Fare tax evasion surged during the pandemic, costing about $40 million a year in unpaid bus and rail fares, and increasing complaints about crime and disorder within the subway system. On Metrorail, the agency estimates that about 13% of fares remain unpaid.
Metro began adding doors to its turnstiles in March, but the $35 million project is expected to take months to complete. The gate is about five feet tall and made of polycarbonate, which traffic officials say is 200 times stronger than glass but lighter and more durable. Subway workers also added stronger hinges for swing doors and stronger motors to help them hold up to people. People trying to push their own way.
Preliminary data collected at Fort Totten, Pentagon City, Bethesda, Vienna, Mount Vernon Square and Addison Road (the first six stations to be completed) show that new turnstiles have been installed collectively. ing. Fare avoidance rate decreased by over 70%. Metro said the biggest change occurred at Mount Vernon Square in the district. 15% of people escaped the fare. That number has dropped to 2%, according to Metro. On Addison Road, 39% of passengers did not pay fares, and now only 11% do not.
“After testing multiple prototypes and getting feedback from our customers, the new fare gate design is having the intended effect, reducing fare avoidance,” said Metro’s general manager and CEO, CEO Randy Clark said in a statement. “For Metro, it is important to collect as much fare revenue as possible and keep the system safe in order to build a transportation system worthy of this great region.”
Latest station to add The modified turnstile is Congress Heights. Transportation officials said the barrier was completed on Tuesday. Installations at the Federal Centre, Wheaton and Courts in South Wales are expected to be completed by early September.
Metro announced Tuesday it has begun posting data showing the number of paid and unpaid passengers on a daily basis. website “To provide transparency about the effectiveness of fare avoidance reduction strategies.”
The move to install plexiglass barriers won’t take long After transportation exchanges all services, Metrorail ticket gate. The new gate, which he spent $70 million on in the last few years, is better equipped to process mobile toll payments and record more accurate passenger data. However, the plexiglass barrier was not included.
Transportation officials first tried to modify the gate by installing a four-foot-high Plexiglas door. But the fence proved too easy to circumvent for violators, and Metro announced earlier this year that it would be ordering taller doors and stronger hinges. Last fall, the agency ordered the subway traffic police to be more aggressive in cracking down on suspected fare tax evaders and cracking down. This comes after nearly five years of little crackdown.
By July, traffic police had caught 2,670 people for fare tax evasion, including about 600 in July, according to Metro records. This is up from 291 in the first seven months of 2022.