Proof-of-Payment (POP) vs. Traditional Ticket Collection

When LA opened the Blue Line, tickets were inspected by uniformed employees of the LA County Sheriff, equipped with sidearms and as I recall, accompanied by well-behaved police dogs. That presumably shifted the costs elsewhere; I don't know whether that's still the case, but it might be a possibility in some places.

Not sure we want to be taking lessons from an agency with a sub-15% farebox recovery ratio pre-pandemic.

LA Metro has contracted out transit policing to LA County Sheriff since the 1990s, but is bringing it back in house at an annual cost of $192.6 million. LA Metro started as a POP system, but in (I think 2014) began requiring people to tap their transit card to enter, and is only in 2024 introducing tap to exit across its rail system.

I think the lesson here is POP transfers the costs of fare collection to the costs of other types of crime prevention.

Ironically LACMTA rail ridership peaked in 2013.

eolesen wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2024 2:19 amYou might think they're overstaffed, but I suspect they are crewed to the letter of the collective bargaining agreement.

If that's what the railroad negotiated with the union, nothing changes unless the two parties agree to it.

If someone has a link to the LIRR agreement with the BLET, I'm pretty certain staffing is defined there.

The contracts come up every so many years. So by the time they could implement POP, the agreement would probably be up again.

lensovet wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2024 7:38 pmNot sure we want to be taking lessons from an agency with a sub-15% farebox recovery ratio pre-pandemic.

Farebox recovery != percentage of fare evasion/collection.

What gets changed the most under RLA Section 6 negotiations is around wages & benefits. Language around scope and staffing are almost never revised.

RandallW wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2024 7:44 pm LA Metro has contracted out transit policing to LA County Sheriff since the 1990s, but is bringing it back in house at an annual cost of $192.6 million. LA Metro started as a POP system, but in (I think 2014) began requiring people to tap their transit card to enter, and is only in 2024 introducing tap to exit across its rail system.

I think the lesson here is POP transfers the costs of fare collection to the costs of other types of crime prevention.

In comparison, MTA Maryland's Light Rail system is PoP, but is enforced by a combination of ticket checkers and in-house police. Having worked with the latter, I know they're overloaded. Having worked on the payroll system there, I know both are union positions.

It would of been cheaper as a subway system, though, TBH.