Can a new code of conduct improve safety on metro transit?

CATHY WURZER: Our top story today is safety on Metro area light rail trains and buses. Two men have been charged in the brutal attack of a transgender woman at a Minneapolis light rail station Monday morning that left her with critical injuries. Investigators think this is a bias-motivated assault. The suspects are due to make their first court appearances this afternoon in Hennepin County court.

The attack comes amid rising crime on the Metro Transit System. Tomorrow, state lawmakers in the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee are scheduled to discuss a bill that would enforce a new code of conduct on Metro buses and trains. DFL State Representative Brad Tabke of Shakopee is the lead author of that bill. He joins us to talk about it. Welcome, Representative.

BRAD TAPKE: Thank you, Cathy. Thank you so much for having me.

CATHY WURZER: One might think a Minneapolis or St. Paul lawmaker might shepherd this bill through the process, but you're from Shakopee. Are you a transit user?

BRAD TAPKE: I am. Unfortunately, the first day of session, the front end of my truck got taken out. And so I am a forced but happy transit user every day from Shakopee to the Capitol.

CATHY WURZER: And how are the experiences for you?

BRAD TAPKE: It has been eye opening, to say the least. We started working on transit because in 2019, when I was in the legislature and we worked on transit and transit safety at that time, knowing that things were not quite right with how we were handling transit safety in the Metro. And it has done nothing but get worse post COVID. And I've learned a lot about what we need to do. And so I'm on the trains nearly every day of the week and have had a lot of negative and a lot of positive experiences. And so what we need to do is make sure that everybody knows what culture and what expectations there are for everyone being a transit rider and what it is to have a comfortable and safe ride.

CATHY WURZER: I want to ask a little bit about the incidents, and I know you've done some research on this as you're carrying the bill. How many of the incidents reported are serious crimes versus incidents that make riders uncomfortable?

BRAD TAPKE: Yeah. That is a really great question. And there are a number of serious crimes, like the terrible incident on Monday on the Lake Street platform. And it's just awful, and it's not acceptable in any state of mind. And so it is something we absolutely have to work on. So there are things that absolutely are extraordinarily dangerous and unsafe situations that happen on transit. But there are also a lot of things that just simply, as you said, make people uncomfortable.

And so it's not it is not something that it's illegal to sleep on the train if you are experiencing homelessness. Those kinds of things are ones that we're not worried about. We people can experience a certain level of discomfort. But smoking on the trains and being belligerent on the trains and different things like that are completely unacceptable, and we have to take action.

CATHY WURZER: So what does your bill do? I was looking through it quickly here. It looks like it would make it a misdemeanor to smoke, and eat, and play loud music, and litter, and that kind of thing. But a lot of people might be more worried about the really serious things, like drug use, weapons, or assault.

BRAD TAPKE: Yeah, absolutely. So what we're doing in the legislature, and we're working together with a lot of different folks, is we are moving forward on a two-phase plan. And so what we had worked on before had been referred to as the Ambassador Bill. And that was working with Metro Transit and hiring more folks to be on the trains in order to enforce fare evasion, those kinds of things, code of conduct issues, those types of things.

And also just to be there to help people when they're lost. Of new folks who are riding the transit system to be able to say, hey, need to get off the train at government plaza and switch trains at US Bank, or whatever that may be to get where they're going, to be that helpful hand when they're there. To carry Narcan, to do those kinds of things.

But as I was riding the train every day, it became clear extremely quickly that that is a 30% solution for what we actually need to have on the trains. And so that what we're doing is the first phase of the bill that we'll be discussing tomorrow is an intervention phase. And so we need to have a reset of what the culture is of riding the trains.

And so it's not acceptable to smoke on the trains. It's not acceptable to be getting into fights on the trains and different things like that. There's a culture right now that those kinds of things are just OK. And we need to make sure to reset that. And so we have the transit system and specifically, the trains right now are a magnifier for all the issues that we have in our society regarding homelessness, and addiction, and mental health issues. And those kinds of things are magnified on our transit system.

And so we're going to start out with working together with the counties and with the Department of Human Services and other folks, independent entities, for a period of a month. Getting on there, and just finding issues, and making sure people are connected the help that they need. A lot of the issues around addiction we need to get on and talk to people and say, hey, how can we help, and where do we need to go?

And then once we get that piece done, and anybody who wants help has helped, then we come after that with enforcement, working together with the counties and with the cities along the line, and making sure that we are enforcing the code of conduct. And I've talked to a lot of Metro Transit police officers on the train. And they don't feel that they have the ability to remove someone from the train. So we're clarifying statutes and wording to make sure everybody knows that this is the expectation of what it is to be a transit rider, and we have a massive state asset that we need to protect, and we are moving forward legislative leadership to do that.

CATHY WURZER: So it sounds as though at a certain point, there will be a crackdown on bad behavior that will result in a misdemeanor if found guilty. And I'm wondering, do you have any concerns that that could reinforce racial inequities? Because as you know, research shows that misdemeanors disproportionately affect poor folks and people of color.

BRAD TAPKE: Yep. Absolutely. That is at the forefront of our discussions, in making sure that we are working together with everyone and having additional enforcement on the trains will absolutely has risk in moving forward with that. But also, not doing anything has a significant amount of risk to it as well, as we see of what happened on Monday with the incident at Lake Street there.

And so we have a significant amount of concern from a legislative perspective that this is not being handled. And so we are moving forward with handling that. And we have been working with the POCI Caucus and folks here in the House and in the Senate to make sure that we are doing things as best we can to protect people and making sure that we are having a safe and comfortable ride on transit.

CATHY WURZER: So this is a multibillion dollar taxpayer funded system. Is it being effectively managed? Can some of the safety concerns be connected to how the system is managed?

BRAD TAPKE: I think right now, to me, there is obviously wish that things have had gone differently and had been acted upon sooner. And that's partly a legislative issue, where we didn't pass some things I think that we should have passed before COVID. But as I said before, the trains especially are a magnifier for all of the issues that we haven't been doing well in the state of Minnesota. We have a huge spike in addiction issues. We've had a huge spike in people experiencing homelessness and mental health concerns. People in crisis on the trains.

And so it is, in general, a safe and warm place, especially in the winter, for people to go. And so it shows glaringly the issues that we have in our society today that we in the legislature are working on putting significant resources into helping, and alleviating, and fixing those issues that come up with our equity issues and with everything that we've got going on. We must continue to work on that. And transit is showing that we have these issues, and we have to work together to fix it.

CATHY WURZER: Say, you've been around for a while here when it comes to lawmaking. How confident are you that the bill could make it through the legislature this session? I am very confident that we will get work done. This has been something that people have been talking about, like my bill going in tomorrow.

Lead Petersburg is the Republican lead in the House Transportation Committee. I've been working closely with him to make sure that what we're doing is a large, coordinated effort to make sure that people know that this is a great way. This is a really important key move that is happening, and this is a change in where it's going.

And so we know that the way to have the trains and the transit system be the most safe possible is by having people on there. And so what we hope happens and what we hope continues to happen is that as we work and we share the message that we're taking active actions on getting this moving forward, and getting more social services on the train to help the people who need help, we are getting more enforcement on the train to help make sure that it's a safe environment. That people come back to the transit system, and they know it's a safe, comfortable ride. And the more people we have, the better off we'll be.

CATHY WURZER: All right, Representative. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

BRAD TAPKE: Thank you so much, Cathy. Have a great day.

CATHY WURZER: You too. We've been talking to DFL State Representative Brad Tapke of Shakopee. He has a bill before the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee tomorrow that would outline misdemeanor offenses on Metro Transit buses and trains.