You’ve gathered your books, pens, cute highlighters and notebooks and made arrangements for tuition. You’re registered for classes and enjoying the “welcome” from the university and friends. Now try to make sure the fall term does not include being welcomed in with TriMet’s new $175 fine for not paying the fare to ride the MAX. If a fare inspector or transit officer is having a bad day, it could also include a 30-day exclusion from riding.
On July 20, TriMet shifted away from “education” to stricter enforcement of fare payment, hiring six new fare inspectors and moving away from issuing warnings to issuing $175 tickets to anyone caught without fare—including first-time offenders. According to Mary Fetsch, communications director for TriMet, warnings about fare payment dropped from 1,726 in August 2010 to 701 in August 2011, while tickets issued for the offense increased from 441 in August 2010 to 2,254 in August of this year.
Will students and the general public be happy to see the regular freeloaders nailed? Or will they have concerns for fairness and nervousness for themselves?
“It’s about fairness and equity,” Fetsch said. According to her, one inspector claims that, overall, people are “ecstatic” about the enforcement and that riders will be paying their fair share. She compares transit riders who “take a chance on beating the system or getting a ticket” to vehicle drivers who use street parking without paying the meters.
But typical parking tickets are $34 for overtime parking and $60 for exceeding two hours in a permitted area. Are transit freeloaders so much more heinous than parking “squatters” that they need to pay $175?
People are not as “ecstatic” as Fetsch’s inspector claimed. Out of eleven transit riders interviewed, only one would describe the new enforcement as “great.” A majority were on the fence or thought it was terribly unfair.
PSU vocal performance major Angela Taylor and PSU pre-nursing major Austin Rufener use passes, so they are not nervous for themselves. Taylor could only muster “so-so” for the idea of cracking down on scofflaws. However, Rufener remembers times when he forgot his pass and appreciated the break that bus drivers gave him.
Jen Lawrence, an OHSU social worker, and Jackie Miller, a volunteer organizer for Bus Riders Unite!, were more demonstrative. “I think it is really unfortunate that we have to charge for public transportation (at all) because there are a lot of people who can’t afford it,” Lawrence said.
Miller calls the fine “regressive and unfair.” According to her, “most people who will get the fine are single-fair users. They can’t afford the $92 monthly pass. They are cash poor. They can’t afford the ticket, either.” Transit, she says, “is a human right.” Bus Riders Unite! is currently advocating for a uniform three-hour transfer period on bus and MAX.
Fetsch responded, “Fare inspectors have latitude to give warnings as they see fit, but that is not their first ‘go to’ tool.”
Sounds like flexibility is waning at TriMet, as is education.
Most people I spoke with will not be ultimately changing their riding habits. But DeVontae Gravely, a package express worker, and his friend Dylan Gates, a University of Oregon student, are definitely upset enough by this to consider it.
Gravely received the $175 ticket for his first offense, and is headed to Multnomah County Court soon, hoping to plead for “something like community service” instead of the fine. “If it’s your first time,” he said, “you should have a warning.”
Both Gravely and Gates stated they would be using Trimet less.
How does TriMet compare with other cities’ transit fines? First-time fare skippers in Seattle get a $124 fine, according to a King County Metro Transit administrator. “Officers have leeway to give warnings,” he said. A second offense is very serious: third-degree theft, a criminal misdemeanor and the equivalent of shoplifting. There are higher fines and jail time is a real possibility. “At that point, they’ve been given warnings already,” the official said.
The San Francisco Municipal Transit Association website describes fines “of up to $500.”
On the face of it, the idea of TriMet cracking down on the regularly freeloading riders is positive. They tend to bring problems beyond loss of revenue. But many people simply have problems from time to time with getting their fares together, but are honest and believe in paying. I was excluded for 30 days myself; I hopped an arriving MAX in Gresham with no time to go to the machine to buy a ticket. Not much of a marketing plan, I think, when you treat your best riders and other honest people like scofflaws.
Bring on the fare inspectors, for fairness, but bring down the fines. Why discriminate against transit riders when compared to vehicle drivers who overstay in the streets?
And fare inspectors should be flexible and compassionate. The purpose of such a program is to deter the scofflaws, not to punish as many people as possible. Fare inspectors have an opportunity to be goodwill ambassadors for TriMet by showing flexibility, rather than being iron-fisted about it.