Impending state Supreme Court ruling could mark end to fare enforcement

The Washington state Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a case that challenges the constitutionality of fare enforcement on public transit.

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The case involves a man named Zachery Meredith, who boarded a Community Transit bus in Everett in 2018 without paying. When three officers boarded to check for non-payers, Meredith was caught and escorted off the bus. After officers checked his ID, he was then arrested for an outstanding felony warrant.

Meredith later sued, claiming that his Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful search and seizure had been violated when he was asked to produce proof of payment, and because of that, his arrest was invalid.

Lower courts rejected his argument, eventually sending his case to the state Supreme Court on Thursday, where Meredith’s attorney Tobin Klusty reiterated his client’s belief that transit riders should not be subject to fare enforcement under the U.S. Constitution.

“By merely walking onto public transportation, individuals do not consent to a waiver of their constitutional right to be free from arbitrary and erratic seizures of the person,” Klusty said.

Attorneys representing the state countered that argument by asserting that riders tacitly agree to fare enforcement by choosing to ride transit in the first place.

During Thursday’s proceedings, justices sought to establish whether the issue at play was that enforcement was conducted by armed law enforcement. In late 2021, Sound Transit ceased its use of armed officers to check for payment, replacing them with unarmed “fare ambassadors” focused on passenger education rather than punitive enforcement as part of an eight-month pilot program.

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In the past, it’s also been pointed out that fare enforcement on Sound Transit trains has disproportionately targeted Black riders. Recent data found that despite comprising 9% of Sound Transit ridership between 2015 and 2019, Black riders received 43% of citations related to unpaid fares. Conversely, white riders — who made up 58% of riders — made up 53% of warnings issued for nonpayment but just 38% of citations.

Meanwhile, Sound Transit recently warned of budgetary strains brought on by nonpaying riders, noting that up to 30% of its budget typically comes through fares.

The state Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on Meredith’s case later this year.

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