King County Metro adjusting fare enforcement for low-income riders

After a final report showing that fare enforcement disproportionately involves the homeless, King County Metro is in the process of changing how it punishes violators.

Fare enforcement was put on hold briefly last year as Metro sought to study who exactly wasn’t paying. Enforcement officers would hand out surveys instead of tickets when they caught someone failing to pay, reports The Seattle Times.

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The results of the 3,600-person survey illustrated that 43 percent reported a household income of less than $1,000 a month, and a quarter reported no income at all.

King County Metro has since made adjustments to fare enforcement, including offering alternatives to fines like community service, discount enrollment, a reduced fine, and giving officers bias training and de-escalation tactics.

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“We want to enforce fares with people who have money to pay and choose not to and/or who are causing a safety disruption to other passengers and drivers, not people who can’t afford to pay and don’t understand the system,” Metro spokeswoman Torie Rynning told The Seattle Times.

In addition to seeking a new discount program based on riders’ incomes, Metro is looking to get more low-income riders on Metro’s discount ORCA LIFT program, which they found was not being used by half of those who were qualified.

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