[Sustain] [SFGP-A] New Transit Fare Evasion Study Shows Inspectors Worthless

[Sue Vaughan]

Hi David,

I totally agree.  I started to try to do this this past spring in this
piece:

Say It Ain't So,
Chiu<http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2009/05/13/say-it-ain%E2%80%99t-so-chiu/>

Sue

On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 10:24 PM, David Fairley <pamndave at speakeasy.net>wrote:

> What's striking to me is the total failure on the part of the City's movers
> and shakers to connect Muni with larger societal interests.  Transportation
> accounts for roughly 50% of the Bay Area's greenhouse gas emissions.
>  Expanding the number of people taking public transit is an essential piece
> of the solution.  Yet every action by SF's powers that be is aimed at
> discouraging ridership: higher fares, reduced service, and now punitive
> inspections and enforcement.  Whoever rides the bus is, at least, not
> committing the crime of driving a personal auto: not using up irreplacable
> resources, not emitting GHGs, and not congesting the streets making sane
> transit impossible.
>
> Even before the awareness of global warming, San Francisco had a "transit
> first" policy.  It's still SF policy as far as I'm aware, but in hypocrisy
> so typical of the City, it is honored in the breach.
>
> It would be great if the Green Party could expose the City's rulers for the
> small-minded hypocrites they are.
>
> David
>
>
> On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:05:04 -0800, Eric Brooks <brookse32 at aim.com> wrote:
>
>  Hi all,
>>
>> I just got through watching today's Municipal Transportation Agency
>> commission hearing in which the MTA staff announced the release of its fare
>> evasion study.
>>
>> The study shows the following key results:
>>
>> 1) The fare evasion rate is only 9.5% (costing the system about $22
>> million at most).
>>
>> 2) Even when MTA fare inspectors and SF Police engaged in highly focused
>> and expensive 'saturation' enforcement actions at specific transit access
>> points, the evasion rate was only lowered to about 4% (a 60% reduction)
>>
>> 3) Fines for fare evasion are now $75 - The previous, much higher fines
>> for second and third offenses have been abandoned due to the difficulty of
>> establishing prior evasions when writing a ticket.
>>
>> 4) People cited with fines only pay them 60% of the time. (A police chief
>> describing the saturation actions, and MTA chief Nathaniel Ford, both
>> admitted openly that these saturation actions do not pay for themselves in
>> fine and fare revenues.)
>>
>> 5) The transit lines that experience the highest rates of fare evasion,
>> also have some of the highest rates of low income and people of color
>> ridership. MTA staff recommended enforcement at targeted locations to make
>> enforcement more efficient. (This would absolutely result in biased racist
>> and classist enforcement.)
>>
>> 6) 50% of riders boarding at back do not have proof of purchase. (Anyone
>> who has ridden the bus frequently, knows that many of the people who board
>> at the back without paying are doing so because they are too poor to pay the
>> fare.)
>>
>> What all of these revelations show is that the revenue from punitively
>> deploying fare inspectors and police enforcement will never exceed the
>> actual cost of deploying the inspectors and police in the first place.
>>
>> The only way to achieve better results with this punitive model would be
>> to -reduce- the number of inspectors and then more selectively target lines
>> and transit stops on which the poorest riders and people of color access the
>> system.
>>
>> On the other hand, simply enabling most riders who -can- pay, to much more
>> easily buy fast passes and multi-month passes would likely bring in just as
>> much revenue if not more, without paying any fare inspectors at all.
>>
>> And of course, -free- Muni, paid for with business and car taxes would
>> solve the problem entirely.
>>
>> Finally, on an ominous note. MTA staff indicated that they will soon move
>> to the Translink system for Muni passes. Translink is the system in which
>> you carry an electronic card charged with funds for Muni riding (much like a
>> phone card).
>>
>> Once this Translink system is put in place, poor people are going to have
>> a much harder time circumventing the system so that they can ride free...
>>
>> It's been a while since we had a Transpo working group meeting. Let's do
>> one soon to develop a response strategy based on this report.
>>
>>
>> peace
>>
>> Eric B
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>>
>
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-- 
Sue Vaughan
(415) 668-3119
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