MBTA fare evaders could see increase in penalty fines

For the second time in two years, fines for illegal fare evasion on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway may increase, according to new legislation.

The Joint Committee on Transportation passed legislation in the Massachusetts House of Representatives Wednesday that would increase the minimum fines for repeatedly going through turnstiles without paying from $300 to $600.

“I’m not opposed to it,” said MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott in a Tuesday statement, referring to the possible increase. “The people need to be very clear about consequences related to fare evasion.”

If the bill is passed, the penalty for a first offense would be $100, a second would be $200 and any further offenses would incur a $600 fee. Current penalties are $50, $100 and $300, respectively.

The potential increase comes in the wake of a July 2012 crackdown on fare evasion by the MBTA Transit Police that included an additional increase in fare evasion fees to current levels, and resulted in more than 600 citations in a month—a minimum of $1,272 in lost fares.

Despite the higher penalties and police presence, Michael Dukakis, professor of public policy at Northeastern University and former governor of Massachusetts, said there is still much more to be done before the problem of evasion can be solved.

“There is [not] any question that widespread fare evasion hurts the T,” he said. “It needs every dollar it can get, and ever since we went to automatic fare gates, there has been an increase in fare evasion. In fact, all you have to do is stand for a few minutes at, say, the Ruggles Station … and you will see it happen numerous times with little or no enforcement. I’m sure the same thing is happening at other stations on the system.”

Prior to July 2012, fines for a first, second and third offense were $15, $100 and $250 respectively. After the price increase that year, the MBTA had posted a 40 percent increase in citations for fare evasion, some of which Transit Police partially attributed to increased focus on addressing such evasions.

Raising penalties further could simultaneously help make up for evaded fares that go unnoticed, as well as deter people from evading at all, Dukakis said, but penalties are not the core of the problem.

“Will raising the fines help?” he said. “That depends on whether or not they are enforced. Without enforcement, they won’t make any more difference than the current ones.”

Several residents who ride the T frequently said increasing evasion penalties for a second time in less than three years might encourage people to consistently pay their fare.

“The T needs to make sure people are paying, so making these fines bigger is definitely a good thing,” said Vishesh Kilewale, 24, of Brighton. “The fact that they [the MBTA] may be able to do it incrementally also makes sure people are aware of what the cost of jumping the turnstile is. I don’t think it will change much for the T’s revenue, but it definitely makes things fairer.”

Caylin Botsford, 20, of Brighton, said she was more skeptical of the fines’ deterrent effects.

“It seems a bit excessive to go into triple digits for a first time [violation] for something like that,” she said. “The higher fines, if they’re not affecting them [fare evaders] now, raising them again certainly isn’t going to change anything … I can see that the T wants to get more money off of offenders, but you’re not going to stop anyone else by raising [fines] one more time.”

Michael Mahoney, 49, head server at Ristorante Limoncello and resident of the North End, said the fines would make sure prices do not increase for people who follow the rules.

“If they jump the turnstiles, they deserve to pay,” he said. “If everyone else is paying, why aren’t they? They [the MBTA] should definitely be doing something about it, and making prices go up for those of us who do pay is not a solution. All that’s left is to penalize those who deserve it, and if they’re trying to skip out on two dollars … they do deserve it.”