Aug. 4, 2026 5 AM PT
To the editor: To rescue her moribund reelection campaign, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says she wants to make L.A. Metro buses and trains more affordable and eventually free (“It’s been a summer of bad news for Mayor Bass. Can she reset the narrative?,” Aug. 2). Before she removes all ticketing and boarding control from the Metro trains, I suggest she dress incognito, assemble her three biggest pepper-spray-toting security guards and ride the Saturday night battleground the A Line and the E Line have become. Then report back to us what she sees and tell us how she intends to fix it.
Metro security? I have actually witnessed a pack of four Metro security employees herd a screaming person onto our occupied Metro train car mere seconds before the train pulled out of Union Station. Thanks, Metro “security.”
Free tickets with no control will only bring about more dangerous “free for all” fights on the Metro.
See you on the A Line, Mayor Bass!
Ben Herndon, Los Angeles
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To the editor: In asking whether or not Bass has done a good job as mayor, we should all remember Harry Truman’s observation about where the buck stops.
Les Benedict, Reseda