BOSTON (WHDH) - Fare evasion is a constant threat to the MBTA’s revenue.
The agency previously estimated fare evaders can cost the transit agency up to $26 million a year.
Last summer, the MBTA decided to crack down. Now, 7 Investigates looked into whether that effort and investment is paying off.
“When people don’t pay their fares, it impacts all of us. It slows down the progress we’ve worked so hard to achieve,” said MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng in a video released by the agency last summer.
In that video, Eng announced that the MBTA would begin a program to crack down on fare evasion, using a team of what he called ‘fare engagement representatives’ checking riders’ proof of payment and giving warnings and even citations to people who are not paying to ride.
“The truth is fare revenue is a vital part of everyday and how we operate. It helps fund the very improvements that our riders count on and need for a stronger, safer and more equitable system,” Eng said in the video.
However, in seeking to make up lost revenue, this program has come with its own costs.
The MBTA said taxpayers currently fund $2 million in salaries for 16 fare engagement workers. With materials and other expenses, the fare engagement operational budget costs taxpayers around $2.2 million.
But almost one year into the program, 7 Investigates found that the new enforcement agents have issued 117 warnings and zero citations.
7 Investigates spoke with MBTA riders who questioned the effectiveness of these fare engagement workers. One commuter told us, “I’ve seen the fare police sitting there… but I’ve just not paid and they haven’t said anything.”
Others said they’ve rarely seen anyone checking fares.
Eileen, a frequent rider on the Green Line, told us “a lot of people get on without paying.”
Riders aren’t the only ones questioning if investment in this team is paying off.
“I haven’t yet seen the impact or the value that they add to the system,” said Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro.
In two letters to Eng, Shapiro criticized the MBTA’s “poor fare collection efforts” and pressed him to commit to “holding riders accountable.”
Shapiro said he was initially pleased by the announcement last summer but thinks better efforts are needed.
“I think it’s the wrong strategy,” he said. “I think where you deploy them matters, and I don’t think this has been an effective strategy.”
In one letter, Shapiro noted that his team observed a weekday commute at Green Line stations and found “between 79% and 100% of riders not paying fares when entering through a back door.” He urged the agency to put fare engagement reps along the 65 street-level stations that don’t have gates.
Our investigation found no warnings were issued at the ungated, street-level Green Line stations, according to records we obtained.
An MBTA spokesperson confirmed the 16 representatives are not working at above-ground Green Line stations. They are positioned only at gated stations, according to the agency.
The MBTA declined an interview but a spokesperson said in a statement, “We’re pleased to report the public has warmly received the Fare Engagement Representative team. We thank all riders for paying their fares.”
Additionally, the MBTA told 7 Investigates that they are currently more concerned with making riders aware of these changes than penalizing them, stating “this reflects the current policy of prioritizing rider education and system familiarity over financial penalties during the rollout of new fare transformation technology.”
The agency also shared that “fare collection increased by 35% at stations where the MBTA’s Fare Engagement Representatives were initially deployed, which at the time included northern Green Line stations.”
Despite the lack of citations and warnings, fare revenue for the MBTA was at least $30 million higher than expected last year, based on data released by the agency earlier this summer. However, ridership has also increased, and the agency hasn’t shown how much, if any, of that extra revenue came from this program.
The MBTA’s budget for this fiscal year showed expenses exceeding revenue by more than $500 million, according to documents released by the MBTA Advisory Board.
“I do think as we continue to go into winds of fiscal uncertainty, the more revenue the MBTA can collect, the less it needs from the overall state coffers and I think that matters,” Shapiro said. “I think that every dollar in a public space does matter.”
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