to ensure compliance.
The ongoing maintenance phase of the Enhanced Light Rail Security Operations Plan consists of deployment of Transit Unit personnel on light rail platforms two to three times per week. The new enforcement data through Nov. 17, 2023, includes the following:
- Total Arrests: 223*
- Warrants: 173
- Trespassing Arrests: 28
- Subjects Trespassed: 474
- Drug-Related Arrests: 41
- Firearms Seized: 1
*Some arrestees were charged with more than one category above.
Public Transit Title VI Requirements
The City of Phoenix serves as the Designated Recipient for federal transit funds for the greater Phoenix area as well as other funding recipients in the region (“subrecipients”). In this role, Phoenix annually submits to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) certifications and assurances in which the City certifies that it, and its subrecipients, as a regional system, will comply with all federal statutes relating to nondiscrimination, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, or low income status. Such Title VI requirements are applied as a condition of any award of federal funding from the FTA.
Since light rail stations constructed in the region (including those installed within Phoenix’s city limits) were funded with federal funds, the stations are subject to Title VI requirements as agreed to and certified by the City and Valley Metro. Per the FTA’s Title VI guidance, “no person or group of persons shall be discriminated against with regard to the routing, scheduling, or quality of service of transportation service furnished as a part of the project on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Frequency of service, age and quality of vehicles assigned to routes, quality of stations serving different routes, and location of routes may not be determined on the basis of race, color, or national origin.”
The FTA defines transit amenities as “items of comfort, convenience, and safety that are available to the general riding public.” Relative to amenities such as light rail stations, the City and Valley Metro must ensure that such amenities are equitably distributed across the system so that transit users have equal access, including light rail station infrastructure and any related appurtenances, which could include any lighting, air conditioning, fare gates, turnstiles, or accessible features.
FTA guidance further clarifies that “transit providers shall evaluate their transit amenities policy to ensure amenities are being distributed throughout the transit system in an equitable manner.” An evaluation (equity analysis) of enclosures would be necessary to determine whether transit-dependent minority and low-income populations will bear a disparate/disproportionate burden for such amenities, including consideration of the degree of adverse effects on those populations. However, this evaluation would be incomplete if conducted for light rail stations only within Phoenix’s city limits because such a jurisdictional line would not “ensure equitable distribution of transit amenities across the system.”
Public Transit and Law Department’s determination is that the FTA is likely to find that minority and low-income populations across the region would not receive the same comfort, convenience, and safety from more basic transit-station amenities provided elsewhere in the region, resulting in disparities for those populations.
Fare Collection System Modernization
The current regional fare system was implemented in 2007. The system is currently being replaced by a more modern, open architecture system provided by Vix Technologies. The project is being managed jointly by the City of Phoenix and Valley Metro, each of which is handling different aspects needed for system implementation across the region. The new system will be open and flexible to easily allow changes to incorporate innovative technologies. As is being done in other transit agencies across the county, the new system will provide greater control of fare media and usage through account-based technology and increased flexibility and options for riders.
With the new fare collection system, paper media for passes will be replaced by smartcards and mobile fare. Customers will have transit fare accounts, either through a mobile app or by using a long-life reloadable smart card (to be called the Copper Card). The new system also allows the region to introduce Smart Fare (fare capping) as a more equitable means to providing transit service for those most frequent riders who can reach daily/weekly/monthly maximum fares charged. With Smart Fare, riders load value to their accounts and fares are then deducted for each boarding up to a daily, weekly, and monthly maximum. The value can be loaded incrementally as needed by the rider, eliminating the need to pay for a multi-day pass up front. Cash fares will continue to be available through the purchase of a single ride on board buses via the farebox and through fare vending machines. The system provides mobile ticketing and will soon provide access to stored value smartcards and a web-based management tool for riders to manage their accounts. The region launched mobile fare in February 2023 in advance of Super Bowl activities, with additional mobile fare features to be introduced with the smartcards in May 2024.
As part of the transition to the new system, new ticket vending machines (TVM) will be installed at all light rail stations. However, these TVMs are not able to be installed and activated until all the necessary backend system changes are completed. Those system changes will not be final until late spring 2024. As a result, the current project timeline anticipates at least one new ticket vending machine (TVM) installed at every platform along the main alignment by May 1, 2024. The installation of a second TVM at each station is planned by June 1, 2024. Additionally, handheld fare inspection devices, which allow for the inspection and validation of fares on light rail, are expected to be in place for the May 1, 2024, launch of smart fare and new TVMs. The delivery and installation of project equipment is also driven by equipment manufacturing schedules, which have experienced delays due to the global pandemic and subsequent computer chip shortages and ongoing supply chain issues.
Valley Metro Update
Valley Metro provided information on security personnel, facilities, fare inspection and ticket vending on Attachment A.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Assistant City Manager Lori Bays, Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Police and Public Transit departments.