Cheaters, beware: LA subway honor system could end
Apr 26, 2012, 8:45 AM
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) – For the cheaters on LA’s subway, it may be time to pay.
After more than 20 years of using what amounted to an honor system on the region’s light rail system, the board of Los Angeles County’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to vote Thursday to begin locking the gates at its stations.
The gate-locking would begin at select stations in July, where passengers will need to “tap” a pass or ticket with a microchip in it to get inside.
Officials estimate the current system has cost them $7 million a year despite monitors writing citations at random stations.
Gate-locking experiments at 10 stations last year showed many passengers weren’t bothering to pay.
During the experiments ticket purchases rose by 68 percent, 109 percent at one Hollywood station.
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