DC council to hold hearings on decriminalizing fare evasion on the Metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not just students affected by criminalization...

https://twitter.com/unsuckdcmetro/status/910945367524560896

[Anonymous]

I want to know who is going in and out of Metro. And that means registered fare cards. I don't care if they are free, but we need as many cameras and idefitifiers as possible. Have you seen the horrible tourist harbor beatings in Baltimore? And they can't even find the lawless teens. For me, whatever solution they propose--it has to be one where we know who is going in and out. Forgot your fare card? you don't breeze through. you show ID and have your name and info taken at the turnstile. Something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want to know who is going in and out of Metro. And that means registered fare cards. I don't care if they are free, but we need as many cameras and idefitifiers as possible. Have you seen the horrible tourist harbor beatings in Baltimore? And they can't even find the lawless teens. For me, whatever solution they propose--it has to be one where we know who is going in and out. Forgot your fare card? you don't breeze through. you show ID and have your name and info taken at the turnstile. Something like that.

I suppose an ID should be required to enter Walmart as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Shout out to the Save Our System Campaign for their efforts to decriminalize fare evasion.

More like Save Our Local Criminal Element.

The broken window rule is that if police don't sweat the small stuff, the public feels powerless in the face of lawlessness and criminals feel more empowered to commit more serious crimes.

What the proposed legislation would do is make fare jumping the equivalent of a parking ticket, a speeding ticket or a red light ticket. From a resource allocation standpoint, I am not sure I see the problem. Are people saying that fare jumping is more "criminal" than speeding or running a red light?

I don't drive but I'm assuming that with enough tickets you are not allowed on the road. Would it be so with fare jumpers? how many tickets before you are banned?

Parking and red light camera tickets differ from other citations in that they are issued to the owner of the vehicle, regardless of who is driving the vehicle at the time of the violation. For this reason, they do not carry points, and you can't get your license suspended for that. DC is trying to make fare evasion the equivalent of a parking ticket or a red light camera ticket. Why should jumping a turnstile be punished so much more harshly with a criminal penalty than running a red light, which just earns a fine? You can do far more harm to others running a red light .

What if an officer sees you run the light? What happens then? I'm not sure how a camera will catch metro fare jumpers and send a ticket to the home.
Does your insurance go up? I'm thinking there is more of a disincentive than you are making out.

There's a point at which someone who disregards the laws around a service shouldn't be allowed to use the service, as who knows what other laws they are disregarding.

If we did that there'd be no rush hour because most of the drivers would be off the road.

+1. There's no use in criminalizing non-criminal behavior like fare evasion. It's a crime of poverty most of the time. Jailing people for that is too harsh, particularly when other crimes that can be more dangerous (like running a red light) are just fined.

Crime of poverty? Give me a break!

You should see some of the expensive basketball shoes and jackets that these ”impoverished” Law breakers are wearing. Unless they stole them just like the transportation services that they steal.

Do you even ride metro? I commute on metro daily and see expensive basketball shoes very infrequently. What I do see regularly are people running red lights in cars that cost $25K+. And guess what? Their red light ticket is not a criminal charge. There's no reason to treat one violation much more harshly than the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want to know who is going in and out of Metro. And that means registered fare cards. I don't care if they are free, but we need as many cameras and idefitifiers as possible. Have you seen the horrible tourist harbor beatings in Baltimore? And they can't even find the lawless teens. For me, whatever solution they propose--it has to be one where we know who is going in and out. Forgot your fare card? you don't breeze through. you show ID and have your name and info taken at the turnstile. Something like that.

This makes no sense-- millions of tourists who come to DC use one-time use cards rather than registered Smartrip cards. I misplace my registered Smartrip card with some regularity and have 2-3 backup cards that I have never registered. You're advocating a level of scrutiny that is never going to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shout out to the Save Our System Campaign for their efforts to decriminalize fare evasion.

More like Save Our Local Criminal Element.

The broken window rule is that if police don't sweat the small stuff, the public feels powerless in the face of lawlessness and criminals feel more empowered to commit more serious crimes.

