A year ago, Virginia Railway Express cited a handful of riders for fare evasion each month. Now the commuter train service is busting nearly as many riders each day. But despite the crackdown, the agency is still seeing repeat offenders, with some riders getting busted as many as six or seven times, said VRE spokesman Mark Roeber. Now, he said, the agency plans to seek tougher laws in coming months to crack down on those who keep abusing the system.
The commuter train service that shuttles riders from as far away as Manassas and Fredericksburg into Washington each day has struggled to make sure riders pay their way. Unlike Metro, the commuter train service does not have fare gates or turnstiles to pass through. Instead, customers are expected to validate their own tickets at kiosks. Conductors then spot-check passengers on the trains to make sure they have a valid ticket for that length of the trip.
“We’ve got an open system, and because we’ve got an open system, people’s tendencies lead them to try to find ways to circumvent it,” Roeber said.
Some riders don’t have a ticket at all, some ride farther than their tickets allow, and some people try to use fake tickets. Others fail to validate their tickets, by accident or to cheat the system by reusing the tickets.
In 2009, the agency considered scrapping its youth discount program to prevent adults from using kids’ cheap train tickets. It ultimately tightened the rules instead for kids, senior citizens and people with disabilities.
VRE has always attempted to catch those without valid tickets, but the efforts have increased. Previously, when Amtrak provided the service, the agency averaged about eight citations a month. Since January, VRE’s new operator, Keolis, is handing out an average of 109 citations per month. That’s about five citations a day.
Riders who are cited typically face $100 fees, plus court costs, but scofflaws can face more than $600 in fines or even lose their driver’s licenses.
However, Roeber said, “We don’t get a dime of it.”
The Virginia Literary Fund gets the fines, while the judiciary system takes the court costs, he said. Furthermore, enforcing the law costs VRE money because the conductors have to spend a day in court, rather than working the trains.
But Roeber said VRE can’t risk having people think they can get away with the crime.
Fares cover about 67 percent of the cost of operating the train service, Roeber said, with the rest made up by local and state subsidies. When someone doesn’t pay their fare, the taxpayers get stuck with even more. “The money still has to be made up for by the local jurisdictions,” Roeber said.
