SFist Tonight
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SFist Tonight
With an estimated 700,000 boardings per day, 1 out of 10 Muni riders jump aboard without paying. (For shame! Two dollars is a bargain for this kind of entertainment.) According to a report by SF Chron, "[f]are evasion on Muni occurs most frequently in the afternoon and at night ... Among the lines where the problem is most prevalent are the 9-San Bruno, 14-Mission, 38-Geary and 47-Van Ness."
But, as the report goes on to point out, riding without paying happens on all Muni lines, frequently. Fare evasion, it seems, "is enshrined in Muni culture," a cultural affect that will land you a $75 fine.
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10% seems awfully low.
I ride the 38 and while it is possible all of those backdoor boarders have passes, it sure doesn't seem likely to me!
This is such a non issue. We pay for MUNI with our taxes. Who cares that some people ride for free when they need to, except for church-lady style folx who want to police everyone's behavior.
People don't evade fares on Muni because they "need to", they do it because they think they can, and it many cases they are right. MUNI is not fully funded by taxes and is facing a significant budget deficit. Even if MUNI had all the money it needed, fare evasion would still be unfair to those of us who actually pay. Plus, dilligent fare enforcement would restrict MUNI use to those who actually have somewhere to go, as opposed to the intoxicated gentleman who got on the bus this morning, only to rant, yell, and stagger off at 7th and Market.
"Fare box revenue is expected to generate approximately $170 million in the current fiscal year, accounting for about 20 percent of Muni's operating budget."
What say you help make up the gap since you seem unconcerned by those stealing from their fellow citizenry when they "need to" (cough cough).
I've always wondered... are those new stings or raids by Muni inspectors with SFPD support really worth it?
For example, one sting involved over ten (yes TEN) fare inspectors and a couple of fare inspectors at one bus stop. Is that really worth our taxpayer money to, in the end, write a dozen tickets?
Oh, yeah, I mean, whether it's a good system to begin with or not is definitely another question entirely.
I just think to pretend that it's a non-issue fiscally or that fare evaders only do it because they absolutely need to and only when they need to is a load.
It's a HUGE issue. When passengers are being asked to pay more, and taxpayers are being asked to pay more, it's a slap in all of our faces when some no-account punks decide they can decide to cheat just because they can.
I'm with Dufty: raise the fines for repeat offenses to $200 or more, and NO breaks for teenagers. Let them ask their parents for the cash, or save their allowances, or sell a bit more weed, or whatever kids do now.
AJ: I don't mind raising the fine to triple digits. But my primary concern with fare inspection/POP is the constant problem with the expired transfer policy when on the Muni metro.
One of my main arguments is that if you are stuck underground (backup, broken train, etc.), you cannot escape, and your transfer expired, thereby the fare inspectors are ready to **** you up, even if your transfer expired just a few minutes too late. But if you ride a bus, at least you can leave the vehicle if it gets stuck.
Read here:
http://www.akit.org/2009/04/muni-fare-inspectors-are-stupid-mean.html
Agreed, that policy needs to change in case of a delay in the tunnel.
They should really have different levels of punishment. Like if you have an expired transfer or a monthly pass that just expired, that shouldn't incur the same fine as the Chinese ladies who hop on the back and pretend not to speak English when the fare inspector comes around.
Easy policy fix: if expired in last hour, pay the fare immediately plus a $10 fine right into the farebox or billed to your Translink.
At least with Translink, you can retag your card if you think you have been over 90 minutes. On the other hand, there is no slip with the expiration time for you to check to tell if you need to pay again.
Of course, I think the idea that you should pay a second fare when there are system delays is completely ridiculous. Muni knows when there are problems and can tell the inspectors to extend the transfer time temporarily. I also think it is ridiculous to have to pay cash if the Translink reader is not working and they can't read my monthly pass from the card. The equipment is not in my control, and MUNI should suffer the loss, not me, when their equipment is broken. I'll pay cash if I forget to bring my card because that is my fault.
Airlines do lots of crazy things with their pricing, but they don't hold out their hand to collect a higher fare if they rebook you because of a mechanical problem. (Sir, your flight is canceled. We can book you out 3 hours later, but you'll have to pay $200 extra because all the cheap seats are sold out on that flight. Oh, and we only have middle seats left.)
Would be an interesting study, to see how much taxes would need to be raised to just abandon fare collection and provide free transit to all. Back when I was a transportation engineer, transit ridership was not that sensitive to fares, so it would not necessarily mean huge increases in ridership.
$170 million is the magic number, plus a little more for security. They did a study a few years ago and it basically proved that fare-free Muni was a total fantasy.
That study also concluded that they would have to buy several hundred new buses and trains to keep up with the demand. And that some major rebuilding would have to be made to the subway tunnels because the wouldn't be able to handle the traffic.
It says a lot about the system when there is a chance you won't be able to get from on place to another inside a seven mile square area. Unless people are complaining that their return trip went got stuck in the tunnel and ran over the 90 minutes, then they can fuck off. That $2 is for a transfer, not a round trip pass.
Make that "won't be able to get from on place to another inside a seven mile square area in less than 90 minutes".
They didn't include the 30-Stockton in Chinatown? I counted over 30 going through the rear door on an articulated bus.
Plus, fare evasion is a problem; well... duh! Muni wants to keep reiterating it over and over again every several months.
I ride the 30 and 45 regularly and the backdoor boarding is annoying. Especially when the bus is packed and some genius decides to stand on the last step, refusing to get off and preventing the bus from moving. I've only seen one bust this year on the 30 and 45 lines, right outside the Stockton tunnel. There were about a dozen fare inspectors.
Lately, bus drivers on those lines refuse to open the backdoor while going through Chinatown. Doing so has actually sped up the boarding.
I want that freeloading pigeon jailed and fined!!!
Another interesting finding of the study: 1 in 10 fare evaders are dead bodies.
"For example, one sting involved over ten (yes TEN) fare inspectors and a couple of fare inspectors at one bus stop. Is that really worth our taxpayer money to, in the end, write a dozen tickets?"
I don't think its the tickets that are the main goal. It's the idea that they are checking and you are likely to get caught if you cheat. If I know there was no chance of getting caught, I might sneak on now and then.
As I understand it, the point is to check fares often enough to ensure a high rate of compliance. 100% compliance is a pipe dream, and not worth what it would cost to obtain. However, a rate much better than 90% should be doable with the proper combination of inspection and deterrents (such as having both booths open in the Metro stations).
Just making it so everyone realizes that there is a non-zero chance of getting caught will be enough. I think a lot of people do it because they know on a bus they never have to worry about getting caught.
Why not hire more fare inspectors? They're never on Muni buses. Just put a few on the 38, 14/49, 9, etc. at rush hour and it would easily pay for itself.
I saw the same team of Muni inspectors on two different lines (the 19, the F line) on the same day last week...
No busts while I was on the buses with them, though. One hobo in dire need of a bath, grubbing through pockets for 35 pennies, after being called out... but that's it.
I'd love to see what happens when the inspectors ride through Chinatown (more MUNI battle videos??)
I've never willingly evaded a fare but could someone tell me how I'm supposed to pay on the 38 when the bus is packed and the driver signals for you to go through one of the back doors.
In theory, you are supposed to wait for the next bus so you can pay rather than board through the back without a pass or transfer. Same thing happens on the Metro lines like N-Judah, where you are supposed to board the first door of the first car, but often there is no room so people cram into the second car to get to work.
Translink has the advantage here, as there are readers near all the doors (some may be on the other side of the car), so you should be able to squeeze through the crowd to pay, assuming the readers are working.
The first fine is NOT $75... it is closer to $150, a mistake I made right after moving to SF. Also, it is arbitrary so maybe some people do get a $75 fine while others pay twice as much or more which is why when you ask the ticketing officer how much the fine will be he shrugs and tells you that it will be mailed to you. Which is awesome when you don't even know the address of the couch you're crashing on.
The base fine is probably $75, but then they tack on fees that probably push it close to $150. Same thing if you get a $271 traffic fine. You end up paying $400+ from what I've heard.
there is no fine, fare inspectors cannot force you to surrender an ID so you just make up a name and address. It's fun....yeah that's what I said, fun. I get my jollies riding muni for free so every sucker that pays can fuck off!
Hahahaha......assdrip.
Maybe this would be less of an issue if it wasn't so hard to pay to ride the god damn bus. At least they finally got Translink set up, but it craps out pretty frequently, the cash machines break, the front of buses and trains are too crowded to board, and only one or two drivers I've seen ever call out people who board through the back. I don't know why SF never started using the magnetic cards that work well in NYC and Chicago - not everyone can sign up online for a credit card -linked RFID magical payment thingy.
Re: fining bums, it doesn't help anybody. They won't/can't pay the fine, but they WILL end up in actual trouble as the late penalties get tacked on. The next thing you know, someone who didn't pay their two bucks now has a warrant out for their arrest.
spot on sean. paying should be way easier for the common joe. why do we have to get change from a bart machine to pay in quarters at any lrv subway station? what a joke. the machines should take dollars and print out your transfer. you could get rid of that station attendant if so. save lots of money.
Again, who gives a shit. If you feel like paying, pay. It will come out of yr taxes anyway. My friend takes her daughter to school every day, and she avoids the fare. As she should. If she had a great job, I'm sure she'd be happy to pay. In the meantime, all you fucking 'new San Francisco' church ladies that want to cast judgement can suck it.