Metro (WMATA)

Two Tickets in DC? Metro Says ‘Pleasant Surprise' as Fare Evasion Crackdown Starts Slow

Metro says effort is working despite tangle of regional laws and “self-correcting” evaders

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The head of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced last fall a crackdown on passengers who ride without paying, pledging to bring order to a beleaguered transit system that reportedly saw fare evasion rise during the pandemic.

But a News4 I-Team analysis found fewer than two tickets were issued on average each day in the first two months of the campaign, with 91 issued systemwide and just two inside the District.

Metro leaders have acknowledged eliminating fare evasion is virtually impossible, but the I-Team’s findings have some questioning whether the enforcement push is making a dent in a problem Metro says costs roughly $40 million a year. 

“There are certain stations [where] I've never seen any police,” said Rick Brown, a commuter who recently spoke to the I-Team outside of the Silver Spring station. 

Brown said he sees people jumping the gates every time he rides the train, suggesting the volume makes it all the more difficult for transit police to enforce the rules.

“No one even cares,” he said of the fare skippers.

The I-Team found the bulk of the citations were issued in Virginia, where transit officers wrote 54 fare evasion tickets in November and December combined. The majority of those were handed out at the Pentagon City, Rosslyn and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport stations. 

Meanwhile, data show officers wrote 35 citations in Maryland – the majority at Hyattsville Crossing and Silver Spring – and just two tickets in the District. 

In Virginia and Maryland, fare evasion citations are up to $100, while D.C.’s citations, which are civil offenses, are $50.

While some commuters like Brown question whether Metro is doing enough to deter fare evaders, Metro General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke called the I-Team’s findings a “pleasant surprise.”

“It's not about the ticketing as much as it is self-correcting behavior,” he told the I-Team in a December interview.

Clarke, who joined the transit agency in July 2022 and quickly announced combatting fare evasion as a top priority, said his goal was to rein in the problem “to a much more manageable level that feels more fair to everyone.” 

But he said D.C. law also inhibits how far Metro can go to address the problem. 

Clarke said officers operating inside the District must first give would-be fare evaders a chance to pay or leave the station. Only if they refuse to pay and refuse to leave would they be potentially arrested for trespassing and issued a fare evasion fine. The I-Team’s review of tickets issued in D.C., however, show just two for failure to pay in late December, with no accompanying arrest data.

“If the law was different in D.C., we’d be using it more similarly to Maryland and Virginia,” Clarke said.

Metro estimates at least 1,000 people have “self-corrected” since the crackdown began, thus avoiding a citation. When the I-Team asked for that data, a spokesman said it was based on “officer observations” that suggest about one third of self-corrections occurred in D.C., one half in Maryland and the remainder in Virginia.

WMATA Fare Evasions Cited

11/1/22 – 1/2/23

Source: WMATA Crime Data

Yesim Sayin, executive director of the nonprofit think tank D.C. Policy Center, told the I-Team it’s too soon to say what success looks like for the fare crackdown campaign. She noted the estimated money lost to fare evasion is tiny compared to Metro's $4.8 billion annual budget. 

“This is not for money. This is generally to increase the sense of safety,” she said, later adding: "It's about sending a signal that the system is trying to be fair to everyone who pays. I think that's an important signal."

The push comes at a time Metro desperately needs riders to return to its rails after the pandemic turned many commuters into teleworkers. WMATA has struggled to get them back as it’s dealt with a rail car shortage, long wait times for its trains and a spate of violence at its stations.

In addition to the fare enforcement campaign, Metro is also experimenting with new faregates designed to make it harder to hop over without paying. 

Just last month, Clarke unveiled a budget proposal that includes potential fare increases, but he has also proposed a reduced fare program for Metro riders who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. That program is separate from the D.C. Council’s move to subsidize Metrobus beginning in July, effectively making bus trips free for riders within the District.

“I think most people in society would say, ‘Hey, those are individuals that are down on their luck a little bit. Let's help them out with 50% reduced fare,’” Clarke said of the reduced fare program.

Clarke is also mindful of diverse public opinions not just about whether transit should be free for all, but the social justice implications of a heavy police presence.

“We do not want to have a police confrontation over a couple of dollars. I don't think anyone wants to see that,” he said.

I-Team interviews with commuters like Brown quickly demonstrated the tightrope Metro is walking in the court of public opinion.

“Punitive responses to economic problems often don't solve the fundamental issue,” commuter Chris Bangert-Drowns said of the enforcement push.

Bangert-Drowns said he isn’t bothered by fare evaders.

“My thinking is: If I can afford to pay, it supports the system for those that can't afford it,” he said.

Rider Ricardi Gaston said he supports the enforcement effort, but he wasn’t impressed with its early results.

“If you’re losing $40 million, you’ve got to do more to, you know, get that $40 million back,” he said.

Erica Lloyd said the campaign is a “waste of time” because “public transportation is a public good, and we should be subsidizing it and making it free.”

And a rider who identified himself as “Baby Static” agreed, saying, “I choose not to pay because I think that public transportation should be free.”

Clarke said he knows some of Metro’s users are unhappy with any type of fare enforcement but said he welcomes the big picture debate.

“People can debate what the rules of the future should be and that's a healthy public policy discussion,” Clarke said. “But we have rules of today, and our job is to actually enforce the rules.”

Reported by Ted Oberg, produced by Katie Leslie, and shot and edited by Carlos Olazagasti and Jeff Piper.

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