Inefficient fare collection hurts MBTA deficit

At a time when the MBTA is $8 billion in debt and mulling a 25 percent fare hike, the system will lose at least $13 million this year from Green Line operators and bus drivers failing to collect fares during peak hours.

And although the transit agency is equipping buses with new technology to reduce the number of fare evaders and cracking down on fare evaders in the subways by increasing the number of arrests and citations, there are no plans to improve fare collection on the Green Line.

"Despite the complaints and lack of money, operators are told to keep it moving," Paul Regan, the MBTA Advisory Board's executive director, said. "We tell them to stay on schedule and collect the fares. Those two things are loggerheads. You can move and collect but not at the same time."

The MBTA says it does not know how much money it loses each year in uncollected fares. "No such estimate exists," Spokesman Joe Pesaturo said. The $13.5 million figure is based on an industry-wide formula suggesting three percent of fares go unpaid, even though few other subway systems use open-access trolley systems like the Green Line, which has no turnstiles and depends on drivers to collect money.

The MBTA Advisory Board has raised concerns about this issue, but Regan said the T has done little to respond. "We keep pushing the MBTA to answer how they're going to collect all revenue on the Green Line and commuter rail system and yet there are still many conductors not collecting fares," he said.

Meanwhile, the MBTA's deficits continue to grow and its general manager, Dan Grabauskas, said it will have no choice but to raise fares and reduce service if it does not get help.

"This is ridiculous. Didn't they just increase the fare?" Steven Gadsden, A&S '10, said. "I sit there everyday and watch people get on without even paying and now I'll have to pay a higher fare while they'll still skip out on paying? What's the point in the MBTA raising the fares if the conductors, for the most part, don't collect them?"

The MBTA has seen dramatic increases in revenue when it has cracked down on fare evaders in the subways. "For instance, when the Charlie Card system was implemented, you could measure fares collected through the new gates benchmarked against the old turnstile system," Regan said. Fare revenue rose between six to eight percent.

Pesaturo said transit agencies all over the country use the same three percent standard for estimating what he calls fare leakage. Based on the MBTA's statement of revenue and expenses, that translates into $13.5 million in lost fares under the MBTA's projected budget for this year.

Logistical problems make it hard to collect all the fares on outdoor trolley lines and buses, Regan said. "Part of it is that, at the end of the day, it's about moving people," he said. "It would be nice to collect all fares but operators view their job as moving people." When the trolleys grow crowded, drivers are required to make announcements asking passengers to come forward and pay their fares, but those who bother often can't get through.

Pesaturo said MBTA drivers on the Green Line are told "to operate their trolleys in a safe and efficient manner."

The MBTA has had a problem with passengers paying their fares for years. After the agency installed new subway barriers two years ago, ensuring that passengers could not leap over the turnstiles, it saw an enormous increase in subway revenue. "It was big money," said Regan. "In the tens of millions of dollars. The increase was over $20 million annually."

Regan said the MBTA has measured the amount of money it lost from unpaid fares before these new technologies were implemented compared to after, but Pesaturo said there are no such figures.

In some cases, the MBTA assigns inspectors to count passengers and scan their Charlie Cards, but it's hard for them to catch up with everyone during peak hours. The inspectors randomly ask passengers for proof of payment. Charlie Cards have embedded chips that show handheld readers whether or not the rider has paid. But the MBTA has a shortage of inspectors, and has no plans to hire more.

"Passengers are more likely to pay their fares when they know that they will actually get hit with a fine," Regan said. "The penalty for fare evasion ranges in fines from $15 for the first offense to $100 for the second offense to $250 for a third or subsequent offense, on top of the original fare."

The T is cracking down on fare evaders in another way. Two years ago, 818 passengers were ticketed for fare evasion. Last year, that number increased to 1,391, Pesaturo said. In the first quarter of this year, the transit police already issued 603 citations for fare evasion. Fare evaders who don't pay their fine can lose their driver's license. The transit police this month provided the Registry of Motor Vehicles with the names of 181 licensed drivers who failed to pay their fines for fare evasion, said Pesaturo.

On buses, most passengers pay their fares unless the driver waves them through, Regan said. The only other way passengers can avoid paying is by intimidating the driver, he said. The MBTA has outfitted some buses with counters to keep track of the number of passengers who board and compare that to fares collected. But the MBTA doesn't yet have those figures either, Pesaturo said.

Only a few buses are equipped with this technology, Regan said. The MBTA plans to update the entire fleet this year. It will then test the new system for reliability and accuracy.

The same technology won't work on the Green Line because the entrances to the trolleys are much wider, Regan said. On the Green Line, people stand in the wells; they can't do the same on buses as it would obstruct the drivers' views. Installing counters on the Green Line would slow it down, although it is not out of the question, and the MBTA Advisory Board is looking into it, Regan said.