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Report: Fare evasions costs Twin Cities Metro transit thousands each week
Almost all German streetcar systems operate in this manner, but their solution is random inspectors checking on the cars and a stiff fine (40 Euros the last time I was there) payable on the spot, and a higher fine if you can’t. It definitely encourages compliance!!
Wouldn’t we all like to evade our fate!
They might as well as make the entire ride free, 24/7. When passengers don’t have to show their tickets to get on the train they won’t bother to get them punched. Who would? Free ride, money saved, just not by the tax payers and transit authority. By not installing all the ticket equipment or having a conductor on each train to check tickets, the transit authority will continue to bleed money. All in the name of saving money. Well it’s working, just not by the authority.
They spot check often (usually about once a month I will encounter the Gestapo dressed police). Unfortunately, most of the ones they catch don’t have the money to pay the $180 fine and so the “thousands per week” is just a pipe dream. Those people would not ride if they had to pay and thus there is very little lost by the “fare jumpers”. And of course barriers would cost millions and most systems find that the gained revenue is only marginally more than the cost of gates.
Mountain out of a molehill.
I have ridden many times and while I have seen transit police on board or on platforms several times, have never seen a fare check. I usually use a transit card, but sometimes when I don’t have that or somebody has gridlocked the reader by not understanding it or same with fare dispensers, I have boarded without a fare. I think riding the trains endlessly is recreation for some of the gangstas… you can tell just by watching activity on the platform who scans a fare card or buys a ticket quite easily, and folks that are seen not doing that can be picked out of the crowd. Some may have transfers, but I bet not many.
Progressives Payment Plan. Uff, da!
You cannot tell by watching the platform who is fare jumping. Since this line runs thru the University of Minnesota, and most students carry a all-you-can-ride-for-a-semester-card, they do not have to swipe their card at all to ride the train. If you get on a bus, pay the fare and then get a transfer, you need not scan the transfer. If you get on via a bus and use your multi-ride card you need not swipe it again to get on the train. Thus to get actual numbers you have to survey the riders (as this study did).
I, too, would also like the opportunity to evade my fate!
I get fare-checked on almost every ride in Seattle’s Light Rail…
Greater enforcement of fares might result in fewer riders, and thus no revenue gained or lost…
We also need a standard system nationwide so travelers or other infrequent riders aren’t confused every time they try public transit in a new city. I know a lot of people who are intimidated by public transit because of fare structures/payment options/transfers/passes, etc…
I remember riding the Cleveland (OH) RTA a few years back, and transit police boarded the train, checking for valid tickets. Those who could not produce one, were promptly arrested for fare evasion, and escorted to a waiting paddy wagon at the next station. Having pairs of officers working different trains will cut down on fare evasion, and the fines involved should more than cover the officers’ wages and benefits.
Even the presense of transit officers on station platforms would be a deterrent to the fare evaders. New signage at transit stations should read “It’s $5 to ride the train with a ticket”, but it’s a $100 fine and court costs for riding without a ticket. Do the math".
With this type of system, it’s all about strong enforcement. But reader beware: in Phoenix, the fare evasion issue is being used by some media outlets as a way to convince citizens that light rail is a bad investment, resting on taxpayers’ backs. In fact, two major Phoenix employers are locating their offices near light rail stops for better employee access.
I’m shocked that in a good Liberal state like Minnesota that people won’t do their Civic Duty and pay.