Metro said it will begin cracking down on fare evasion on buses after Thanksgiving. It comes as the transit agency’s board of directors gave its final approval to a plan to redesign its bus network for the first time in its 50-year history.
Dubbed the “Better Bus Network,” the new bus system will go into effect in June 2025 and will see changes made to routes, which Metro says will make service faster and more reliable. Among the changes: all lines will be renamed, 500 stops will be removed and new routes will be added.
It comes as Metro has seen ridership start to rebound since the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s also been dealing with an increase in fare evasion. The transit agency has installed new fare gates at all Metrorail stops to make it harder to jump over them. But the problem still remains on buses, where Metro estimates about 70% of riders are not paying their fare.
NBC Washington Transportation Reporter Adam Tuss talked about the new crackdown plan with Randy Clarke, Metro general manager and CEO. Tuss joined WTOP’s Brennan Haselton and Anne Kramer with more on what changes you will see coming to Metrobuses.
Listen to the interview or read the transcript below.
Adam Tuss: It really is mind-boggling to hear that number — 7 out of 10 plus not paying to get on the bus. And I think a lot of this was born out of the pandemic. I think that some things just kind of got loose. There had always been Metro fare enforcement, but even before the pandemic hit, you had some people advocating that busses should be free, and for whatever reason, it has gotten to a point, and to hear Metro just say that number over 70% not paying the fare, is really kind of stunning when you think about all the people that are getting around. So you know, there’s always been plain clothes enforcement. I did a story years ago where we went undercover and they were handing out tickets and citations, but it’s just gotten to a point, especially along certain bus lines, that Metro can’t look the other way anymore, that riders can’t look the other way anymore, and that Metro is saying, Look, we’re losing millions and millions of dollars because people aren’t paying the fare, and it’s time for everyone to pay their fair share.
Brennan Haselton: And it’s not just not paying the fare, it is stealing. There’s no other way to put it. So what are they going to do? We know that things have improved in the metro station since they put those new fare gates up. They can’t do that on the bus.
Adam Tuss: No, not at all. Brennan, and this is a question that I asked the Metro general manager today. You know, the bus is obviously a lot more intimate than going into a rail station, you have an almost face-to-face interaction with the bus operator. There is a plexiglass shield and a lot of busses right now, but the way that Metro says that the bus operator should never be involved in any sort of fair dispute. And what Metro is planning on doing, the general manager said that they’re going to use special police, Transit Police. They’ve contracted out with some police. They’re going to have bus supervisors basically at bus bays, and they’ll spread them out across a place where four or five busses would show up at once and people would get on. So they’re planning to have an official at these bus bays, and they’ll just stand by the door of the bus, and if you’re not paying, they’re going to say you’re not getting on. So they really want to take the bus operator out of this. Something else that I thought was interesting. The bus could be driving down the street, and there’s a plainclothes police officer inside the Metrobus. They noticed that someone hasn’t paid the fare. Well, the plainclothes officer could call the Metro Transit Police, who’s following the bus at the next stop. The Transit Police get on the bus, take that person off the bus, so you’re going to have to see how it works out. Obviously, a lot different than the tall fare gates. But Metro says they’re going full force, and after Thanksgiving, they say everybody has to pay that $2.25 to ride the bus.
WTOP’s Jacob Kerr contributed to this report.
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