A report released by Metro shows one-third of bus riders don’t pay the required fare.
In its quarterly fare evasion update to the Metro Board, the agency said: “The Metrobus fare evasion rate has grown significantly over time.” Through the second quarter of fiscal year 2022, “Metrobus incidents totaled 9 million occurrences among 26 million trips, or 34% of trips.”
That’s far higher than the 14% recorded in 2019, and the 17% from 2020.
The agency said Metrorail fare evasion is estimated at 2% of ridership. Metrorail monitors its fare evasion through several means, including automatic and manual passenger counts, electronic gate sensors, and Metro Transit Police Department tracking of fail-to-pay offenses.
By contrast, Metrobus fare evasion relies on counts created by a “fare evasion” button on the farebox that the driver presses, along with automated passenger counter data.
Metro said the percentage of fare evaders continues to rise, and the number of passengers continues to decrease due to COVID-19.
The Metro report estimates the agency has lost $8.6 million in revenue so far in fiscal 2022 due to bus fare evasion.
To deal with the issue of fare evasion, the report said, Metro is working to understand the scope of the problem, and institute a more accurate count of fare evasions.
In addition, WMATA is developing a low-income fare pilot program, and working to improve enforcement, which is hampered by the differences in laws and enforcement policies across D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
