Irene Leung-Astwood, 67, who uses a wheelchair, was riding LA Metro’s A Line light rail train near the Chinatown station recently when her companion was assaulted.

“I saw my friend get slapped in the face. It was by some crazy person,” she said.

She then demonstrated how she got the perpetrator to move away from her friend and eventually leave the train. She blew a high-pitched whistle that she keeps around her neck at all times. It was a gift from her son, she explained with a wry smile.

Leung-Astwood was attending the 9th Annual Older Adult Transportation Expo put on by LA Metro at the Pasadena Convention Center on Friday, May 9. She told this story during a breakout session entitled “Unlocking the Secrets to Successful Trips.”

While Leung-Astwood highly recommended the safety whistle, the conference attended by 640 senior citizens focused more on teaching older adults how to use the Metro system, from successfully loading and using a TAP card for entering trains and buses, to reading station platform signs, locating the nearest bathrooms and yes, practicing safety measures.

One way seniors can become acclimated to the complex system of 117 bus routes and six train lines stretching from Santa Monica to Azusa and from Long Beach to Pasadena is by attending a few sessions with the Travel Buddy program, Metro advised.

There are 58 Travel Buddies who lead 30 peer-to-peer travel training groups taking short trips using only mass transit. They take seniors 55 years and older to museums and other Los Angeles County sites, navigating LA Metro’s system while always sprinkling in tips on how to ride safely.

“A lot of older people are afraid to travel (on trains and buses) because they don’t think it is safe,” explained Marilyn Peters, an LA Metro Travel Buddy for eight years from the Crenshaw District in Los Angeles.

Before she starts an outing with a new group, she emails them safety precautions: bring a small purse, keep your cell phone inside your purse, have your TAP card ready so you’re not rummaging for it, always be alert, don’t wear a lot of jewelry. Other Travel Buddies said they show the newbies where the emergency buttons are on the train or bus and teach them to pay attention to those seated near them.

“We teach them how to plan their trip, so they know where they are going,” Peters said. “If you look confused and are looking all around you’re prey.”

LA Metro bus rider and senior citizen Teresa Minera lives in Echo Park, does not drive and is dependent on public transit for getting around.

She was riding the Number 2 bus near USC a few months ago when she said she witnessed an incident that scared her. A man started attacking a younger person on the bus. “He started pushing him and grabbing him,” she said, adding, “The bus driver didn’t do anything.”

Minera has also seen homeless individuals as well as other riders doing illicit drugs such as fentanyl, she said. But lately she has seen more security and law enforcement on the system. “It has gotten better nowadays,” she said while waiting to join the conference main session.

“I have seen LAPD officers and I’ve even seen them getting on buses,” she said.

Metro has added its own security officers and increased its law enforcement presence in the last year. They’re testing weapons detection systems and have installed taller faregates and TAP-to-Exit at many rail stations to cut down on people evading fares, who account for a majority of those committing crimes.

LA Metro violent crime rates dropped 15% from 2023 to 2024, according to a report cited by Metro’s Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee.

As L.A. County ages, more people are unable to drive. Many have not ridden a train or bus and are unfamiliar with public transit. So LA Metro has used the expo to attract senior riders to the system.

“We want to help older adults learn how to use buses and trains so that when you can’t drive, or don’t want to drive, you will always have an alternative in public transportation,” said Lily Ortiz, who manages LA Metro’s On The Move Riders Program, in her opening remarks.

Besides being safe, the Travel Buddy program helps seniors who are lonely venture out and meet other people, said Rebecca Gottfried, whose group operates out of Santa Monica.

“As seniors, we tend to isolate ourselves, especially coming out of COVID people aren’t used to getting back out into the community,” Gottfried said in an interview.

She’s taken groups, including riders in their 80s, to the Watts Towers and to Olvera Street, the birthplace of Los Angeles. Many in the transit buddy group told her they hadn’t visited these landmarks since childhood.

“It also promotes living life with intention, providing meaning, purpose and remembrances of places that people used to go to when they were younger,” she added.

Lori Fox, a Travel Buddy who leads groups near Cal State Dominguez Hills, said the seniors really like the group events, feel safer in numbers, and enjoy the leader’s contributions. Perhaps too much.

“They are happier when they have a group because they don’t feel comfortable riding by themselves,” Fox said. “They need to find their own independence.”

For more information on the older adults program, call: 213-922-2002 or go to Metro.net/onthemove.