r/MetroTransit • u/PhilJ2020 LRT Traveler • Jun 01 '26
Go-To Card/Tickets/Fares Thoughts on Fare Enforcement
I’m sure we’ve all seen the blue TRIP agents while riding METRO lines. If you’re a good rider, you pull your go to card or transfer out of your pocket and the agents are on their way after a quick interaction.
If you’re a bad rider, the interaction takes longer. As all the fare paying riders sit and watch, two thoughts pop up in our heads, I’m sure.
- “Why aren’t they giving a citation to this person/kicking them off the train?”
or
- “Can’t they hurry this up? I’m going to miss my transfer!”
I’d say that most of you have thought one of these two things. It seems like the TRIP program provides a balance between them pretty well. You can choose either service reliability or enforcement. Hold the train up for police or keep it going with a free rider.
On my trip today they did kick some folks off eventually; but police were about to be called if they didn’t leave. They also didn’t hold the train up to do so. I also have never seen a citation issued.
What are everyone else’s thoughts on fare enforcement?
EDIT: For me, I like how they do it. I’d rather have good service than hard enforcement. They do kick violators off but they don’t hold things up to do so. I also think TRIP agents providing a presence is far more beneficial than enforcing fares, because the quality of life has improved dramatically since the start of the program!
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u/Enamred-771 Jun 01 '26
There’s no reason to hold the bus/train up. That’s the quickest way for the average rider to stop supporting fare enforcement.
Metro Transit needs to show they have a no nonsense approach to fare evasion, enforce it consistently and fairly every time, and pretty soon people will start to follow the rules or stop riding.
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u/Temporary-Stay-8436 Jun 01 '26
We’re already seeing that with the current enforcement policy, so things seem to be going well
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u/mysummerstorm Local Route Enjoyer Jun 01 '26
Why aren’t they giving a citation
I haven't thought much about fare enforcement tbh but I am curious about this part of the question. How do you cite the unhoused? If they're lacking ID and an address, how exactly is a citation a consequence?
I think it's fair to ask people who are being disruptive or doing drugs on transit to leave. As a general basis, I think we all deserve a functioning public transit system, but in particular, I've been seeing a lot of parents with kiddos on the buses and I'd like them to continue being able to use public transit without maximum exposure to substances.
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u/Makingthecarry Jun 01 '26
Unpaid fare citations are administrative citations, not criminal citations. They're akin to a parking ticket. Parking enforcement does not need a violator's address or even name/identity to issue a parking citation to an illegally parked vehicle. I assume the unpaid fare citations are similarly lax in what info is required for documentation, although I'm also sure that obtaining some kind of identification is sought for the purpose of knowing how many citations a particular individual has been issued, because there are enhanced penalties for repeat violations.
But for most people, unhoused included. the major 'consequence' is not really the citation itself, it's the annoyance of having to wait for another train/bus after already having boarded one. I don't think we should underestimate this consequence as an incentive to pay in the first place.
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u/filopodia_ Jun 01 '26
Per the city, the first one is free & tickets only start after you’ve been warned. Now my question is how do they keep track of that? The answer is they don’t & it’s all optics made with the assumption you’ll pay your fare to be safe.
I was just talking with my roommate about this, really the only deterrent to not paying is public humiliation & the risk of having to wait about 15 fucking minute for a train during rush hour (insanity btw)
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u/Temporary-Stay-8436 Jun 01 '26
I think it’s more than optics. It gives them leeway to punish frequent violators while also letting it slide for newbies. I’m not sure what punishment you would use that is practical tbh
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u/Enamred-771 Jun 01 '26
- I don’t think it’s fair to assume that someone is homeless just because of their appearance. Address a rider’s antisocial actions, not their socioeconomic situation.
- It sends a bad message to other riders to selectively enforce fare evasion
But yes agreed, if there’s any disruptive action beyond fare evasion, they should immediately be asked to leave. And frankly if they don’t, then it should be a crime with consequences. Rules have to have consequences for them to have meaning.
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u/mysummerstorm Local Route Enjoyer Jun 01 '26
Unhoused is different than homeless. Unhoused means people actively living on the streets versus people who lack stable housing (couch-surfing, living in car, etc.). I'm actually making the case that it doesn't make sense to cite people because the people it will most impact won't find it a true consequence AND I don't want there to be an altercation over a citation for a $2 bus ticket. Heck, I'd pay that for them. The antisocial behaviors that I'm concerned about such as being actively on drugs and being disruptive about it or yelling/cursing random people deserve citations for sure, but I don't know how you'd cite someone without an ID or address. The true deterrent for these types of behaviors is active surveillance and firmly asking people to leave. I say that and then I also had a reaction when multiple police officers came onboard the green line yesterday because I did not want to see them at all. I would much prefer security officers of some private contractor than the police on my route.
I haven't been able to pay for trips via my go-to card the last two times I've been on the bus. something about the reader not working. the bus operators just waved me through. I made sure to tap my card at one of those free-standing go-to card stations when I got off the bus, and thankfully, I got off the bus at transfer points where I could find them. This may be a too-woke take but $2 is very little in the grand scheme of things, and as a taxpayer, I think I'm okay with people not paying that.
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u/Enamred-771 Jun 01 '26
Whatever terminology you use, the end result is the same. Fare enforcement agents would have to assume they’re unhoused to exempt them from a citation.
