Trust, but verify

As noted in earlier posts, Seattle's fledgling light rail system was extended from downtown to the University of Washington last month, passing through Capitol Hill, another densely populated area, on its way.  Transit authorities underestimated the popularity of the new extension, and trains immediately began running full during much of the day.

It warms my heart to see kids -- most of the new riders are students from the UW or twenty-somethings from Capitol Hill -- either lining up at kiosks to buy tickets or beeping their pre-loaded Orca cards at the proximity detectors.  So far, these new passengers seem to be paying their fares.

But for how long?  As I noted in a post several years ago, I've watched many riders on the original stretch from downtown south to the airport climb on board with neither a ticket nor an Orca "beep."  Once in a while an enforcement officer would come through the car checking whether we had paid our fares, but it was rare and the spot-checks predictably occurred on a few long stretches between distant stations.  The officers were uniformed.  When they boarded at a station, some street-wise riders prudently disembarked, choosing to wait for the next train.

So I wonder how long it will be before canny students and young adults from the north end of town also decide that payment is voluntary, that the fares are sort of like the voluntary admission fee "suggested" by the Metropolitan Museum in New York.  Maybe I'll be able to tax-deduct the fares I pay as charitable contributions to Sound Transit?

Los Angeles began with the same system, appealing to the better natures of its riders.  Metro gave up in 2013, adopting the turnstiles that most rail transit systems have long used.  The New York Times reported that one reason L.A.'s Metro system had intentionally avoided turnstiles was that supervisors were afraid turnstiles would discourage already transit-averse Angelenos from even trying out the system.  But the rapidly growing system drew massive numbers of riders. 

Seattle's experience has been similar, on a smaller city scale.

One of the Los Angeles transit system's board of supervisors admitted that there had been no incentive for people to pay -- the chances of scofflaws' being caught were "slim to none."  One rider told the Times reporter,

The last time someone wrote me a ticket I looked at the cop and said: ‘You know what, how long have you been on the force? You can write me that ticket but you’re going to stand there and watch me tear it up because I know it’s not going to be enforced.’

I suggest that Seattle not wait for its customers either to laugh at the transit police and mock compliance, as this fellow did, or, alternatively, to feel like idiots whose voluntary payments subsidize those who refuse to pay.  It will cost some money to install the necessary automated turnstiles, but it also costs money when passengers stop paying their fares.  It would also cost money to employ enough enforcement officers to stage massive spot-checks to compel compliance.

And beyond the dollars and cents aspect, running a system where only some users pay their share is demoralizing to everyone.  And demoralization will not encourage voters to finance badly-needed future expansion of the system at the polls in November.