Most transit users pay for services: study
Posted Jan 28, 2016 3:21 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgary Transit reports more riders than ever before are paying their fares, and peace officers are on the lookout to make sure the trend continues.
The most recent study looked at the two-week period of Oct. 19-Nov. 1, 2015.
Peace officers checked with 45,248 CTrain customers and found 98.3 per cent were paying fees, an all-time high since the CTrain line opened in 1981.
However, 786 of the group tested were unable to produce a ticket or pass.
When it comes to offenders, superintendent Brian Whitelaw said there wasn’t one area considered a “hot spot,” and the problem was more widespread.
“We tend to place our officers at locations where we have higher passenger density, so we’re generally looking at checkpoints on each of the legs of the system,” he said. “We asked people for the reasons why they didn’t pay, and certainly one of the common reasons was that they were in a hurry, they didn’t have exact change, or they wanted to grab that train.”
Transit officials plan on maintaining current enforcement, and say it’s a key role in deterring fare evasion, which can have pricey consequences.
“It’s $250 if they are convicted, it goes up to $500, and if convicted one more time in a 12-month period, it goes up to $750,” Whitelaw said.
Revenue collected from the fares helps pay for 50 per cent of the operating budget.
According to the City, the self-service method now in place has saved millions in capital investment.
