Whatever else can be said about the trial of Daniel Penny, it must be said that it was the worst advertisement for public transit since the invention of the wheel. Penny was riding on a train in New York on May 1, 2023, when a deranged man began to threaten the passengers with violence. One witness told police Jordan Neely “scared the living daylights out of everybody.” Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran, subdued Neely in a chokehold on the floor of the subway car. Neely, described as a troubled homeless man, later died. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Penny with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. On Friday, prosecutors dropped the manslaughter charge after jurors told the judge they had deadlocked on it. On Monday, a unanimous jury found Penny not guilty of the second charge. Possibly the only thing worse for public transit than rampant crime, drug use and homelessness on buses and trains is the message that people who try to protect themselves and others from violent threats are the only ones who will face any legal consequences for their actions. The New York case raises questions that should concern us all: whether actions taken in self-defense should have broad legal protection, whether our elected officials actively oppose policing of public spaces, and whether the public’s financial support for public transportation should end and be replaced by full privatization of mass transit. If the answers to the first two questions are “no” and “yes,” then the answer to the third question is, “It couldn’t be worse, so why not?” In Los Angeles County, ridership on Metro peaked in the 1980s, when it was just a bus system. Since then, voter-approved sales tax increases have funded a multi-billion-dollar build out of rail lines that seem designed primarily to make real estate parcels within a half-mile eligible for more lucrative development. Meanwhile, people who want to use transit or can’t afford a car are left to fend for themselves on a dangerous system. “An analysis of the last 12 months of Metro’s available data shows that violent crime across the entire system has increased by nearly 33%, a majority of which happened on trains,” CBS News Los Angeles reported in July. “During the last six months, there was one violent crime for every 55,000 riders compared to on buses, where it hits one out of every 300,000 riders.” Passengers on a train or bus are captives in an enclosed space and completely vulnerable. In those circumstances, a responsible government would enforce basic health and safety laws to ensure the well-being of all riders in all areas served by the transit system. But that’s not what is happening in Los Angeles County. Instead, we have Metro officials clutching their pearls over law enforcement agencies’ “lack of alignment with Metro policies.” That phrase appears in a spring 2024 report titled, “Metro’s Transit Community Public Safety Department Implementation Plan.” The 137-page report expresses thanks to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Long Beach Police Department for their “years-long service,” then goes on to complain about them. “It is evident that returning to in-house policing services would yield the most effective outcomes for Metro,” the report states. A February report from the Public Safety Advisory Committee recommends that Metro seek candidates for the new in-house-policing agency “who are culturally aligned with the new department.” Metro agreed, promising a “holistic review” of prospective hires, as well as a background check and a “psychological analysis.” Maybe it would better if Metro focused more on running buses on time and less on inventing a new law enforcement agency. Or maybe it would be better if Metro wasn’t run by the simpering klutzes in government and the real estate developers who back their election campaigns. Maybe a transportation system should be run by private businesses that can manage a transportation system without fretting all day that left-wing organizations will fund a primary challenge against them in the next election. Why not sell the whole system to private companies and then use the revenue to fund pre-paid fare cards for low-income people? It’s better than collecting taxes to perpetuate a dangerous failure. Write [email protected] and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley