I used public transport during my trip to Seattle and while I did not encounter the level of behavior I did in Dallas, there was one quite interesting exchange.
Seattle Public Transit: The Fare Evaders Win
Admittedly, I’m not much a public transit guy anymore, but in Seattle, the “Sound Transit” airport train to my downtown hotel was $3.00 and an Uber was over $75, so it was a simple choice for me since I can stay productive on a train.
Seattle makes it easy enough to buy a ticket from a ticketing machine at each station, though I’d love to see the ability to tap, as other municipalities have introduced.
My trip from the airport into town was quite uneventful.
But on the way back, I sat next to a fare evader and thought it was interesting how both the fare inspector and the fare evader handled the incident.
There are no turnstiles or other barricades on the train: instead, you are on the honor system, but subject to verification by fare inspectors who may randomly board trains at any stop.
Fare inspectors boarded my train and began checking tickets. The guy across from me did not have a ticket. It wasn’t clear whether he was homeless or just dirty (he smelled like cheap booze), but the fare inspectors (two very nice and gentle guys with very thick Vietnamese accents) approached him and asked him for his ticket.
He sat there frozen, refusing to speak or even look at them.
They asked him politely but repeatedly for his ticket and he just said nothing.
Then they asked him for his ID and he refused to provide it.
He just sat there, stone-faced.
Finally, they told him to get off at the next station and walked away.
He did not get off at the next station. Or the next one. Or the next one.
Finally, though, he got off and walked away.
This was a menacing-looking dude who could have beat the two fare inspectors to a pulp. I’m glad this was not like in Germany, where the Deutsche Bahn Sicherheit (fare inspectors) do not back down and will physically remove you if necessary.
In a way, though, I wish there had been burlier guys inspecting fares who could have thrown this jerk off the train, preferably while it was moving…
Hey folks, buy your tickets…so we can have nice things.
You can tap & pay with an ORCA card. Really glad SEA Link doesn’t charge more for airport tix like BART, Denver, JFK AirTrain, etc…
Many cities let credit cards be used. Seattle is behind the times.
Probably the one time I DO wish we were like Germany. Throw the bum off, preferably while the train is moving.
That said, I used the system last fall when in Seattle and found it very cheap and easy to navigate as you stated. And I found the city in much better condition than I expected in regards to degenerates. At no point was I concerned for my safety.
Serious question: I thought you said you avoided “sh$thole cities” as you called them? Yet there you were. I’m disappointed as I have been loving all the right extremists avoiding the most beautiful cities in America. It’s been a wonderful few years traveling to them, especially San Francisco.
Serious answer….the NFL only plays in big liberal cities for the most part.
Meanwhile you probably shouldn’t have taken a hammer and should have done your research before going to F an old man you met online. Now you are facing 50 years in prison, but hey, you got you to suck him off before things went wrong.
Old man who presumably still lives in his Mom’s basement. You seriously need to seek help or at least stay off the internet.
Wow, the fare inspectors used to wear such cool, almost futuristic, uniforms, but now they are wearing jeans and tacky vests.
Thankfully no one was hurt. One fare evader I guess costs the city only $3. If the fare evader was a senior then only $1 in lost revenue. BTW, I am using this cheap transportation to save 50% car rental next month in Seattle. Fly into SeaTac and pay $1 rail to Roosevelt Station, walk 10 minutes to Enterprise Rental Car and save 50% or more off the airport car rental rates.
What would die Deutsche Bahn Sicherheit do if the fashion challenged individual answered :” The ticket is in a part of my body I can’t expose in public.”
Fare enforcement in Seattle is considered racist and no I’m not kidding. They won’t do anything if you ride without a ticket. Just ignore and refuse to hand over your id like the guy did. They now do some half assed attempt at it but it won’t deter the people that you don’t want on the train.
It’s the same system on DART – no turnstiles or barriers so there’s nothing stopping you from getting on without paying. When fare enforcement shows up, it’s luck of the draw whether you get a disinterested one who just lazily tells the evaders to buy a ticket next time, or an HOA dragon type that writes citations for not properly validating a ticket that’s been obviously paid for.
In your article, you referred to him as a “jerk” and in these comments you’ve referred to this person as a “turd” a “loser” and a “thug.” You don’t know this person’s story any more than I do, but you have certainly passed judgement on them. I’m sorry that you find an open mind and the willingness to put myself in someone else’s shoes deplorable and disgusting.
There’s an opportunity for respectful discourse. I’m confused by your unwillingness to have that conversation. I notice you haven’t attempted to justify your position advocating for an act of violence against this human. Perhaps that’s why you have been so defensive in these comments?
The fare Inspectors used to be very burly very intimidating guys. It did NOT go well. They weren’t well trained and ended up harassing a lot of people of color and getting in tussles that were recorded and made it onto the news. Sound transit overhauled their fare inspections afterwards to have a gentler hand. Those uniforms are specifically designed to appear friendly and not scary.
Was it only people of color who were not paying?
No. Plenty of white people got on without paying and played dumb or confused and usually got polite and friendly treatment, and rarely if ever did they get asked to leave the train. After a variety of higher profile incidents, including someone getting killed in an event that started over a $2-$3 fare, they changed how they handled it.
The old fare team has on occasion just walked past me without asking for a ticket. The new team seems much more dedicated to moving from person to person and being friendly in their approach. In Europe fare people have frequently been friendly, conductor like people and not cop like as well. I don’t know that our old far enforcement was of significant value, and they certainly had plenty of problems.
Based on another comment I would suggest you look at how fares are generally paid in Seattle and the funding structure, of the system, while nothing is free direct fares account for a minute amount of the system funding, the majority is taxes and tabs and of the fares a large portion of those are funded by employers directly. Of our 29 year budget, 4% comes from fares, and <2% comes from adults buying them on their own. There are also significant costs to collecting fares and enforcing them.
The new team could probably use a less scrubby uniform though.
Yes, and this guy on my train was white, so my question was whether only POC were targetted for fare enforcement.
I don’t dispute the last poriton, but it seems very foolish to highly subsidze this. $3 is too cheap when Uber is $75. Double the fare….especially if the system is insolvent or buoyed by people who don’t use it.
or make it free if they’re not going to enforce fare payment.
Sound transit really upped their security game. Last time I used it there were security guys at each stop and on the first/last one in Northgate the guys had a biceps the size of large pizza. They would have kicked the fare evader out with a pinkey.
The nutcases here in Seattle call that Social Justice.
BART will not engage either. They won’t physically remove them either. They don’t want the lawsuit as the courts have become all too sympathetic to people who shouldn’t be there anyway. BART considers fare inspection as a racist function. MUNI. The same thing.
So the rest of us who are honest get screwed. Kind of like the venetians. Tourists pay. Locals don’t. Hence the fares being so high.
Don’t get me started at the extortion that is the JFK Airtrain.
Sound Transit gets plenty of money through car license plates, property tax, etc. They have so many billion that they have to look for ways to spend it, like cutting down a lot of trees.
Live in Seattle. Routinely see little old grandma fare inspectors have this same type of exchange with fare evaders. I don’t think they have any real power. Or can call police unless it’s a life threatening situation.
Going to ignore, for now, the completely blithe dehumanization at play here in your description of the rider who didn’t pay, and also the calls for violence, which must of course come from “burly dudes” … actually … this whole post is loathsome. Free transit for all.
Then who pays for it?
Nothing is free.
Everyone in the RTA area pay via various taxes. Our vehicle tabs are very expensive particularly. Also noteworthy, its much more expensive to enforce $3 fare thieves than not. Someone has to pay for that cost. People love to bang fists & shout for justice but when it comes to pay for the enforcement, the very same people shouting vote no.
As said upthread, the fares are a tiny portion of the rail costs. I pay for the rail line & its massive expansion going on right now & do not really care since there will always be people “jumping the turnstiles” on any metro in any city.
Lebensunwertes Leben.
Free doesn’t mean what you think it does.
Thank you for your compassion. I was disgusted by the unnecessary judgment of the person that didnt/couldn’t pay the fare. Also, not sure why the ethnicity of transit workers has to do with anything?
@Stacie: The unnecessary judgment? Who should pay for this train ticket? Do you think it does not cost money to operate Sound Transit?
I find your judgment unnecessarily boorish.
Right now, those of us in the rta area pay for it.
If the transit system is going to be free, then that tax needs to be spread across the entire puget region of Washington.
Seems like the fare is optional. A tax for chumps.
Passenger fare revenue is about 2% of the Sound Transit 2024 budget: $59.4M (see page 21 of https://www.soundtransit.org/sites/default/files/documents/2024-financial-plan-proposed-budget.pdf). Together property tax and motor vehicle excise tax represent almost 10 times that.
Also you’d have to be caught 3 times within a 12-month window to be issued a violation as the first 2 will only be warnings: https://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/how-to-pay/fare-ambassadors.
