SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Some people are having a fine experience riding the Metropolitan Transit Service trolleys every day.
“I believe that it's very safe for people to ride compared to coming from Los Angeles,” Irene Leilvasl, who rides the trolley daily, said.
A similar stance for those who may ride it a couple of times a month.
“I feel security is adequate. There's a lot more uniformed personnel on board the trolleys and trains and at the different transit centers to ensure public safety,” Jeremie Arnold said.
That sense of safety is also seen in the crime report data for MTS and its public transit system.
On Thursday, the agency reported that it saw a 24 percent decrease in overall crime in its system from January to August 2025 compared to the same period last year.
“Safety is the number one priority for our passengers and it's the number one priority for MTS as well,” Mark Olson, Director of Marketing and Communications for MTS, said. “Adding 60% more code compliance inspectors to our system has really done a great deal to reduce the number of crimes that are committed on the system.”
Olson told ABC 10News they were able to increase the number of those code compliance teams from 5 to 6 per shift to 8 to 10.
Assaults made up the bulk of the crime data in the latest MTS report. It showed 542 reported this, compared to 547 last year, with most occurring on the trolleys themselves or at the trolley stations.
Despite the decrease in assaults overall, the number of assaults that happened on and/or at the trolley station went up year to year from 380 in 2024 to 482 in 205.
“I think one of the things we saw is the increase in assaults on our security officers, and so we have more officers out there, and so there's just going to be more interactions total,” Olson said. “So, you will see an increase in those types of incidents when they do have those interactions with our officers. So that's one of the reasons.”
MTS’ report stated the following when it came to the assault data: “From Jan – Aug 2025, MTS responded to 542 assault cases. Out of 542 cases, 171 cases were reported to be against MTS employees (Code Compliance Inspectors, Security Officers, Bus and Trolley Personnel).”
ABC 10News asked Olson what can be done to bring those specific trolley numbers down and keep bringing overall crime numbers down.
“But I think that's certainly something I think taking this back after getting these great numbers, ‘hey, what else can we do to improve? We’re always looking to improve,” Olson said.
“There's always going to be crime. You know, as long as there's some type of rate down, you know, they're doing the job right,” Leilvasl said.
