Transit systems are focusing on fare evaders to win back riders who are wary about crime

Dominique Davenport was waiting for a ride home after getting off the MetroLink light rail one night in East St. Louis, Illinois, when he heard an argument followed by gunshots behind him on the station's platform.

A teenager had been killed, the latest act of violence for a St. Louis-area transit system with a reputation for crime and where anyone could board without even showing a ticket.

"You could just be getting off work and somebody gets an attitude," Davenport said. "Big drug addicts, drug dealers, you've got so many different personalities, so many different types of people who go through things. And everybody catches the train."