“…the fare inspectors (two very nice and gentle Vietnamese guys) approached him and asked him for his ticket.”
Very interesting that the inspectors had their Vietnamese passports on display for you to see, inspect (lol) and verify.
Bias much?
Their accents were so thick that if they were not first-generation Americans than the education system in Seattle has totally failed.
Always use Sound transit.
It is nowhere near as bad as some drama queens would have you believe.
The $3 vs $75 (plus tip) comparison is accurate.
Gp tp SoDo or Westlake and take an Uber for the last (few) miles.
Very convenient, cheap and environment friendly.
To be clear, I’d use it again. A great deal and overall quite smooth.
You can buy tickets in the app. In fact I once walked in to the station as the train was arriving, and bought my ticket as the train pulled out.
As for the fare evader, I’m not sure how physically assaulting him makes anyone in society better off. I think we’ve probably failed as a society if we can so easily become millionaires who live amongst people who don’t think a $3 fare is anything other than a triviality.
Look at his picture. The turd was carrying a container of pastries. Unless he stole those too, he could have paid for his ticket.
Perhaps he used his last $3 to buy those pastries? Maybe he stole those too? It’s impossible to know exactly what this HUMAN was going through. Crimes of poverty should be addressed through systems change, not violence towards those who commit them. A little compassion can go a long way. Who knows? You might change a life. Maybe even your own.
That’s why I pay taxes and give generously at my church.
In exchange, I expect the government to function as it is intended; to protect all citizens, from the most vulnerable to those who play by the rules. Society flourishes when we all play by the rules.
But all I hear from you are excuses. Seattle has passes available for low-income folks. You play by the rules (get a pass) or you cannot ride the train…simple as that.
https://www.kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metro/fares-and-payment/discounted-fares/subsidized-annual-pass
Keep that head on a swivel Matthew can’t wait to knock your ass out when I see you.
Please try. I could use the money.
Paying money to your church is merely funding religious proselytization. Let’s not compare that to legitimate humanitarian donations.
And your comment about “burly dudes” borders on the ridiculous — effective in-person fare enforcement is about training, not about size or gender.
Oh please, Kathleen. You have no idea about my church so kindly stay in your lane.
As for “burly dudes,” there’s a reason why we don’t see pygmies as bouncers outside bars. You see, there are some bad hombres in this world and they are not all victims. Sometimes they are just trash that should be taken out and dumped.
Ah. Please forgive me. I must’ve missed the verse in the Bible that allowed me to pass judgment on those less fortunate because I had the money to pay my taxes and participate in tithing. Or the one where Jesus threw someone off a moving train for being in need.
Appreciate the education. #belikematthew
I’m passing judgment on those who don’t play by the rules, you know…Romans 13. We don’t have an excuse to break the law just becuase we are poor and you are making a huge assumption that this loser was even poor (versus cheap). Your attitude is disgusting and delporable. It destroys civilzations.
Nothing screams compassion like letting vagrants shit and piss all over the train. Another property tax increase from the bleeding heart renters of Seattle to further fund the budget of the KC Homeless Authority should do the trick. 12 billion isn’t quite enough for their budget so let’s all show some compassion. The grifters and their 6 figure salaries are doing a great job ending homelessness and supporting people like Mr. light rail man.
Bait for the ‘free for all’ activists.
Traveling in Sweden they are on the upper tier of humane and don’t ascribe to that twisted logic. They also are better at adapting to expected bad behavior from the few.
Large transparent fare gates. Same thing at grocery stores – gates and validation. It’s all pretty seamless, and shows they uphold the law, make clear barriers, and don’t turn it into burly security theater either.
In these comments alone, you’ve referred to this person as a “turd” a “loser” and a “thug.” You don’t know this person’s story any more than I do, but you have certainly passed judgement on them. I’m sorry that you find an open mind and the willingness to put myself in someone else’s shoes deplorable and disgusting.
There’s an opportunity for respectful discourse. I’m confused by your unwillingness to have that conversation. I notice you haven’t attempted to justify your position advocating for an act of violence against this human. Perhaps that’s why you have been so defensive in these comments?
Metro in DC just swapped out the small waist-high gates with tall ones to make it harder to swing over them.