What the proposed legislation would do is make fare jumping the equivalent of a parking ticket, a speeding ticket or a red light ticket. From a resource allocation standpoint, I am not sure I see the problem. Are people saying that fare jumping is more "criminal" than speeding or running a red light?

I don't drive but I'm assuming that with enough tickets you are not allowed on the road. Would it be so with fare jumpers? how many tickets before you are banned?

Parking and red light camera tickets differ from other citations in that they are issued to the owner of the vehicle, regardless of who is driving the vehicle at the time of the violation. For this reason, they do not carry points, and you can't get your license suspended for that. DC is trying to make fare evasion the equivalent of a parking ticket or a red light camera ticket. Why should jumping a turnstile be punished so much more harshly with a criminal penalty than running a red light, which just earns a fine? You can do far more harm to others running a red light .

What if an officer sees you run the light? What happens then? I'm not sure how a camera will catch metro fare jumpers and send a ticket to the home.
Does your insurance go up? I'm thinking there is more of a disincentive than you are making out.

There's a point at which someone who disregards the laws around a service shouldn't be allowed to use the service, as who knows what other laws they are disregarding.

If we did that there'd be no rush hour because most of the drivers would be off the road.

+1. There's no use in criminalizing non-criminal behavior like fare evasion. It's a crime of poverty most of the time. Jailing people for that is too harsh, particularly when other crimes that can be more dangerous (like running a red light) are just fined.

Crime of poverty? Give me a break!

You should see some of the expensive basketball shoes and jackets that these ”impoverished” Law breakers are wearing. Unless they stole them just like the transportation services that they steal.

Do you even ride metro? I commute on metro daily and see expensive basketball shoes very infrequently. What I do see regularly are people running red lights in cars that cost $25K+. And guess what? Their red light ticket is not a criminal charge. There's no reason to treat one violation much more harshly than the other.

If a cop catches you running a red light, depending on the circumstances, it can be reckless driving, which definitely is criminal. And if the police stop you for any reason in DC while operating a motor vehicle, they can and often do cuff you.

My response to all of this wining about poverty and "social justice" and decriminalizing is simple: If you don't want to do time, don't do the crime. In other words, if you don't want to be subject to arrest, straighten up and obey the law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shout out to the Save Our System Campaign for their efforts to decriminalize fare evasion.

More like Save Our Local Criminal Element.

The broken window rule is that if police don't sweat the small stuff, the public feels powerless in the face of lawlessness and criminals feel more empowered to commit more serious crimes.

What the proposed legislation would do is make fare jumping the equivalent of a parking ticket, a speeding ticket or a red light ticket. From a resource allocation standpoint, I am not sure I see the problem. Are people saying that fare jumping is more "criminal" than speeding or running a red light?

I don't drive but I'm assuming that with enough tickets you are not allowed on the road. Would it be so with fare jumpers? how many tickets before you are banned?

Parking and red light camera tickets differ from other citations in that they are issued to the owner of the vehicle, regardless of who is driving the vehicle at the time of the violation. For this reason, they do not carry points, and you can't get your license suspended for that. DC is trying to make fare evasion the equivalent of a parking ticket or a red light camera ticket. Why should jumping a turnstile be punished so much more harshly with a criminal penalty than running a red light, which just earns a fine? You can do far more harm to others running a red light .

What if an officer sees you run the light? What happens then? I'm not sure how a camera will catch metro fare jumpers and send a ticket to the home.
Does your insurance go up? I'm thinking there is more of a disincentive than you are making out.

There's a point at which someone who disregards the laws around a service shouldn't be allowed to use the service, as who knows what other laws they are disregarding.

If we did that there'd be no rush hour because most of the drivers would be off the road.

+1. There's no use in criminalizing non-criminal behavior like fare evasion. It's a crime of poverty most of the time. Jailing people for that is too harsh, particularly when other crimes that can be more dangerous (like running a red light) are just fined.

Crime of poverty? Give me a break!

You should see some of the expensive basketball shoes and jackets that these ”impoverished” Law breakers are wearing. Unless they stole them just like the transportation services that they steal.

