For those who haven’t won Powerball lately, RTD is running a game of chance with much better odds.
The Regional Transportation District has only six fare inspectors to check tickets of light-rail riders making about 60,000 daily trips on its 35-mile system.
The odds of fare scofflaws getting caught on RTD’s trains are, well … you do the math.
The lack of fare enforcement disturbs RTD director Bill McMullen, who’s been riding the trains since southeast light-rail service opened in November.
“People need to know there is a penalty for not paying your fare, that there are consequences,” McMullen said. “I’ve ridden every day for the last four weeks and have never seen a fare checker.”
RTD previously had up to 10 fare inspectors for its 16-mile rail system. The transit agency planned to add 10 more inspectors with the opening of 19 miles of southeast rail.
But hiring and retaining fare checkers has been difficult, and with attrition, RTD finds itself with only six inspectors to monitor the entire expanded system, the agency’s rail operations chief, Lloyd Mack, told RTD directors this week.
“That’s a tough job, being a fare inspector,” McMullen conceded, noting that some passengers get angry and even threatening when asked to show their tickets.
The Utah Transit Authority, which operates 19 miles of light rail in the Salt Lake City area, has about 25 transit police officers to handle both fare enforcement and security, said UTA spokesman Justin Jones. The uniformed officers carry guns and Tasers and have arrest powers.
The Utah agency reports only 1.7 percent of its riders are nabbed for fare evasion, and Jones credited transit police officers as one reason the evasion rate is so low.
Late last year, before the southeast line opened, Mack said RTD’s fare-evasion rate for light rail was about 4.7 percent.
RTD and UTA both run open light-rail systems that rely on inspection for fare enforcement.
RTD has looked into the possibility of “hardening” its current rail system – and future FasTracks train lines – by adding gates, fences and turnstiles like some big-city subway systems.
The judgment so far is that such a move would cost too much.
RTD has advertised for outside candidates for fare inspectors and 80 applied, with about 30 making it to the interview phase.
Fare inspectors at RTD make $12.53 an hour to start.
McMullen asked why the 40 or so uniformed Wackenhut security guards that RTD has hired to ride the trains and patrol stations can’t do fare enforcement.
RTD general manager Cal Marsella said the agency tried that once but its union objected, claiming the work should be kept within the bargaining unit.
An arbitrator agreed, and that has prevented RTD from having private guards do fare inspections, Marsella said.
Director Neill Quinlan said RTD should revisit the issue the next time the agency sits down to bargain with the Amalgamated Transit Union.
RTD gets adequate security protection by hiring Wackenhut guards and undercover off-duty Denver and Littleton police officers, so the agency doesn’t need an in-house transit police force similar to the Utah model, RTD spokesman Scott Reed said.
“The only thing we need to do is hire fare enforcement inspectors and within two weeks we should have most, if not all, of those positions filled,” he said.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
