Metro expands ‘TAP to exit’ program to Santa Monica

After it curbed violence on the B line, the “TAP to exit” program is being further expanded by Metro to include the E line.

The pilot program began in late May when Los Angeles transit officials began requiring riders to tap their transit cards as they exited the North Hollywood Metro station.

It was instituted in hopes of cutting down fare evaders but has also helped reduce the violent crime rate at the station and on the B line as a whole by 40%, according to the Metro Transit Watch app.

“In a bilingual station survey of over 100 passengers at the North Hollywood station, nine in ten customers reported feeling safer and noticed cleaner stations and trains since the pilot program started,” a Metro spokesperson told KTLA in July.

In addition to the implementation of the program in Santa Monica – the beginning and terminus of the E line – officials said they are also deploying more security personnel, upgrading camera and lighting systems and working to increase the visibility of uniformed law enforcement officers .

KTLA 5’s Annie Rose Ramos spoke to Metro Senior Manager for System Security and Law Enforcement Carlos Rico on Tuesday morning about the initiative, and he said that due to the success in North Hollywood, it made sense to expand.

“We found that 90% of the people that come on to the system to commit a crime do not have valid fare or do not have a TAP card,” Rico said.  “[The TAP to exit program] has limited the amount of people that are not using the system for transportation.”

The program will eventually expand to all ten end-of-line stations, Metro officials announced last week .

In addition to implementing the “TAP to exit” program at more stations, Metro is also moving forward with plans to establish its own police force .

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