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Wow about 6% of the people on the light rail don't pay their fare!!!! According to Valley Metro, the agency that operates Phoenix’s bus and rail systems, about 6 percent of light-rail users don’t pay the appropriate fare.I ride the light rail all the time and I have a monthly pass. This Don Hamill guy jumps to the incorrect conclusion that people who don't buy a light rail pass at the train station are dead beats who cheat Valley Metro. That's rubbish, as I said before I buy a monthly pass, and I never buy a pass at that train station. Hamill said all transit users should pay to ride the train, noting it’s not uncommon to see light-rail passengers who board without buying a ticket.Last despite the fact I ride the light rail I think it is a huge waste of money and should be killed.
Reader asks: Should Phoenix light-rail stations have ticket turnstiles? Dustin Gardiner, The Republic | azcentral.com 8:06 a.m. MST November 16, 2015 Every week, The Republic asks Phoenix City Council members and the mayor to respond to a question about an issue affecting city government. This week’s question was submitted by resident Don Hamill, who lives in a historic neighborhood near downtown. Hamill is a longtime community activist and uses public transit as his primary means of travel. He asked: With the expansion of light rail, will the system be changed to require passengers to pass through a ticket-monitoring system to enter the platform area? Background: Hamill said all transit users should pay to ride the train, noting it’s not uncommon to see light-rail passengers who board without buying a ticket. He wonders if more riders would pay the fare if they were required to pass through a ticket turnstile before entering the station platform area, similar to subway systems in many large cities. According to Valley Metro, the agency that operates Phoenix’s bus and rail systems, about 6 percent of light-rail users don’t pay the appropriate fare. Spokeswoman Susan Tierney said that number is an extrapolation based on the number of riders who transit security officers check for correct fare. She said Phoenix’s rail stations, like those of most light-rail systems in the western United States, are designed to be open and welcoming to riders. Adding turnstiles would require barricading each station and is cost-prohibitive, Tierney said. “It is an established philosophy to have our system woven into the streetscape and open to the community,” she said. Here are the answers of city leaders who responded to the question: “A ticket-monitoring system is not the best use of funds at this time. Five teams of officers are engaged in fare enforcement every day, and best practices such as electronic citations and use of plain-clothes officers are already happening. With plans in the works for Valley Metro to expand their number of fare inspectors, the current framework strikes the right balance between fare recovery and providing a safe, secure and reliable transit service to Valley Metro customers.” — Kate Gallego, District 8, southeast Phoenix and parts of downtown “Requiring all to pay to ride the train is not only logical, but shocking that it hasn't been required before. When a person rides the bus they are required to pay, but not the train? The bigger question should be: Who gets to ride for free by policy and who is required to pay? Bottom line: You pay, and government employees ride for free.” — Sal DiCiccio, District 6,Ahwatukee and east Phoenix “Valley Metro Rail, designed to be accessible and welcoming to our entire community, has generated over $8 billion in economic impact to date. In March 2016, the northwest Phoenix extension will augment three miles of transit, anticipating an added 10,000 daily riders. The goal of Valley Metro is to engage and educate residents on the importance of using a valid fare for each transit trip to increase our reliability and the public safety of our transit users, which is always the number one priority. To maximize safety, we have security officers continuously verifying the use of valid transit passes and overseeing security, cameras and emergency call boxes as well as safety lighting at each station.” — Daniel Valenzuela, vice mayor (District 5),parts of west and central Phoenix Got a question we should ask the mayor or City Council? Send it to me at dustin.gardiner@arizonarepublic.com or via Twitter @dustingardiner.
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