Coming up on Politics Friday: Met Council Chair Charlie Zelle on transit safety

On this edition of Politics Friday, host Mike Mulcahy will sit down with Charlie Zelle, the new chair of the Metropolitan Council, on what he plans to do to improve safety on Twin Cities buses and light rail.

Last week, Metro Transit officials held a press conference vowing to step up safety rail in the wake of a rise in crime, including two recent killings on Twin Cities transit routes.

Aggravated assaults on buses and trains tripled from 2015 to 2019. Robberies went up nearly 40 percent over the same time.

Zelle has said the current law that criminalizes fare evasion requires a licensed cop to write a ticket and that few evaders are prosecuted. He said fewer than 50 of about 1,500 citations issued last year resulted in a fine. But Zelle said that a proposed law change would decriminalize fare evasion and could free up police to address more serious issues.