T jumping on fare jumpers
By neilv - Sat, 07/04/2009 - 2:24pm.
The MBTA is cracking down on fare evaders, the Globe reports.
The article includes a crowd-pleasing quote from an acknowledged fare evader.
The best quote, however, is destined to be repeated out of context:
"The idea is to add a hassle factor," Daniel Grabauskas, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which runs the T’s buses, trains, and boats, said yesterday.
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Fine for the first offense is too low
The fine for the first offense should be 150% of the cost of a monthly pass AND removal from MBTA property. The problem will resolve itself quickly. If I shoplift a $2 bag of chips from the 7-11 they're not going to let me stick around and see what else I want as long as I promise not to steal from them again.
Running the IDs of fare jumpers is a great idea. You don't have to follow the police logs very long to see how easy it is to find some worthless thug with 50 murder warrants by pulling over people who run red lights and do other stupid things.
Now the only question remains: how do you inconvenience the countless out of state fare evaders who do not have MA licenses?
Agreed...
If I'm not mistaken, fare evasion is a felony...but in Massachusetts, indeed the fines are a little bit of a joke. Section 159, Paragraph 101.
First offense should be $150, bare minimum. That would be the cost of 2-1/2 times a LinkPass, or a Zone 1 commuter rail pass.
Second offense should be $300, plus removal from property and a ban from same for 30 days.
Third offense should be $450, plus a total ban from all MBTA property.
It might seem harsh, but the casual fare evaders may get the message when they have to choose between paying a fare to a public conveyance, and a stiff fine that could have them missing a payment to their credit card/car/mortgage, etc. The ones with more crimes under their belt may be taken out with that first offense.
It is a civil infraction
Sorry but it is not a felony. I agree that the fine should be much more. Make it hurt them in the wallet and/or make it arrestable...that ought to teach those who do it.
Knowing the T...
...they'll start enforcing it tonight after 10:30pm.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
The law came into effect in
The law came into effect in 2007.
Every 4-5 months we get a story about how the T is "really starting" to enforce the law.
And yet this article claims that the T only started in April?
Time to bring the stocks
Time to bring the stocks back to Boston Common. The tourists would love it - they could take their pitures with the miscreants, you could have buskers, food stalls.... Sounds like a party! Put a guy in a Puritan outfit preaching hell and damnation - people would come from all around the country to see it. One day in the stocks, with a couple pee breaks and an hour off for lunch - sounds reasonable to me. If you take their license away, they'll just drive without it.
Are they checking for warrants
I seem to remember that one of the big motivators for taking down fare jumpers in NYC was that more than a few of them had outstanding warrants for more serious infractions.
It's like the broken window theory, applied to people
I totally agree with you here. It drives me crazy that Boston doesn't enforce things like noise laws, traffic laws, etc. The MBTA not enforcing fare evaders is exactly the same sort of thing.
When they let people get away with petty crimes, it sends the message that the people in charge don't care about you or your neighborhood or your quality of life, and then people start caring even less about following any sorts of norms.
And yes, it definitely goes the other direction, in that if you see someone committing a minor crime (fare evading, jaywalking, shaking the neighborhood with your car stereo, treating red lights as stop signs, etc.), you already have evidence that the person doesn't give a rat's ass about following laws or respecting the community. Or if you reverse the equation, do we really think that people who've allegedly committed armed robbery and forgery and stuff always make sure to pay their fares and cross at the corner?
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Yes they are
They call it "point of entry" policing. The theory is, people who are criminals break laws both big and small. So, if one is a car thief or a robber, they'll probably think nothing of trying to evade a fare. And, since the law says that the fare evader has to identify himself or face arrest, the Transit Police have a tremendous advantage. This is something that no other cop has as a tool against someone who is not driving a car. And, I don't know what the stats are but from what I can gather, they have been making a lot of arrests on it (mostly from warrants I think).
Actually
you can legally do that with most civil crimes. You dont have to walk around with an ID with you, but you do have to identify yourself truthfully.
Jaywalking and spitting on the sidewalk are two lame crimes where you can be arrested if you dont give your real name.
And it is not a felony to evade a fare (to the poster above that posed the question)
Fare jumpers
Yeah right, a crackdown. No one is ever around at the Aquarium stop nearest to the Marriott. I watched 4 teens walk right through the double doors and only one paid. Then they all laughed about it. Bus drivers routinely wave people aboard at Maverick. Face it. The T doesn't care about all the money they lose they will still raise fares to try to stop the hemorraging.