I never been in a public transportation in Minneapolis. You have to be crazy to do that as every day there are news about people being assaulted, robbed, etc.. A fee weeks ago I had an interesting experience. Parked my car on Terminal 2 for a Southwest flight but arrived back on Terminal 1 on a Delta flight. Well, the way to get from T1 to T2 is to take the Lightrail. It is free between terminals but you need a ticket to go beyond. As I entered the train, I could see why nobody takes the train. It was full of homeless people completely high on drugs and talking nonsense. Suddenly there were 4 police officers just in my car to manage the situation. I can only imagine the cost of having so many police officers riding the train to control the weirdos. Never again.
Sounds just like the NYC subway.
What does it have to do with the story that the inspectors were Vietnamese? The author did not tell us anyone else’s race. I’m assuming that’s because they were white people. So I can only conclude the author is a racist.
Logic and deductive reasoning is not your strong suit.
thrown this jerk off the train, preferably while it was moving.. You made me laugh. Did not expect that from you. Imagine of theblevel of frusteation of these giys who have to handle this garbage everybsingle day. They have my resoect as police. Looking every day into sewer.
I use Link and it’s mostly ok if you ignore the bad smell and the homeless people, but sometimes it’s so bad I change car or even train. Can’t beat the price though when going to the airport: $3 from downtown, or free if you take advantage of the lax fare compliance policy.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/sound-transit-looks-to-other-cities-as-it-considers-fare-gates/
Fare evaders should get physically tossed off if they refuse to leave on their own, This ridiculous behavior by people will continue until it is enforced.
Cool. Please move here & you can pay every police officer’s hours of wages to execute your “penny smart, dollar stupid” plan . If they need to hire more so we can enforce $3 fares, you also get to pay for their medical, dental, retirement, etc. You also can pay for the extra dispatch, management time, extra vehicles, fuel & any other associated costs for your $3 fare enforcement. If you do live here, I can tell where to drop off the check.
I’m gonna try Sound Transit next time I’m arriving at Sea-Tac. As an airline retiree, love reading Matthew’s take on his travels and journeys. Perhaps a book in future!
You either want law enforcement or not. Why waste money on foolish half-assed measures like this. You’re glad that this isn’t Germany but provide no insight as to what should have happened.
Let people ride for free.
Let people shoot heroin on the buses.
Let people steal with impunity.
Let people beat each other to death in the streets.
Who cares.
Are you talking to me? I said they should be thrown off immediately. Thugs like this should not be tolerated.
Jail fixes these problems.
Typical Liberal city letting crimes be ignored-with no accountability!!
How do you distinguish the smell of cheap and expensive booze?
Those are called fare ambassadors they legally cannot compel you to show ID which is necessary to issue a warning or if you’ve already been warned a ticket. It’s a joke so many people don’t pay. The ambassadors are supposed to educate fare evadors about the various options like orca lift for low income riders. Most know they just don’t care.
So many systems let you pay with your tapable credit or debit card. You can even use your phone. Even buses in little towns in Scotland allow this. Seattle bought into a proprietary system that needs to be completely replaced now.
Double the fare so only 92% is subsidized? What difference does it make if it is 96% or 92%? Do you also think city streets should pay for themselves? If so we need to triple the gas tax. That would add another dollar to a gallon of gas. How about airplanes too? Perhaps they should also pay their way. How much would that increase your travel costs. Some things are about more than money.
Including freeways…even if it’s in the name.
It is not my responsibility to stand back and subsidize other people’s anti social behaviors.
Most of these people have declined to participate in society yet they demand and feel entitled to participate without providing any giveback. As members of a society we are all required to meet some level of self-sufficiency. Disabled and low income people have many, many options given to them, many times free, by hard working taxpayers. Users and abusers need to be called out and behaviors addressed.
Everybody rejoice! https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know-us/news-events/news-releases/fare-inspections-link-stations-begin-june-3
Another form of evasion is license plate tab evasion, the payment of which has escalated, along with retention of out-of-state plates well past the requisite 30 days, in the ST taxing district since ST-3 taxes went into effect. While some will say that they “cannot afford it,” many are somehow able to buy the $50,000+ vehicles that they “cannot afford” to pay for the tab. And, the “defund the police” folks, the legislators, and law enforcement gave them big assist. For legislators, the fines for expired tabs have two levels, less than 2 months and over 2 months, both fines less than HOV violators. For law enforcement, they publicly proclaiming that enforcing tab violations would be a secondary violation at best, meaning that you’d have to be stopped for something else. As a result, Sound Transit and all jurisdictions are being short-changed on transportation dollars, which will ultimately mean higher taxes for the honest people.