urbanMSP

Bus driver is attacked by a group of assailants in broad daylight on Nicollet Mall. But remember, everything's fine downtown!

Remember, each individual indecent always indicates a trend!

If this were just a random guy taking a swing at some other random guy, it would be easier to just rationalize it away. But to have an environment where a group of people feel that this is something that they can do to what is essentially a bystander, and maybe even get away with, is just stunning.

But yes, by all means, write this off as just being a fluke if that fits better into your preferred political narrative.

Ah, yes, I'm the one with a political narrative.

Young men do stupid things sometimes, and few things are more stupid than assaulting a bus driver next to the bus (many cameras) on Nicollet Mall (cameras at every corner). Some or all of them will be prosecuted. It doesn't say anything about the "environment."

Pretty ballsy to throw out the 'political narrative' card in a post that implies there's a "group of people" who are a-okay with bus driver assaults.

The group of people in question is, in fact, the group of people on the video who were assaulting the bus driver. No need for the scare quotes, thanks.

Has smoking on the trains always been an issue? Last night riding the Blue Line I couldn't see smoke, but I could definitely smell a cigarette, and then the driver came on the intercom saying if they didn't stop smoking he would call the police. Does anyone know of any other transit system where this is an issue? If people want/need to ride the train to stay warm that's fine, but is it too much to ask for people not to smoke and litter on the trains and the platforms?

I haven’t experienced it as an issue overall. What time were you riding the train? My first thought was that the smoking was an affect of it being NYE and people had been out celebrating. I know my judgement of what is and is not ok goes down when drinking lol I agree the litter can be an issue though. I think an education campaign would be a good way to start addrsssing that.

Around 9:30 last night, but on a Twin Cities transit page I follow on Facebook a couple people have had the same experience. Also, while not on the train, the enclosed and heated stairwell at the 28th Avenue Park & Ride ramp reeks of cigarette smoke. A couple times I've seen people smoke there, so now I either try to park on the ground level or take one of the outdoor stairwells.

Smoking happens quite often on the CTA, especially in some of the rougher neighborhoods. On several occasions I've come across groups of teenagers smoking marijuana on the train too.

Typically the drivers don't say anything (probably because they won't know unless someone tells them) but just the other day a driver didn't move the train until the smoker got off.

I was in Toronto recently and their subway system was extremely clean. It seems that Metro Transit has quite a bit of littering issues, and perhaps there is something that Chicago and Minneapolis can learn from Toronto.

Smoking and Litter has been a big problem for Metro Transit within the last year, it is getting out of hand. Really we need our police officers riding trains and being at platforms instead of being in patrol cars.

http://m.startribune.com/metro-transit- ... Bmk_a_xh2Y

I don't see why the police have to be undercover, but I'm glad they're going to start enforcing the no smoking rule instead of passive aggressive signage and announcements that smoking isn't allowed on platforms and trains.

Really gives you faith in humanity when someone clearly in the wrong still has the nerve to yell at someone who politely asks them to stop smoking on the train.

Is this a problem in Asian or European countries?

I don't see why the police have to be undercover

Nobody smokes in front of cop, like no one speeds if they see a cop.

I have noticed a lot more smoking on trains lately. It sucks. I don’t want the smokers to be thrown in jail for life or anything but some level of enforcement is welcome. Even if it is just pulling the offenders off the train and giving a warning.

I suspect that the actual number of people that smoke on trains is a pretty small number of individuals. Anecdotally I see plenty of overlap between the homeless population and smokers. I don’t care if homeless people ride the trains but we ought to draw some kind of line when they are actively polluting the experience for dozens of others.

I suspect giving smokers a warning won't be enough. Not that I'm saying throw them in jail and throw away the key, but they're clearly breaking a rule plus the fact that it's a fire danger and a danger to people's health (especially people with breathing problems) so there has to be some sort of punishment for this behavior to deter people from smoking on the train.

Any way they could ban offenders from Metro Transit for a period of months? It's not like this is the type of infraction where there's any confusion about what is legal or not.

How would such a ban be enforced?

TriMet in PDX has the authority to ban passengers for life for subsequent, violent crime on transit. It used to be six months max, but they changed the policy to up to one year for first time offences, and up to life for offences after that.

Every story I read about smoking on light rail (which I haven't actually seen in person), I automatically assume it has to be like the same 10-20 extremely mentally ill people doing the offending. I just seriously doubt there are hundreds of separate people regularly smoking on trains.

If it's the same dozen-ish people doing it, MTPD ought to be able to do something about that...surveillance state and all

I don't take the green line often, but the last three times I was riding it I saw different people smoking one thing or another. The last time, there was hardly anyone on the train except me and my three and a half year old and two people came from the other side of the train, sat down across from us, and proceeded to light up a joint right next to us. I'm generally not that much of a prude and I take transit everywhere and have been doing so for most of my adult life, but don't start smoking anything in an enclosed space next to a toddler. I have zero tolerance for that. It is getting to the point on the green line that I consistently have second thoughts about riding it. I have nearly sat in or stepped on poop (literally poop!) multiple times this winter.

I don't know what the solution is. It seems like the latest proposal from the new head of Metro Transit is a start, but this is a multi-faceted issue, especially the homelessness piece. The metro area desperately needs more resources for the homeless. Allowing people to sleep on the trains in the winter has to be an emergency stopgap at most. It is not a solution. It absolutely degrades a major regional investment, is an incredibly inefficient use of resources, without allowing the homeless any dignity whatsoever.

The smoking and homeless issues might have some overlap, but definitely aren't mutually exclusive. Some people are just jerks. Better enforcement of the rules will really help, but Metro Transit lacks station staff that can prevent a lot of this stuff from the start.