(Image: Sound Transit)
As Sound Transit prepares to add 4.3 miles of service to its light rail lines, you’ll also find new “fare ambassadors” on trains starting this week. It’s an effort to address concerns about equity and heavy handed fare enforcement.
The new pilot program started Monday with fare ambassadors checking with riders for proof of payment and providing help and information about the transit service.
“We want all passengers to feel comfortable asking Fare Ambassadors for assistance, whether they need help getting to their destination, or they’re having trouble purchasing fare,” Sound Transit chief passenger experience and innovation officer Russ Arnold said in an announcement on the start of the new program. “Fare Ambassadors are here to provide help.”
CHS reported in late 2020 on the Sound Transit board’s fare enforcement reform efforts after complaints about police-like enforcement officers and findings that showed the fare policies disproportionately impacted people of color “and individuals with little or no income.” Surveys showed Black passengers were cited and punished disproportionately by the process.
The eight-month pilot is an experiment. After the feedback and “community engagement that expressed discomfort with fare enforcement officers who resemble law enforcement,” Sound Transit’s fare ambassadors wear “bright yellow caps, and carry yellow messenger bags that make them easy to recognize.”
“Their focus is on passenger education and customer service rather than enforcement, with particular emphasis on how to purchase ORCA cards and passes and how income-eligible passengers can obtain ORCA LIFT cards,” Sound Transit says —
Fare Ambassadors will enter trains from both ends of the car, and ask every passenger for proof of payment as they work their way toward the center. This is the same process that had been used by fare enforcement officers previously to ensure equal treatment of all passengers. As in the past, Fare Ambassadors will use hand-held devices to check fares.
During the pilot, no citations will be issued but Sound Transit will be keeping track of the numbers including “farebox recovery.” Fare Ambassadors will also give passengers a card with a QR code linking to the fare engagement website, where they can complete a satisfaction survey.
“Throughout the pilot, Sound Transit will continue to engage with passengers and the community including BIPOC-led organizations, to learn about their experiences with the program and gather feedback that will be used to refine the program, and develop long-term approaches to addressing non-payment,” Sound Transit says.
The findings along with the data will shape the board’s updated policies for fare enforcement which could include lowering fines, implementing a new citation resolution process, and making the fare ambassador positions permanent.
Meanwhile, Sound Transit has bumped service back up with more riders returning after the heights of the COVID-19 crisis and is ready to unveil its major expansion in October connecting its existing light rail system to the University District and Northgate. The latest plans call for expansions to West Seattle by 2032 and Ballard by 2039.
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I watch people get on my No. 2 bus without paying every day, and the drivers say nothing. Be please honest with us. You’ve given up on enforcement.
Uh, that seems like a good thing though
Bus drivers are drivers, not enforcers, it’s part of their training and job description to not bar entrance to people who don’t pay.
Fare enforcement is the responsibility of fare enforcement officers only. Bus operators are not responsible for fare enforcement and haven’t been for many, many years. Metro policy is that operators should do no more than state the fare to anyone attempting to board without paying.
This is huge and amazing. I hope that when they do start enforcement they continue to do it in an equitable, friendly way, and that the penalties aren’t substantially more than the fare itself.
As a frequent transit rider I have been fare checked many, many times. It is always done in the same equitable manner. The person who is caught who didn’t pay the fare, who cheated all of us, is the jerk. Free & reduced price fares are easy to obtain with a modicum of effort, for those who are eligible. I have as much sympathy for the transit fare cheaters as I do for wealthy tax evaders, which is to say none.
Me being on the fence here I’ve been with and with out before I take sound transportation every day there has been a time or two I’ve had to sneak on with out paying to get to work between paydays and there are others who are broke as f*#&! From this covd 19 who have lost it all an cant afford it right this min people like you I don’t hold any respect for you. NONE you go buy what you see and judge them I see it every day
Instead of cheating the fare, have you bothered to apply for a free or reduced-price transit card? I’ve done it myself, it’s not hard.
They should install ticket gates at entrance and exit (like all the other cities and countries in the world is doing), and save money on hiring human enforcers / ambassadors… ST doesn’t have budget to waste.
And for underprivileged riders who need fare help, they should have access to subsidized / free Orca cards.
Salary of one ambassador likely can pay for 100 subsidized riders.
No thank you to ticket gates imo
This is not possible because of the geography of the system. In order for turn styles and gate payment to work, every bit of the system has to be closed off and inaccessible, which means putting fencing and barriers and security back up along the entire length of the system, including the areas where it’s on the street level in the Rainier Valley, Bellevue, and beyond. The huge expense of materials, maintenance, and continued security to prevent trespassers (not to mention the eyesore of running huge blockades through the middle of towns like that) far far far outweighs the cost of staffing fare ambassadors and any farebox revenue by millions upon millions of dollars. This has been studied and reported on many times over the last couple decades, and the fact that it does not make financial or human sense is why it has never been implemented.
Presumably they’ll do more than just check fares, such as answer questions from those unfamiliar with the system, etc. And their very presence will help deter troublemakers. Worth the money.
Or instead of going through all this hand waving and expensive means of collecting fares, we could just make transit free to all.
What all transit routes more importantly need is a mask enforcement program. It has been a risky business having to ride transit since the start of the pandemic and remains so today. No one “in power” is listening to this critical flaw in protecting us riders. Drivers cannot deal w the level of poorly or fully unmasked riders once they are onboard.
I ride the bus and light rail a few times a week and mask compliance is 98%+. Assuming you’re vaccinated, I really wouldn’t worry about it much.
My experience is ~80% compliance. If you factor in the people who wear a mask, but refuse to place it over their nose, maybe around ~60%.
Light Rail riders seem to be more likely to wear masks versus, the bus routes. You’ll also encounter a larger number of those riders wearing masks, appropriately, on the northern end of the line.
As far a buses, it depends on the line. Highly recommend not riding the D line if you don’t have to.
As far as vaccination and still catching COVID, it’s still no joke. Speaking from experience.
I am one of those people not able to get the vaccine. Wish I could. I’m not the only one out there. Ignoring appropriate mask wearing on city transit when many are dependent on it for travel makes our risk exponentially higher since the protection equation is about lessening output combined with lessening input. Missing the output control of others mitigates protection drastically even with my/others mask-wearing. The city should care more about that than fare protection staffing with this pandemic.
It’s ridiculous (very american) that public transit isn’t free for all.
Puzzling comment since nearly all the cities with free transit are in the US, mostly small to mid-size cities trying to entice people out of their cars. The tiny country of Luxembourg offers free transit too, I suppose, but nearly all (if not all) major cities in the world require payment to ride public transportation.
Let’s tick off all of those countries where public transit is free for all.
You start!
…
Lol… public transportation wasn’t even free in the Soviet Union… they tried in the 1920’s and it was found to be unsustainable.
A few small places have all free public transport Corvallis, OR – that has 11 routes… Luxemborg does – that’s a country that is less than 1/2 the size of King County… but for the most part it requires money from not only pubic coffers, but also the subsidy of riders on busier routes to keep the less travelled ones running.
Aw crap… no I don’t think there are pubic coffers… *public* coffers, that should be. I really wish these posts could be edited.