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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Metro’s Free Fares May be Costly

It is interesting to read that transit agencies such as New York Metro are ending its free fares that it had for a short period during the pandemic. The result of the loss of revenue from riders along with the free fare has left the agency with a $10 billion shortfall. As with other agencies across the United States that tried free fares during the pandemic, New York City realized that there were many reasons not to continue.That is why it’s confusing that Los Angeles Metro Rail seems to be heading toward a free-for-all system. Sadly, it may very well become the “free-for-all” so many other transit agencies have experienced. As USC professor James Moore recently said, fare free transit often becomes a moving homeless shelter.There are folks who are truly dependent on public transit for work, for school and medical needs and for their livelihoods. About a year ago I witnessed a family of five – mother, father, two children around 8 or 10 years old and a toddler they were carrying – at Universal City station where I take the subway. The two children ran ahead of the family and flashed their hands on the opposite side of the turnstiles where people would normally exit, and the gates opened for them – they were apparently quite experienced at this and obviously had done it many times. At first, I felt annoyed to see that I had paid my fare and they were not. I had grown up in New York, and my family of five took public transit everywhere and paid for our rides. But then I realized the cost for four people to buy tickets individually each way might be a lot for that family who may not have the means to travel by train if they had to pay.    And so, I agree that there should be a way to help those families that are struggling and that need public transit desperately. But everyone does not need it, and I believe that Metro should be assisting only those who truly need that assistance. Along with other transit users, I am concerned about the vagrants and homeless that haunt our transit system –particularly the subways. At the same Universal City station, I witnessed a vagrant walk down the steps, stand in front of a pillar and pee against the wall. He then zipped his pants up and went back upstairs. This is not an unusual or infrequent occurrence and has nothing to do with whether or not there are bathrooms at a subway station where trains are coming every 12 minutes.L.A. Metro already has the second lowest farebox recovery in the world, next to China. It is also true they do not make huge amounts of money from fare collection, but they do make enough money to make it reasonable. I am a senior. I pay a mere 35 cents to travel by train from the San Fernando Valley all the way to Long Beach. I can go from the San Fernando Valley to the Eastside for 35 cents, or I can go from the San Fernando Valley out the Foothill extension for 35 cents. I do not need the residents of Los Angeles County to supplement this nor do I know another senior who cannot afford 35 cents. But should there be folks who cannot afford 35 cents, then Metro can provide them with a special discount.There are many reasons not to have free fare for all. And there are many reasons that Metro can do a better job of processing their fare collection, lowering the cost of fare collection and making it more efficient. But to simply make it a free-for-all is a poorly thought out idea and one that will likely chase away many discretionary riders who will find the system unsafe and unclean.Therefore, I suggest Metro consider a hybrid system of transit payments with a less costly transit pass for extremely low-income folks, at perhaps $10 a month and for children perhaps $5 a month. They could also consider a “family pass” for use on weekends or off-peak times. But all of this would have to be secure so that the passes are not resold and reused by other people as the “black market” on these must be avoided so the entire program is not be impacted and destroyed.According to L.A. Metro, no other large transit system in the world has gone entirely fare-free. If there is sufficient money to make service free, then it stands to reason there must be money to spend on service improvements, including higher frequency of service and greater accessibility in areas that are lacking. There is also the reasonable expectation that, even if a fare free system is a good idea at one moment in time, conditions and revenues can change. If that change occurs and more funding is desperately needed, will the agency be able to return to a fare-based system?Francine Oshin is president of Oschin Partners, an Encino consultancy that provides strategic guidance for firms wanting to do business with the city or county of Los Angeles, particularly regarding transportation agencies.

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