Focus on accountability needed for good to come out of fare hike

Public transportation regulars will have to bring extra change with them on their commute following the recent hike in Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority fares. The fare increase, which took effect last Monday, came after the Metro Board of Directors voted to increase bus and rail fares by 25 cents last spring. Though the fare bump is a modest increase that can be implemented to further improve Los Angeles public transit and halt its growing deficit, the raise won’t change anything if Metro doesn’t fix its issues of accountability with tactics that include more locked turnstiles.

 

The fare increase, the Metro’s first in nearly four years, will raise one-way bus and rail fares from $1.50 to $1.75. Day passes will increase from $5 to $7, and weekly passes will jump from $20 to $25. Metro monthly passes will be increased from the usual $75 to $100.

Yet, the consequences of not increasing the fare could be worse. The hike came amid pressing financial concerns. By increasing fares by 25 cents, Metro hopes to offset the funding gap and close its $36.8 million operating deficit. According to the Los Angeles Times, if not for the raise, Metro would have had to lay off almost 1,000 of its 9,000 employees or cut one million hours of bus and rail service in 2015.

In addition to the fare increase, Metro has also implemented a new free-transfer policy, by which riders paying with reusable Transit Access Passes, better known as TAP cards, can receive free transfers to other Metro lines for up to two hours.

The original decision, voted on last May, was unsurprisingly met with criticism, particularly from public transit advocates who feared the price bump would negatively affect lower-income riders. According to the Los Angeles Times, Metro has reportedly seen a successful rollout of the higher fares. Yet, it still faces the challenge of making the fare increase worth it — and that means addressing issues of accountability.

Concerns that the price hike will affect frequent riders shouldn’t be taken lightly. Though it is ultimately necessary in balancing Metro’s budget, more should be done on the part of the transportation service to ensure that its raised fare prices have a positive impact.

At present, several stations — particularly those surrounding USC’s University Park campus — use unlocked turnstiles, which essentially allow Metro riders to pass through freely. The unlocked turnstiles rely on an honor system. Metro riders are expected to scan their TAP cards before entering, or they risk being fined up to $250 for fare evasion if caught. Aside from random checks on the Metro, however, there is no real way of ensuring that passengers don’t take advantage of this seemingly unguarded system.

In order for this fare hike to be at all effective, it is imperative that Metro take the steps necessary to ensure more accountability from its customers. Even with the increased fare hike, the Metro fare in Los Angeles is still one of the lowest in the nation — but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t get taken advantage of. Public transit systems in major cities nationwide such as Chicago and New York City use locked turnstiles to ensure that all riders are abiding by the system. In addition to keeping the system sustainable with this fare hike, Metro must also take measures to make sure that it has a reliable system to really make that extra quarter worth it.

 

Yasmeen Serhan is a junior majoring in international relations. She is also the special projects editor of the Daily Trojan. “Point/Counterpoint” runs Tuesdays.