Keolis looks at a 'ring of steel' to crack down on commuter-rail fare evaders

$5.75 each way from Roslindale to South Station is a rip off. Occasionally not having the conductor take my ticket helps bring the value equation into balance.

at least when boarding at major stations like North/South stations, Back Bay.

Bus, streetcar, train:

*Bus fare evasion really comes down to the driver, but ultimately does MBTA management actually expect a bus driver to physically or aggressively prevent someone who can't or won't pay from getting on a bus? Are they expected to contact transit police and wait for them to show up, which could take forever since it;'s a small force and a very large system? What does their union contract say? Obviously, no, they aren't supposed to get aggressive and certainly not physically confront a fare evader. I think 99% of fare evaders are serial fare evaders and known to drivers.

*Streetcars are a big problem; they get very crowded, and when above ground, it'll GREATLY slow down an already slow (signal problems, rules about going very slow into and out of stations, only one train in a station at the same time, old trains, etc.) part of the system.

*Heavy rail subway trains should not have a serious fare evasion problem minus people finding ways of sneaking into the station, letting others piggy back through turnstiles or open/unlocked exits, stuff like that. BUT, many times piggy backing is legit because Charlie Cards and tickets don't work in turnstiles (in the case of tickets they can get stuck in machines,too), there are most of the time no station T personnel present, and usually they will tell people with a Charlie Card problem to piggy back through because they already know there's issues with turnstiles not working with some cards.

Only police can actually physically stop a fare evader and arrest them if necessary, so I don't know what use hiring a private contractor will do.

They should fix this first. Doing away with punch cards is a no brainier. Putting up fare gates at north, south and back bay too. What they really should do is make everyone get a tap card and have the conductors do scan ins when people board. They make everyone get on the train at 2-3 doors anyway and the conductor is standing at each one, so why not? I am tired of the argument that people can't buy tickets at the station. That's too bad. You can pay in cash and you can buy a ticket on your phone. As for the phone thing, those should work with scan technology like airline boarding passes.

I don't feel inclined to believe a guesstimate from Keolis. Last we heard from them they had a great idea to decrease delayed trains: Schedule less trains. They were stunned that we didn't listen to their nonsense about cascading delays (The next train can't be delayed if there is no next train!). This time they have done a press release that has the public foaming at the mouth and eager to do whatever they say. Don't be that guy.

Baker needs to keep this problem in mind for green line extension. One of his ideas to cut costs on the GLX is to design cheaper stations, like the ones at most above ground green line stations, where riders pay as they board. He didnt seem to care that this would slow down the new line (if its built), but he should care that it costs the MBTA millions in lost fare revenue.

You can't really evade fares on the CR, can you? The conductors take the cash. I very rarely get a free ride on the CR in Boston.

Aside from spoofing the smartphone M-tickets, it's pretty damn easy to spoof the monthly cards.

I get mine through my employer (which subsidizes public transport), but I have NEVER had a conductor actually scan the card to see that it's valid. It's not hard and there is generally enough time between stops for them to perform a more thorough check. I could easily save >$150/month by making my own pass and flashing it at them.

The gate bottleneck could be partially solved by not "witholding" the track information until the last possible moment so that everyone rushes the platform at once. At least at NS, there are multiple trains waiting well in advance of the departure...it's not as if they don't know the destination.

Some important details are missing from this plan.

How would these gates read tickets sold on board? They're currently just a piece of paper with holes punched in it. Would they give the conductors ticket stock with a magstripe?

How would the gates open for people paying with an mTicket on their phone?

How many gates would they need to handle several trainloads arriving at once?

The gates would not prevent riding past the zone on your ticket.

I don't understand what they mean by "manual gates" at stations like Porter and Ruggles.

And lastly, how will this plan interact with the T's plan to replace the entire Charlie system?

The Green Line Extension was originally planned to have regular stations instead of the street-level access like the rest of the Green Line. With regular stations I'm sure there is less fare evasion, but regular stations are much more expensive. So what do they do?

Costly, but I feel like it could be integrated with your charlie card. Basically, you could insert fair gates at the beginning of the platform, or have a conductor stationed there with a mobile scanner. As people make their way down the platform, they tap through (just like on the subway), this is your entrance point. Then when you get to your destination you tap-off, which could either be a scanner on each door on each car, set of scanners at each station. When you tap-on that set's your starting point, then when you tap-off that ends your trip and charges the proper amount against your stored balance (if you have balance on your card). If you have a monthly (or 10-ride, or weekly pass, etc.) it basically checks to make sure that your start & end point are in the appropriate zone. If for whatever reason, you take a trip outside the zone for which your pass is for, then it charges you the extra. If you decide to not tap-off, then the system would just assume that you took the full trip to the end of thel line and charge you accordingly, and that is the incentive for people to tap-off. The tricky thing is getting people on the inbound trips. You're not going to be able to have fair controlled platforms, so I think you would need the conductors with scanners walking the cars setting the start point.

It's very rare that my pass isn't checked. And even on crowded trains, the conductors usually manage to get to everybody. How do they really know how many people are using something other than a pass on the few times they don't get to everybody?

Any system in place like extra turnstiles needs to be paid for before fare money starts being saved.

Oh, and if the conductor doesn't ask me for my ticket, that doesn't mean I am a fare evader.

Europe has this problem of fare evasion fixed for the most part.

1) Buy a ticket to your destination from a ticket agent or machine.
2) While still in the station walk to the ticket validation machine and get it punched.
3) Board the train and take the ride.

No conductor bothers you. Their job is to assure people board and get off and assure passenger safety and comfort.

Now, sounds like a bad system right? Not so. At random times and unannounced, rail inspectors will board at random stations on random days at random hours to walk through the train to see if you have a properly validated ticket.

If you do, have a nice day.

If not you are arrested on the spot, taken off the train and booked with an average of $275 USD fine or more depending on where the violation occurred.

People still take a chance of course, but most don't want to face a judge and the hefty fine, and possibility of being banned from the trains for a while.

Fare evasion is not as big a problem there now.