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How dare the T demand he pay his fare

Newly broken window on a Red Line train out of Central Square

David Weininger reports a guy who fare jumped at Central around 10:40 a.m. got caught and called back to the fare gates as a train was pulling in - but not before he punched a window on the first train car.

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Comments

The number of fare-jumpers at Central (particularly the entrance near Harvest) is extraordinary. I suspected it had partly to do with the sightlines of those gates -- it's unlikely an official would be able to see you fare-jump from another part of the station -- and then I realized I'd never seen a T official down there anyway. Probably not worth the salary to station someone there just for fare-jumpers, though.

The other part is that the fare-jumpers generally look down-and-out, and Central is a popular spot for homeless folks. I guess I can't begrudge them getting a more or less free ride.

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since the T chose to install the current system of faregates. As for the Transit Police, perhaps we need to get them out of their SUVs, cruisers, and motorcycles, and put them INTO the stations. Seems to me two or three uniformed officers in the faregate area would be a huge deterrent to fare jumping. Oh, and making fare evasion a serious violation (like including appearing in court to answer the charges) instead of the current 'slap on the wrist '$25 fine) would go a long way to discourage the practice.

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It's actually $100 the first time. The fine goes up from there. The T cops tried the majority rail-riding approach. As it was explained to me: they could never respond to any place where the trains were being held and had limited vehicles to do so.

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I suspect there are some at the unstaffed entrances, perhaps at times watched by police or other T employees who are at the staffed entrances.

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Not too surprising in Cuckoo Sq(I mean Central..). They need to be fined big time. No excuses So sick of people doing this If you can't pay Get to walking

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They have command buses, fancy take home cruisers, motorcycles, bicycles, swat teams, they are better equipped for battle than the marines. Can anyone explain why they don't ride buses and trains or why they refuse to do anything about fare jumpers or smokers?

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