Metro Transit will engage a non-public security company to offer the brand new personnel to conduct light rail and bus rapid transit fare checks, implement a brand new code of conduct and help riders navigate the system.

The contract staff are expected to be on platforms, buses and trains throughout the first quarter of 2024 as Transit Rider Investment Program (TRIP) employees. 

Using private contractors relatively than Metro Transit staff is a change in plans from what had been envisioned for the reason that Legislature approved a transit safety plan in May. Then, and within the months since, the Met Council had expected to rent employees under its contract with the Amalgamated Transit Union. But negotiations with the union on the general contract, which incorporates integrate TRIP staff into the bargaining unit,  haven’t been accomplished. 

When it meets Wednesday, its last meeting of the 12 months, the Met Council is predicted to approve a contract amendment with Allied Universal to pay it to tackle TRIP duties along with the private security work it’s already been doing at transit stations since April. The identical contract change will extend the private security agreement through April of 2025.

The council also is predicted to approve a brand new code of conduct that can set standards for rider behavior and arrange sanctions for many who violate the code. The code will likely be posted on vehicles and stations in February when it can be enforced.

Lesley Kandaras, the overall manager of Metro Transit, told a legislative committee Tuesday that the private contract will get TRIP staff in the sector sooner. Since Dec. 4, a dozen community service officers — non-sworn police, a few of whom will transition into police training — have been enforcing fares. In the primary week, nearly 2,000 fares were checked and 193 citations were written, Metro Transit reported this week.

TRIP staff are expected to tackle those duties once they’re deployed.

“That can allow us to roll it out more quickly,” she said afterward. However the intent of each Metro Transit and the union is to maintain negotiating over those jobs as a way to bring them under the contract with staffers, not contractors. “We’re pursuing this because we feel an incredible deal of urgency around having TRIP agents on the system.”

David Stiggers, the president-elect of ATU 1005, said the union just isn’t contesting the usage of private contractors for now.

“It wouldn’t be in our greatest interest to fight what are needed security improvements,” Stigger said. “But we’d definitely wish to get it settled so our members can try this work.” ATU 1005 has about 2,000 members including bus and train operators, mechanics, track maintenance staff and call center employees.

TRIP personnel are a key component within the plan approved in May but within the works since 2019. Fairly than have Metro Transit police write misdemeanor citations carrying heavy fines that were rarely prosecuted, the civilian personnel (at one point they were known as ambassadors) will issue administrative fines akin to parking tickets. Fines will start at $35 but increase with repeat offenses that may result in banishment from transit. An independent administrative hearing process, separate from the courts, will rule on appeals.

Starting last June, Metro Transit has worked with county social service staff and nonprofits to conduct interventions to direct people toward housing and substance abuse treatment. Stepped up law enforcement followed that social service work however the agency has also contracted with nonprofit groups to assist reduce violence on the system through intervention strategies.

Met Council Chair Charlie Zelle told the House Transportation Committee Tuesday that he thinks the hassle is working.

“The No. 1 goal for all of us at Metro Transit and the Met Council is the client experience, the protected, reliable experience for each our customers and our employees,” Zelle said. “We’re on a pathway to succeed in those goals. … We’re not where we should be, but we’re definitely making headway toward creating this welcoming environment.”

Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales III told the committee he’s seeing declines in calls for service to the agency and in reported crimes. But like most police agencies, the Metro Transit Police Department continues to be struggling to fill positions. It has money to rent 171 officers but only has 109 on staff. It has a budget for 70 community service officers but only has 12.

One response is what known as the Pathway Program that recruits people to get college credit for gratis to assist feed the CSO program. 

The contract with Allied Universal for personal security officers was a technique to get more patrols on the most-troubled stations, including Lake Street Midtown, Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn Center Transit Center, I-35W and Lake Street Station, the Chicago-Lake Transit Center and the Uptown Transit Station. The transit agency hopes so as to add private patrols to the Central Station in St. Paul early next 12 months.

“Let’s be clear about this: We aren’t going to arrest our way out of this case,” Morales said, adding that some people need assistance getting housing, treatment and social services. “Nevertheless, there are repeat offenders, and sometimes our only alternative is to arrest, to offer them a day out.”

Some testifiers Tuesday were concerned that the brand new fare enforcement will harm individuals who ride transit because they’ve nowhere else to go, something that can increase because the weather gets colder.

While the brand new code doesn’t include a ban on sleeping on vehicles, Daylon Prochaska, the transit justice coordinator for MN350, said aggressive fare enforcement could also harm people facing homelessness who can’t afford fares.

“As we enter winter, unsheltered residents need places to flee intolerable cold,” he said. “The trains and buses are some people’s last resort.”

Prochaska suggested exemptions for unsheltered people via the usage of free fare cards that may very well be distributed by TRIP agents and the nonprofit staff who work with riders who need services.

“Provide these special cards to outreach staff, community based organizations and other organizers who engage with unhoused residents recurrently to reduce other harmful interactions,” he proposed.

Lisa Clemons is the chief executive officer of A Mother’s Love, a community organization that has been contracted by Metro Transit to cut back gun violence and domestic abuse. The group uses what it calls “Boots On The Ground outreach” in communities most affected by violence and disparities.

Clemons testified behind a thick binder holding the interaction reports the group’s staff have done in and around transit. But she said the work starts “off the bus” to cut back the probabilities that violence will likely be the response to confrontations.

“For those who address the problems in and across the shelters, you possibly can deescalate lots of it before they even get on the bus,” Clemons said. “We understand this initiative, but we also understand that there are lots of people in and around Metro Transit who’re asking us for help, and we would really like to proceed giving them that help.”