5 ms·
Not quite true… A few years ago, the district of Columbia decriminalized fare evasion. So many people stopped paying the subway fare that the gap in the budget
by Overtonwindow 4y ago
Not quite true… A few years ago, the district of Columbia decriminalized fare evasion. So many people stopped paying the subway fare that the gap in the budget became very significant on the order of millions of dollars.
What you see as a small component of transit systems budgets, they seem to see as a quite significant part of their budget.
I think this is going to lead to worst outcomes, and a worse funded system.
"Metro estimates it lost $40 million due to fair evasion in the 2022 fiscal year."
$40 million is not "quite small"
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/transportation/metro-begins-issuing-fare-evasion-tickets-nov-1/3196489/ https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/transportation/metr...
- bradleyjg 4y agoFare evasion is now de facto legal in nyc as well as the DAs refuse to prosecute. The MTA estimates it’ll cost $500 million a year.
- kennywinker 4y agoI don’t trust those “lost revenue” figures. What are they based on? My city used to not have fare gates. They made up insane estimates for how much adding fare gates would increase revenue - when the gates went in it ended up costing far more per year than it earned in increased revenue. And 40 million is not a small number for a person, but for a city with a budget of about 20 billion it’s not a very large number at all - especially when viewed in comparison with spending on roads and bridges. You don’t have to spend billions on another road bridge if everyone is taking the train
- Overtonwindow 4y agoI can't really do your research for you, but I guess if you looked at the budgets which are publicly available for the Washington metro area, transportation authority, you might find out. Also, WMATA's budget is separate from the city...