Pittsburgh: Port Authority Says it Won't Use Racial Profiling when T System Goes Cashless

[MineralMan]

4. I've not yet seen a public transit system compare the money lost

to free riders and the cost of determining who paid and who didn't. We have a similar problem here in the Minneapolis St. Paul are with our light rail system. Some people, unbelievably, get on the trains without paying. Who would have imagined? So, the Transit Police sometimes, but only sometimes, check for tickets or passes on those trains. From time to time, they find someone who hasn't paid their fare. What happens next is often an arrest, complete with squad cars and all that falderol.

So, finally, last year, they published something about what percentage of riders were using the system without paying. It was rather small, actually. But, they did not compare the lost funds from free riders to the cost of figuring out how many free riders there are and how much it costs to enforce paying for rides.

I suspect the enforcement costs are far higher than the losses, based on their percentage numbers, but who knows how they determined those numbers, either.

The bottom line is that, unless they put conductors on those trains and check everyone's tickets or passes, people are going to hop on the train and ride without paying their fare. The cost of running the train doesn't change, and only a small percentage will freeload their trips.

I'm not seeing how increased enforcement, with its higher costs, is going to pay off in any way, frankly. And it's sure to lead to selective enforcement (profiling), since the freeloaders are likely to be people who can't afford to pay, and might look as if they can't.

I say, "Let the people ride the damned train! It's mostly empty most of the time anyhow."