The Sound Transit board of directors including Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell have approved long awaited changes to the system’s fare enforcement policies.
Thursday, the board approved changes that will revise policies for its light rail trains and buses to increase warnings and reduce fines, and, importantly, move enforcement from security officers in efforts intended to address concerns over equity and racial disparity.
CHS reported in 2020 on the Sound Transit board’s fare enforcement reform efforts after complaints about police-like enforcement officers and findings that showed the fare policies disproportionately impacted people of color “and individuals with little or no income.” Surveys showed Black passengers were cited and punished disproportionately by the process.
The board, meanwhile, held off on decisions around its “Fare Ambassadors,” a pilot program that replaced security guards with Sound Transit representatives on board to check with riders for proof of payment and to provide help and information about the transit service.
During the pilot, no citations were to be issued but Sound Transit continued to keep track of the numbers including “farebox recovery.”
In January, it reported 42% were riding without having paid. Sound Transit says it depends on the revenues for 40% of its planned operating budget but actual collected revenues fall far short.
Thursday, the board also considered policies that critics say can lead to a cycle of poverty and recidivism including adding new restrictions that will prevent unpaid fines from being sent to collections.
CORRECTION: We misreported the context of a quote from King County Councilmember Dave Upthegrove and have removed the quote from our story until we can report the corrected details. Sorry for the errors.
Other changes to Sound Transit’s fare payment systems may also help increase the number of riders who follow the rules and pay.
The current ORCA card system remains limited and can be difficult to use and manage payment accounts. A new version of the system is being rolled out this summer that will include easier ways to manage accounts including a new app and website, plus an increased number of retail locations where you can buy new cards and add fares.
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Crosscut just had an article about the state getting money for transit riders under 18 to get free rides (if they can figure out how to do it)
https://crosscut.com/news/2022/04/transit-users-18-and-younger-ride-free-under-new-wa-program#:~:text=Washingtonians%2018%20and%20under%20soon,over%20the%20next%2016%20years.
It’s on the websites: Orcacard.com Kingco.gov; Soundtransit.org; seattleschools.org; and the list goes on.
All of this just sounds like USA has gone so much towards “individualism” that we just can’t make public anything work.
We can’t keep having :shocked pikachu face: when we realize “if you want a service to not be 100% free, poor people will feel like they’re disproportionally affected”.
So… It’s quite simple:
This stuff isn’t complicated. Literally every other developed nation figured it out. We’re the only ones straddled with homelessness, lack of universal healthcare, and suburbia dictating a life without a car / large house is not sustainable.
It’s horse-dung.
You can already get a ORCA card that cuts the fare cost in half if you’re poor. For some reason not many people who qualify for it actually use it…
Yes, and for seniors there is the “Senior Orca Card,” which allows people to pay only $1 per trip, regardless of the distance.
So, there really is no excuse for poor people to not pay the required fare.
I’m sure the problem is the “difficult to use ORCA system”. It’s not that everyone knows you don’t have to pay and there’s no followup if you (rarely) get caught.
Let’s just make the system free and spend the money for the “ambassadors” on something else.
My friend that lives in Albuquerque New Mexico told me that to ride the bus and their light rail is free . If they can do it than why can’t we or at least something similar.
Because fare collection is a major part of the funding model for building the system. A free system means a smaller system that takes longer to build out and a multi billion dollar debt.
Possibly because they run much fewer buses, and they’re often empty anyways, so there’s very little revenue downside?
It looks like it only cost $3 million to eliminate all fares for their entire city for a year: https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/free-fares-on-all-albuquerque-city-buses-during-year-long-pilot-program/
What percentage of the non-payers can truly not afford the fare vs. those who just are irresponsible? I suspect it’s more the latter that the former.
It’s mostly commuters. To a job. They can pay.
“In January, it reported 42% were riding without having paid.” I guess I’m one of the suckers who pays. Folks, this is not going to work if you raise my fares to compensate for the deadbeats who don’t.
IMO liberals (and I consider myself quit liberal) are too dismissive of the fact that this sort of thing erodes the basic basic social cohesion of society. The current severe crime-wave the nation is facing in city after city (one which liberals were all too ready to dismiss as conservative propaganda) is the product of the weakening of that cohesion. As is the bad behavior of people living on the margins among us with severe mental/psychiatric/substance abuse problems. Those conditions doen’t inherently make you a violent, anti-social criminal, but they make you especially susceptible to disordering of civil-society.
It’s not clear exactly what’s caused that erosion, liberals like to point to income inequality, or social justice. Perhaps. Bbut none of those markers has notably worsened in the last decade, if we’re to be honest. More likely is COVID and the mass protests 2020. Whatever the cause, or combination of causes there’s an urgent need to restore that cohesion before the current crime-wave becomes entrenched and leads to decades long backlash resulting in a harsher, more punitive justice system and mass flight from urban cores, with all the consequences of that that happened in the 60s, 70s,80s and 90s. Sadly we seem to be repeating all the same mistakes (cf New Left c. 1969)
@NiC – well said.
I think the bigger issue is Americans reliance on trying to solve every problem with the private sector or a “nuclear family” solution and prioritizing these over more public/community solutions. Cars make us anti-social and encourage regular law breaking (speeding, etc.), single family homes turn every nuclear family into its own kingdom and castle despite this not being an option for the majority of us and leaves many out in the cold.
We subsidize both of these things heavily despite them providing the most benefits to those at the top and them encouraging antisocial behavior. If we as a society were really interested in social cohesion we need to be subsidizing a lot more public goods and making it easier to participate in the basics needs of our modern society without having to spend money.
Your line of thinking is the problem though. It’s true that there are bigger issues. But unless you are ready for revolution comrade, it’s a pointless waste of time to then pick knits within the system we’re all ascribed to and keep voting for.
Talk and ideas are cheap. Reality is harder. Orca Lift is easy.
Your line of thinking is part of the problem though…
Asking for free, reasonable, public transportation around the city is asking for the revolution? I have voted for politicians that have worked towards or are actively pursuing this goal since I could vote, and will continue to do so. Many of us in Seattle and in urban areas around the world see that as an ideal, a city with walk-on-walk-off transit that’s accessible to everyone regardless of income, disability, or whatever reason folks choose not to drive a car. It’s not really pie in the sky, if enough people stopped advocating for the status quo or marginal changes.
The “fares are racist” bit is how we end up with republicans winning elections. I’ve been fare checked many times. They start on one end and check EVERYONE. No is “targeted.”
I’m not paying on Sound Transit again. “I’m John Smith and I forgot my idea. I’ll be sure to pay next time. Thanks.”
Every time I was carded, EveryOne, was carded. No exceptions. Once each on streetcar, LINK, and Rapidbus. Those who didn’t pay were all politely counseled. IMO low cost Orca cards are easily available and should be known by those who need them. , You be amazed on how many people on the 545 and 250 say that “forgot” to reload or plead EOM woes. These two lines, serve probably the wealthiest populations in KingCo.
It’s time to enforce. And us fare paying riders need to frown at all riders who scoffall the system.
Agree, but I don’t think “frowning” is going to have an impact. Those who evade fares have no shame.