TTC targets farebox cheaters

[M II A II R II K]

TTC targets farebox cheaters


Mar 17 2011

By Tess Kalinowski

Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/transportation/article/955909--ttc-targets-farebox-cheaters


Cheaters with invalid transfers. Evaders who enter the streetcar’s back door without a pass. They anger honest riders and, along with other transit tricksters, bilked the TTC out of more than $22 million in fares last year — double the 2009 rate. In response, the TTC has launched Fare is Fair, a program meant to cut those losses, even though the agency doesn’t exactly know why fare evasion is on the rise. The plan calls for all on-duty transit enforcement officers to monitor turnstiles, crash gates and bus and streetcar platforms during the morning and afternoon rush. The move points to the challenges the system will face when its new, larger streetcars begin running in 2013 and all 11 downtown routes move to back-door boarding and a proof-of-payment (POP) system similar to that on GO Transit. GO has a smaller and generally higher-income clientele, but it lost only about $2 million last year to fare evasion.

On the new streetcars, drivers will sit in a closed cab and won’t collect fares and transfers. A draft report says the TTC lost about $16.6 million last year to the growing practice of passing invalid transfers. It lost a further $1.2 million from cheaters on the Queen streetcar’s POP system. Whether the TTC keeps its complicated, one-way paper transfer system or moves to timed transfers will be decided as it proceeds to build an electronic payment system. It’s a complex task, says chief general manager Gary Webster. TTC-style transfers are widely misunderstood by the public, but operators usually know at a glance if they are valid, he said. The problem is, they can’t always hold the bus to inspect every transfer or confront a cheater.

“Good enforcement isn’t blind application of your policy,†said Webster, who stresses that increased education and awareness are also critical to the success of Fare is Fair. Before an enforcement officer writes up a ticket ($195 plus $20 in court costs), he or she will make allowances for a tourist unfamiliar with the system, or someone who inadvertently took a circuitous route. Paper transfers are numbered with the date and direction of the route. They are cut to different lengths depending on when the vehicle leaves its original station. “It’s a system that works. It’s been around forever. We’ll have to see if an electronic system will make that easier,†said Webster.

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Fare evasion by the numbers

In 2010, the TTC lost $22,067,707 to fare evaders. Here are the types of evasions and the number of lost fares.

Lack of valid pass or transfer, 698,827

Illegal entry, 453,506

Invalid transfer, 9,361,095

Metropass used by two unrelated people, 1,228,043

Invalid day pass, 67,456

Foreign money, 658,703

 

[SimonP]

I find the numbers attached to this article odd. Only a small portion seems to be what most of us think of as fare evasion (hopping a turnstile or getting on the Queen car from the back)

It seems that the vast majority of fare evasion is from invalid transfers. I have to think that most of this is just confusion about the TTC's arcane transfer rules.

The second most common evasion is "Metropass used by two unrelated people." Since when have Metropasses only been transferable between people who are related? Or is this some weird way of talking about pass backs.

 

[gweed123]

Half the time, the people at the subway booths don't even really look at my transfers when I flash them. I've decided to see what I have to do with the transfer to get them to actually look at it. I've held it so that my thumb is covering the day/night part of it, I've held it upside down, I've even held it backwards, flashing them what was in essence a blank piece of paper. Only a handfull of times am I actually stopped to have them take a closer look.

I think the biggest way they're doing 'fare evasion' now is 'transfer refreshing'. If you can get into the subway system with an old surface transfer, there's nothing stopping you from picking up a new subway time stamped transfer. In Ottawa this would never happen, because the only way you can get a transfer is from a machine or the driver who time stamps when you received it, and that fare is good until the time shown. Much simpler, much more effective.

What Ottawa also does is any fare purchased after around 10pm is good until 3am. This is great for when I go downtown to bars and stuff. I pay 1 fare that gets me there and home, legally too, no fare evasion involved. Whether this is purposeful to try to eliminate drinking and driving, I don't know, but it's certainly convenient.

 

[Jonny5]

Foreign money, 658,703

Let me guess, every American penny discovered is a "fare evasion".

 

[junctionist]

Foreign money sounds like a novel form of fair evasion.

 

[Johnny Au]

Before, fare collectors accepted American money as Canadian money. American coinage looks quite similar to Canadian coinage from a distance. Now, fare collectors are beginning to crack down on American money, since the Canadian dollar is worth more than the American dollar.

 

[doady]

It seems that the vast majority of fare evasion is from invalid transfers. I have to thin that most of this is just confusion about the TTC's arcane transfer rules.

yeah, I don't really understand the trasnfer rules that well either...

Let me guess, every American penny discovered is a "fare evasion".

Are Canadian pennies allowed?

 

[allabootmatt]

I am a big fan of the German-style honor system, though I guess it relies on being willing to have enough inspectors to reduce any losses from cheating. What always struck me about Berlin is how simply designed the stations can be when you don't have to worry about separating the fare-paid zone. That makes transferring at the big hubs much easier, and I'm sure keeps costs down when the renovate or expand.

 

[freshcutgrass]

These problems wouldn't exist if there were no up-front user fees for public transit.

Of course we would have a problem accommodating the massive jump in ridership...but that is a problem you want to have.

It's funny how we do things so ass-backwards....we want to encourage public transit usage, and then charge massive up-front user fees. We want to discourage private vehicle usage, and charge no up-front user fee.

The Humans...sometimes not very smart.

 

[Mapleson]

Half the time, the people at the subway booths don't even really look at my transfers when I flash them. I've decided to see what I have to do with the transfer to get them to actually look at it. I've held it so that my thumb is covering the day/night part of it, I've held it upside down, I've even held it backwards, flashing them what was in essence a blank piece of paper. Only a handfull of times am I actually stopped to have them take a closer look.

