Hearts and Minds: Innovative Safety Solutions Are Built on Data and Compassion
7/2/2026
Flora Castillo, president of Pivot Strategies, LLC, summed up public safety challenges facing transit agencies in a session at APTA’s 2026 Rail Conference. “Public transportation exists to connect people,” she said, but agencies nationwide “have become the frontline for many broader societal challenges,” which can also disrupt operations. Transit agencies aren’t equipped to help people who are experiencing homelessness or have behavioral issues, but they respond to them every day.
Panelists from the Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York (NYMTA), Elerts Corporation, and Cordoba Corporation spoke with Castillo about their data-driven and compassion-rooted approaches to the challenges in Innovative Approaches to Public Safety and Security, sponsored by Stantec.
NYMTA’s Assistant Director Javerea Komal and Senior Director Cyntha Wilson said data are critically important. “You cannot know the scope of the problem until you have measurable data,” said Wilson; and the data is there.
In the agency’s Quality of Life Office, Komal found that across jurisdictions, agencies were collecting, but not sharing, incident reports, complaints, and police calls. Other data, like annual homeless counts, was inadequate, so they started daily counts. Quality of Life, embedded in the NYMTA security organization, developed a framework—measure, convene, align, and deliver—solutions, and drive results, Komal explained.
Shared data alerts the relevant enforcement and service agencies to hotspots on the system. That transparency and collaboration, plus financial investments in social services, “gives us skin in the game,” said Wilson. “It allows us to sit at the table, build trust, share information, and get the buy-in from social service providers.”
Ed English, ELERTS CEO, agreed on the importance of data, and said ridership could be a “force multiplier” in data collection, since they are often the first to see potential issues, from fare evasions and substance abuse to weapons and assaults. ELERTS enables riders to report issues quickly and discreetly and shows agencies what riders are concerned about. Citing customer surveys, English said that riders report feeling safer with the tool in their pockets.
Cordoba Executive Director of Transportation, Dave Schlesinger, discussed another, crucial, element of the public safety solution: compassion. Transit is by its nature appealing to unhoused and fragile people. “We provide a place of shelter, lighting, and activity that is appealing to the person that doesn’t have a home,” he said.
To resolve the potential challenges of the target population, he suggested best practices for engagement and outreach (vouchers, Housing First, environmental design), as well as accountability (pilot an outreach project, create KPIs, communicate with staff and riders). Mainly, he said, “I’d like to encourage you to foster a culture of caring.”