WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Metro is cracking down on people who walk past the pay station on their busses and hitch a ride without paying.
The transit agency said it’s losing tons of money because most passengers who take the bus don’t pay.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) CEO Randy Clarke said at a Wednesday press conference the agency is about $50 million short in revenue because of fare evasion on its busses. Clarke said the new efforts are not about citations or arrests, but making sure people pay their fare share to ride.
Clarke told reporters about 70% of bus riders don’t pay their fare — far above the roughly 27% before the pandemic.
“That is just unacceptable,” he said.
The new efforts on buses come about a year-and-a-half after the fare evasion prevention program on Metrorail.
The bus program involves Metro Transit Police Department officers, both uniformed and undercover.
“We may have officers ride busses in plain clothes radio — or text — another officer,” Clarke said. “Then when that bus gets to, say, a larger stop, the uniformed officers walk on and say, you, you, you [get off].”
One rider who spoke with DC News Now said she could understand the apprehension to pay, especially for students.
“Sometimes the fee kind of gets a little bit too expensive,” said Dunamis Daodu, who rides the bust most days to college.
Other riders said they hope the crackdown will help the transit agency improve busses and route efficiencies, something Clarke echoed.
“[The bus] made me late a couple of times,” rider Eddie Williams said. “So, try to get more people to come along Metro, put more job posters up and stuff like that.”
“This is collecting fares from customers to deliver the service that they and other members of our community actually need, right?” Clarke added.
WMATA will station its enforcement using data of stops that have higher amounts of bus fare evasion.