I think the biggest way they're doing 'fare evasion' now is 'transfer refreshing'. If you can get into the subway system with an old surface transfer, there's nothing stopping you from picking up a new subway time stamped transfer. In Ottawa this would never happen, because the only way you can get a transfer is from a machine or the driver who time stamps when you received it, and that fare is good until the time shown. Much simpler, much more effective.

What Ottawa also does is any fare purchased after around 10pm is good until 3am. This is great for when I go downtown to bars and stuff. I pay 1 fare that gets me there and home, legally too, no fare evasion involved. Whether this is purposeful to try to eliminate drinking and driving, I don't know, but it's certainly convenient.

So $22 million a year in 'lost' revenue so it'd be 18 years to pay off an investment in Presto or similiar where we could do away with all the paper and the computer can see to the second if you are valid or not. That's not counting the cost savings of all those wads of paper.

 

[rbt]

So $22 million a year in 'lost' revenue so it'd be 18 years to pay off an investment in Presto or similiar where we could do away with all the paper and the computer can see to the second if you are valid or not. That's not counting the cost savings of all those wads of paper.

Vancouver is installing an openpayment based system, including fare gates which they do not currently have, for under $100M. There is reason to believe TTC cost would be similar.

Of course, it would not be compatible with Presto which for political reasons makes it difficult. Presto is more expensive due to being a single sourced contractor, a custom product that nobody outside Ontario is interested in, and more complicated interactions with the card itself

 

[Mapleson]

Vancouver is installing an openpayment based system, including fare gates which they do not currently have, for under $100M. There is reason to believe TTC cost would be similar.

Of course, it would not be compatible with Presto which for political reasons makes it difficult. Presto is more expensive due to being a single sourced contractor, a custom product that nobody outside Ontario is interested in, and more complicated interactions with the card itself

You mean the $220-million dollar single sourced contract with Cubic Corporation who have been working towards it for the last 15 years?

Presto is more expensive because it's more all-emcompassing with 11 transit systems being designed for instead of one single client.

 

[rbt]

You mean the $220-million dollar single sourced contract with Cubic Corporation who have been working towards it for the last 15 years?

I don't know anything but the history of that project but that agreement includes 10 years operations and maintenance. The TTC figure being thrown around did not as far as I can tell from the smart-card reports TTC has produced.

If the TTC figure includes operations and allows scaling back their accounting, technical, vending maintenance, etc. departments; then it really is a no-brainer to pay Presto the $400M on debt and cover the principal and interest out of the savings.

Presto is more expensive because it's more all-emcompassing with 11 transit systems being designed for instead of one single client.

Presto is more expesive strictly for the TTC. If you include all agencies in addition to the TTC you find the number grows to be well over $1B. Is it worth it? Accenture went through more than the value of the Cubic contract just getting Presto to trials for GO Transit.


What we do know is the bids on the Toronto payment system are being kept secret for unknown reasons. I should like to have access to both the bids and contract they were bidding on and a comparable bid from Accenture. Was the contract they bid on flawed? Politics? Something else?

 

[Mapleson]

If the TTC figure includes operations and allows scaling back their accounting, technical, vending maintenance, etc. departments; then it really is a no-brainer to pay Presto the $400M on debt and cover the principal and interest out of the savings.

The TTC figures exclude operations as they treat the two books as if they were contagious, but they could cut back of ticket vending and station farebox upgrade costs. The only problem the TTC has with Presto or any system is that they are too broke to afford anything. We've punted the ball along and next year we'll pop the bubble a bit.

Presto is more expesive strictly for the TTC. If you include all agencies in addition to the TTC you find the number grows to be well over $1B. Is it worth it? Accenture went through more than the value of the Cubic contract just getting Presto to trials for GO Transit.

The project has been mismanaged and GO never makes a decision when the can pass it off, but the hardware is worth it because the software is cheaper to upgrade. Oyster has improved with each generation of card and Presto 2.0 will accept Local Field Communications cellphone payments.

What we do know is the bids on the Toronto payment system are being kept secret for unknown reasons. I should like to have access to both the bids and contract they were bidding on and a comparable bid from Accenture. Was the contract they bid on flawed? Politics? Something else?

I'd like to see the comparible figures before saying open payment would be less expensive to install on every TTC bus and at every TTC subway station. I think the bids were all exclusionary and still out of Toronto's range to afford. Why get people's hopes up about another new thing we won't get?

 

[Long Island Mike]

Fare Evasion on the TTC: Can it be described as an epedemic?

Everyone: After a prolonged absence from the UT site (other then a couple of brief visits) I try to look at topics that I am very interested in...the Transportation
and Infrastructure section is perhaps the most interesting to me other then the two photography sections...

I see plenty of threads that interest me but I know I can't possibly post everywhere...

I found this topic interesting because it makes me wonder how many riders evade fares each day...

In NYC for example if the NYPD catches you evading a transit fare you will minimum receive a Transit Adjucation summons
and pay a fine...also you are subject to arrest and if you have any warrants or any legal problems you will be forced to answer
for them...

I do also know that if anyone assaults a Transit employee such as a Bus Driver it is considered a felony punishable by up to 7
years in prison worst case scenario...

Does the TPD have a Transit Unit that targets problem stations for fare evasion?

I also recall that back in the 90s in NYC especially when Rudy Giuliani was mayor the NYPD targeted these types of small crimes thinking that those who were evading fares were looking to commit major crimes like Robbery in the Subways...

Thoughts from LI MIKE