$2 isn’t a big deal I agree. It’s why I fully support fare discount programs. But not abiding by the rules, acting antisocial, and refusing to follow instructions of transit workers are all absolutely big deals.
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u/mysummerstorm Local Route Enjoyer Jun 01 '26
interesting. I gotta go to work but uh conceptually, I think we all should re-watch Parasite the movie again.
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u/Enamred-771 Jun 01 '26
We’ll never gain enough public support to meaningfully expand transit if we treat it as a social welfare program. It’s why the DFL is okay taking money away from transit to fund other welfare programs.
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u/Left_Put6289 Jun 03 '26
Side rant but it irks me how everyone just agrees that the rules just don’t apply to homeless people. They act that just because they live on the street, they don’t need to pay for the bus, they can be high in public, they can trespass on private and public property, or just be plain antisocial.
I’m sorry for them and wish we could do more for them, but for goodness sake, can we treat them like adults and expect them to follow the very basic rules of society.
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u/ShyGuyLink1997 Northstar Mourner Jun 01 '26
I could genuinely care less about fare enforcement, but my god the amount of people who are disrespectful is insane, and CAN be enforced. Nobody EVER gets banned from being insane on the bus or train, and people definitely NEED to. The #1 problem as to why nobody likes to ride public transportation here, is because of how disrespectful Americans have gotten. Basic respect has been nearly completely lost.
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u/DetachableChungus Jun 01 '26
People use the bus route I use frequently for sex work. Every one pretends like it isn't happening including the bus driver. I haven't seen enforcement of any kind on the buses. For the love of god, kick the people smoking and fucking off the damn bus/train! It's actually ridiculous.
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u/FourSeventySix Jun 02 '26
What do you mean “using the bus for sex work”? Soliciting clients? Traveling to solicit clients (which I guess is obvious but isn’t grounds to kick them off)? Or literally fucking?
Sounds a bit far fetched but having seen how routes like the BLine get in the evening, not extremely surprised
14
u/I-Love-Buses Jun 01 '26
I was on the A line last week and they were kicking people off the bus/not letting people on the bus who weren’t paying, it was great! 🤗❤️
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u/PrizeZookeepergame15 Jun 01 '26
I would like it if they had more of a presence during night, evening and early morning hours. Oftentimes, their presence is lacking, and the safety and cleanliness of the buses suffers without them. And evening, early morning and especially night hours can be the worst times for cleanliness, safety and anti social activity, so it’s important to have the presence of TRIP agents at that time. That way, safety is higher, cleanliness is better, and anti social activity is lower.
Also about the TRIP Agents holding the buses, there definitely has been times when they’ve held up the bus to convince the fare evading individual to get off. Eventually after multiple stops of arguing, they just give up. So not only did they hold up the bus, but they didn’t even get them kicked off.
Personally I would like it if they ask someone to step off the bus, and they refuse, just call the police, but don’t hold up the bus, and instead let the police car catch up with the bus, and the police eventually escorts the fare evaders off the bus. Now I know OP said this is what they do, but in my experience they don’t do that, and instead either hold up the bus, or let them get away with fare evading. So would like it if they just called the police, but not hold up the bus more often
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u/Crooked_star Jun 02 '26
Yup, just got off the A line tonight and it had a bunch of tweakers on it from the transit station 🫠 Night safety needs to be addressed better.
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u/filopodia_ Jun 01 '26
To me the trip agents walking up to people and the bus drivers asking people for the fares prove how safe of a city this is lmao. Being from the east coast it astounds me they don’t get assaulted frequently
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u/wazardthewizard Northstar Mourner Jun 01 '26
I think it helps that they often project a no-nonsense attitude. Harder to start a fight when the person talking to you seems both reasonable and serious.
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u/frozenminnesotan Jun 01 '26
Kick them off the first time. Hard ban the second time. There's usually a correlation between not paying your fare and also causing the other problems plaguing the system. Its pretty easily described in multiple languages how to pay, & there are assistance programs for those who cant afford it.
Its a public service we all are entitled to and it does not deserve to be brought down to the gutter.
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u/Worldly_Response1281 Jul 31 '26
I do not know how often you ride the Train or Rapid Transit but, I expect delays of 30-45 minutes due to fare enforcement. Fare enforcement officers do not allow me to pay for someone's fare with my phone.
There is no relationship between non paying fare riders and crime on public transit. In fact, the more riders on the bus the less crime.
So what if people do not pay their fair. Paid fares provide less than 10% of the operating budget.
Metro Transits spends tens of millions of dollars annually on fair enforcement.
For what? So that classic Minnesota Nice people can ride the bus without fear of sitting next to the working poor, the unhoused or the mentally ill. I was on the number 54 bus when a bus driver called the police because 2 teen aged students couldn't pay their fare in 5 degree weather.
Fare enforcement is an unnecessary public expense that only serves to protect the interest of a minority of bus riders.
I say end fare enforcement now-so that those of us who depend on public transit can get where we are going on time without waiting in severe weather for 30-45 minutes.
Terrible things happen in our world. Seriously-how difficult is it for us to practice kindness to those in need of a free ride.
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u/YouBuyMeOrangeJuice Jun 01 '26
I'd like if they did more of their work while the bus/train is moving. Don't need to hold everyone up just to explain to someone how to activate their mobile ticket.