Replying to L.A. (Finally) Serious On Fare Cheats?

When I was there last week, they had cops checking for valid fares as people got off at Union Station.

Maybe if they hired fare inspectors to do that job, it would make a lot more financial sense.

There are some deputies from the LASD's Transportation Services Bureau checking tickets, but most are TSB's fare checkers with deputy backup.

Maybe the question is, why is the sheriff doing this; and, more importantly, if the sheriff is doing this, then why is the MTA shelling out money to put in this system, when more enforcement by sheriff would do the job?

The MTA has no security force any more, MTA contracted with the Sheriff's Department. The
Sheriff is not doing more because they were contracted to do this much. The likelyhood is that the MTA's' analysis sees locking gates as more cost effective than increasing the Sheriff's role.

Maybe the question is, why is the sheriff doing this; and, more importantly, if the sheriff is doing this, then why is the MTA shelling out money to put in this system, when more enforcement by sheriff would do the job?

Regarding the first question, the sheriff is "doing this" because Metro's own security force had the responsibility taken away following a series of highly publicized incidents that revealed its officers to be ill-trained, incompetent, and on occasion downright brutal in dealing with the riding public.

When I was there last week, they had cops checking for valid fares as people got off at Union Station.

Maybe if they hired fare inspectors to do that job, it would make a lot more financial sense.

There are some deputies from the LASD's Transportation Services Bureau checking tickets, but most are TSB's fare checkers with deputy backup.

Maybe the question is, why is the sheriff doing this; and, more importantly, if the sheriff is doing this, then why is the MTA shelling out money to put in this system, when more enforcement by sheriff would do the job?

Sort of reminds me of the trolley system in my area. People could board the trolley without a ticket if there weren't any inspectors checking inside at the time. Whenever I ride the trolley nowadays, there seems to be less inspection than before. I'm not sure whether or not that will change soon.

When I was there last week, they had cops checking for valid fares as people got off at Union Station.

Maybe if they hired fare inspectors to do that job, it would make a lot more financial sense.

There are some deputies from the LASD's Transportation Services Bureau checking tickets, but most are TSB's fare checkers with deputy backup.

All I know is that I would not want to be in a confrontational position like a fare inspector in a country so heavily armed and desensitized to random acts of violence. Did you ever hear what happened in Phoenix when they began installed speeding cameras on the freeways? From what I heard the blue collar maintenance folks apparently became targets of murder in retaliation.

When I was there last week, they had cops checking for valid fares as people got off at Union Station.

Maybe if they hired fare inspectors to do that job, it would make a lot more financial sense.

I know that this is a big problem. I actually see many more metro police officers than you would think. Any time I ride out of LAX, I use the red line from Universal City, since my grandma lives like a quarter mile from that station. On multiple occasions, we have seen people arrested for fare evasion. My grandma always try a little more than is typical to be nice and helpful to everyone, and has gone and bought a ticket from the vending machine, walked up to a police officer with a suspect, and said "I think this is her ticket. I found it on the ground over there." It's pretty funny. As nice as she is, she does not like the Metro Police, because a year or so ago, one was doing random checks and asked her to see the ticket. She presented it, but it was dark in the tunnel, and he misread the date. This was on a November 8th about two years ago. The dumb officer tried to arrest her because he thought it said November 6th. She was infuriated and took him to court, and won. So as nice as she is, she's been testy with the Metro Police since, which is okay with me.

Unless I misread the article though, the faregates were simply left unlocked which led to many free riders. How much would locking the faregates have actually cost? Sure people would still have ridden free, but that's like saying you shouldn't fence a railroad right of way because someone who wants to tresspass will still find a way around it.

Part of the problem, as I gather, is that they can't lock the faregates until they go to 100% smartcard technology. Passengers who don't have smartcards buy a paper ticket or pass from the vending machine. Those are not smart cards, and do not have any kind of magnetic stripe on them (nor do the faregates have mag stripe readers). They could theoretically convert to the system MARTA uses, where even the paper tickets have a smart chip in them.

So, it's not the cost of locking the faregates that is the problem, it's the cost of converting 100% of the riders to smart card/smart chip technology.

Unless I misread the article though, the faregates were simply left unlocked which led to many free riders. How much would locking the faregates have actually cost? Sure people would still have ridden free, but that's like saying you shouldn't fence a railroad right of way because someone who wants to tresspass will still find a way around it.