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Even Flat Stanley pays his Orange Line fare.
The Daily News has an idea. We're not so much into it, but here is how it goes. While Metro contracts with LA County Sheriff's, the LAPD has a man who knows something about enforcing ticketless travelers on transit systems and he happens to be top cop Chief William Bratton. Some will remember that he became famous for his "broken windows" theory that enforced smaller crimes with heavy force (think turnstile-hoppers in NYC subways) eventually leading to a noticeable decrease in more serious crimes.
The theory is a stroke of genius and the newspaper's editorial wants to see it applied to people riding the Orange Line without tickets. Those caught will not be simply ticketed and given hours of community service, but be arrested.
To deal with the nearly 10percent of Orange Line riders who don't pay a fare, Metro is considering erecting gates and barriers. But those no more stop free-riders than turnstiles do. A better approach is to bust the offenders, which would not only save Metro lost revenues, but would likely reduce crime, too. [Daily News]
Since rail and busways are based on a trust system here in Los Angeles, it leaves too much room for error. If ticketless riders are put behind bars, think about the honest people who bought a ticket, put it in their pocket to only have it fall out somewhere. Now they have a record for being clumsy with a small piece of paper.
In New York, you can't accidentally find your way through a metal barrier. In Los Angeles, the dynamic is different. The trust system mixed with the unpredictable visits from Sheriff's and Fare Inspectors keeps us more on edge. You can't rely anything but luck.
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This is a dumb policy. There are no barriers as you stated, so it's easy to make a mistake, especially for a tourist or newbie. It's also not as busy as the NY subway, so the newbies might not see people buying the ticket etc...there are no "examples" around one at less busy times.
Arresting people is a bit harsh for this.
Most people buy the ticket, I can't see how this is a huge problem. Does the guy who came up with this even take the train himself? How does he even know that people dodge payment? This is weird.
I witnessed a couple of people dodge payment on The Blue Line once. The sheriffs came through the train that morning and when they couldn't produce proof of payment - they just hassled the people for a few minutes and let them continue riding instead of making them buy another (or an actual) ticket.
Losing a ticket is understandable, but as a daily paying customer, it's extremely infuriating for me to sit there and hear people lie to Sheriffs faces about how they lost their ticket stub. On the other side of the spectrum, it's equally annoying to see the Sheriffs not do their job. If they are going to let patrons get away with that, then this will continue to be an issue.
It is interesting that the Orange Line has one of the highest fair evasion or gate jumping percentages but lets keep our transit system “barrier free” and step up the amount of fair checkers.
There is sure no reason for arrest but a simple ticket as with a traffic ticket should work just fine.
The increased fair inspectors should make for a overall safer system with the presence of inspectors the evasion will go down and the safety factor will go up.
As for errors or with tourist the inspector has the discretion to give directions, warnings or tickets as needed.
The inspectors will probably pay for themselves with a higher percentage or riders paying their fair. This is a win-win for all.
Alan Fishel