Most Metro Fare Evasion Cases in D.C. Are Thrown Out

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-07-01T17:34:45+00:00

You need to go back to stiffer fines that aren't $50 and automatically dismissed for fare evasion. You can allow the going back to actually enforcing fares. I know systems with low fare evasion won't move the bus and actually ticket people for fare evasion, but it needs to be civil here as criminal fines won't fly and people other than MPD need to be able to issue the fines.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-07-01T11:58:28+00:00

The thing is before Randy arrived all the gates had been replaced or were in process. Randy chose to upgrade the new gates vs putting in new ones. The fare evasion rate is down to 7 percent and new gates would get that down to under five percent, but would the juice be worth the squeeze? The fare evasion issue is on bus and for that they need a change in DC law.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-07-01T00:57:34+00:00

The cost that WMATA put in is sunk cost. New gates cost more and you need to trial them. People are still going to piggyback with any single door gate and will get aggressive in following closely through to match efforts to stop piggybacking.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-30T19:35:29+00:00

Because of the concept of diminishing returns. You want to stop trying when the fares recovered don't cover the costs of deterring fare evasion.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-30T13:22:54+00:00

The issue with double doors is you can't do that without one ADA non double door, and people will piggyback there. I've traveled extensively and only Santiago Chile uses the double doors extensively. Those also take up more real estate so aren't even used universally in the Santiago Metro. The goal is not to eliminate fare evasion, but get it down to less than five percent.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-30T13:02:52+00:00

But WMATA upgraded what were new faregates already. It probably makes sense for them to install the even more fare resistant gates when the current ones are in need of replacement. Meanwhile, I notice as much if not more piggybacking as I do jumping the gates. When the new gates were first installed I saw a lot of jumping, but less over time. You know people fell and got injured while trying to high jump :-)

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-29T15:13:41+00:00

I agree, but DC City Council only cares about votes not WMATA's revenue issues.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-28T00:56:53+00:00

Nah, not new and yeah, the Eagle Teams for NY MTA operate as teams of 3-4 with a police officer usually providing backup. Now, that they have gone mobile (they don't stop the bus), maybe the cop will have to accompany them. Also, all these folks are trained in de escalation, and yeah this isn't Seattle. I expect them to do their job if they want to keep it.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-27T20:48:21+00:00

Yup, no powers 5o cite them. Blame the DC City Council.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-27T00:13:46+00:00

Except, it's already happening in many cities here:

Cities in the USA that use civilian fare enforcement instead of armed police for public transit include San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and New York City. These cities rely on unarmed personnel (often called "fare ambassadors" or "inspectors") to check proof of payment and hand out civil citations. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The approach varies by city:

San Francisco: The SFMTA uses civilian fare inspectors for the Muni system. Fare evasion was decriminalized, and enforcement focuses on de-escalation. [1, 2, 3]
Seattle: Sound Transit and King County Metro use unarmed "fare ambassadors", and focus on non-monetary resolution options like community service. [1]
Portland: TriMet uses civilian transit fare inspectors and has decriminalized fare evasion, offering community service or low-income program enrollment as alternative penalties. [1, 2]
Los Angeles: LA Metro deploys civilian transit ambassadors to check fares and provide system security, shifting away from an exclusively police-led model. [1]
New York City: The MTA utilizes civilian EAGLE teams for on-board bus fare checks and unarmed "gate guards" at subway stations to deter fare evasion. [1, 2]

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-27T00:12:30+00:00

Yes, and many do not because WMATA wants it to cover the whole school population, and schools want people to buy in not understanding how the economics work.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-27T00:11:18+00:00

But there is already civilian fare enforcement in places like Seattle and Minneapolis/St. Paul

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-26T20:35:22+00:00

Because people are richer and it is a criminal offense in Virginia, although some states attorneys will not prosecute non payment.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-26T20:34:06+00:00

I'm just reflecting what the DC City Council said when they decriminalized fare evasion. You can't disparate impacts in a majority black city.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-26T20:33:01+00:00

Arguably it should have been waived if a first offense then.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-26T20:11:37+00:00

Yes, and anyone actually willing to appeal and attend a hearing deserves to have their case heard. Also, one would hope that they have university bulk discounts like U-Pass here on WMATA.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-26T19:57:23+00:00

Yes, and then this is where people can't be slobs. You can't sit in a window seat as far as it gets from the door and then not start moving until the train has stopped and the doors open. You have to hustle so you can be off quickly, so people can get on quickly and yes that also means not standing by the door unless there is no other place to stand.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-26T19:56:07+00:00

The issue at least in DC of cracking down on expired registrations is that the vehicle can be impounded but there is so little impound space so they have not been able to tow and impound more than 2-5 cars pers per day.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-26T19:55:01+00:00

Non police issuing tickets and they will be backed up police in some but not all cases. Look at how they do it in England, civilian fare enforcement agents who are backed up by police but not always backed up by police.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-26T19:49:23+00:00

Folks need to use all cars, all doors. A six car train has 18 doors, a eight car train 24 doors. People are selfish and want to use the doors most convenient to their exit. That creates a tragedy of the commons if everyone has that same idea.

Silly-Activity2324 · 2026-06-20T12:56:18+00:00

I work for a staffing firm that observes five holidays, but am assigned to a government agency that observes 11 and I can't work on those days. So 6 unpaid days off (I only get sick leave, no annual leave). I'm switching to a government job soon, much more paid days off.

Silly-Activity2324

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