The Harvard T station at rush hour and watch carefully in all the Red Line commuter bustle you might miss what we caught on camera. Watch this couple: guy in black t-shirt and girl in green shorts, she fumbles with her purse, he taps his card and goes through. She hustles behind him. She didn't pay. Two riders, one fare.
Here at Park Street the girl in the white tank top, her hands open and holding no pass, didn't pay. Her pal in the black dress tapped her card once and both came through. White tank even stops to check, did anyone notice them?
We staked out T stations over the course of months and found Charlie Card cheating on every line.
They're brazen, they're confident and they're getting away with it.
MBTA rider"I've seen it happen"
And what's more their fellow riders the ones who actually pay their fares know it.
Hank"How often have you seen it happen?"
MBTA rider"Almost a dozen times."
MBTA eider"Almost every day."
Look at the girl in the red plaid skirt and the guy in the plaid shirt behind her. He taps his Charlie Card she hurries through first, then he sneaks through the gate behind her. He paid, she didn't.
They're frontloading.
Here at Park Street, what we call tailgating, the person in front pays and then someone sneaks in behind them riding free.
Navy shorts pays. Peach t-shirt doesn't.
And sometimes the person who pays doesn't realize what's happening. Here at Haymarket the person in the red t-shirt pays and while he's fumbling with his bag, the woman in the pearls sneaks in for free behind him.
This is one of the MBTA's surveillance centers where cameras in every T station watch and record comings and goings and of course, who pays and who doesn't.
This guy, how blatant is this? Is somewhere on the tapes.
Hank talking to MBTA officials"This person clearly not paying."
We showed our findings to T officials, but they were not surprised. They admit even in the best of systems they say it's impossible to avoid.
Hank "Do you think you catch most of the fare evaders?"
Anna Barry, Director of Subway Operations, MBTA "I doubt we do."
They have issued almost 900 fare violations this year. But do the math there are 650,000 riders everyday and 600 entrances.
And even spotting a tailgater on their cameras doesn't usually help.
Hank "If you saw someone evading the fare, you couldn't go catch them correct?"
Anna Barry, Director of Subway Operations, MBTA "That's true."
To fight back the transit police pick one station, one rush hour and swoop down.
Hank"So some days you'll catch no one and some days you'll catch everyone."
Acting Chief Paul MacMillan, MBTA Transit Police "That's correct."
Every time it happens that's lost revenue the T says about two million dollars last year. Those same officials say it was millions of dollars worse back in the turn style days.
Still it's clear tailgating works. We never saw a T official nab anyone we caught.
Like this girl in the white t-shirt who holds the door open until her non-paying pal scurries though.
Their fellow riders, watching it happen, wonder why they're handing over their 2 bucks while others beat the system.
MBTA rider"I think everyone should pay as well."
If you do get caught it's a first offense fine of 15 dollars, the second offense is a 100 dollars, then 250. And new rules require you pay those fines within a year or else you can't renew your drivers license.
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