Do you even ride metro? I commute on metro daily and see expensive basketball shoes very infrequently. What I do see regularly are people running red lights in cars that cost $25K+. And guess what? Their red light ticket is not a criminal charge. There's no reason to treat one violation much more harshly than the other.

If a cop catches you running a red light, depending on the circumstances, it can be reckless driving, which definitely is criminal. And if the police stop you for any reason in DC while operating a motor vehicle, they can and often do cuff you.

My response to all of this wining about poverty and "social justice" and decriminalizing is simple: If you don't want to do time, don't do the crime. In other words, if you don't want to be subject to arrest, straighten up and obey the law.

Correction: If the police stop a motor vehicle operator in DC for any reason and the operator doesn't have a driver's license with them the police can and often do take them into custody.

[Anonymous]

What are the expected repercussions on everyday commuters if fare evasion is decriminalized? Are we going to have a subway system like something out of a Mad Max movie?

[Anonymous]

More SJW nonsense from the Council catering to the thugs of the city. The Metro has enough problems without the council throwing around stupid feel good ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the expected repercussions on everyday commuters if fare evasion is decriminalized? Are we going to have a subway system like something out of a Mad Max movie?

So now the naive "social justice advocates" on the Deecee council want to decriminalize Metro fare evasion, in some hare-brained move to take Metro back to the 1970s -- not 1970s DC (when Metro was a model for the nation) but 1970s NYC.

In the past two-three years, because Metro police feel disempowered by DC authorities who won't prosecute,
--aggressive panhandling on trains and in the stations has increased.
--people eat, drink and toss their food garbage in the trains and stations. The police feel that DC authorities will not back them up if they enforce the bans. Trash on the tracks means more track fires. The condition of some trains by day's end is disgusting.
--some people play music in the trains, notwithstanding the ban on audio devices not connected to headphones. If you don't like the noise, tough luck.
--anyone now can bring a pet on board Metro by claiming it's a "service animal." No certificates or dog vests required. Metro staff know that most of it is BS, but have been told they can't ask because advocates have asserted it's a civil rights issue. These are not trained animals, like seeing eye dogs. They urinate and defecate in the Metro. If you have animal allergies, too bad. You have no rights.

[Anonymous]

Thugs gonna thug

[Anonymous]

And you all think if it’s not conducive to improving Metro we’ll be stuck with their ruling indefinitely?
Wow.
Pessimism and panic in full effect.
Enjoy your high blood pressure.

[Anonymous]

When you consider the percentage of people who have been convicted of a serious crime or are directly related to someone who has been incarcerated, it's probably a higher proportion in Washington, DC than in any other stand-alone jurisdiction in the Nation. Is it any wonder then that there are council members who are eager to cater to those people? It's a classic case, literally, of the inmates taking over the prison or the disturbed taking over the asylum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you consider the percentage of people who have been convicted of a serious crime or are directly related to someone who has been incarcerated, it's probably a higher proportion in Washington, DC than in any other stand-alone jurisdiction in the Nation. Is it any wonder then that there are council members who are eager to cater to those people? It's a classic case, literally, of the inmates taking over the prison or the disturbed taking over the asylum.

Good.
Enough catering to whiny aristocrats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know who is going in and out of Metro. And that means registered fare cards. I don't care if they are free, but we need as many cameras and idefitifiers as possible. Have you seen the horrible tourist harbor beatings in Baltimore? And they can't even find the lawless teens. For me, whatever solution they propose--it has to be one where we know who is going in and out. Forgot your fare card? you don't breeze through. you show ID and have your name and info taken at the turnstile. Something like that.

This makes no sense-- millions of tourists who come to DC use one-time use cards rather than registered Smartrip cards. I misplace my registered Smartrip card with some regularity and have 2-3 backup cards that I have never registered. You're advocating a level of scrutiny that is never going to happen.

And they've all taken the first step towards being law abiding on metro. Should you forget or choose to not purchase a card, and still want to ride (for FREE), you should be asked to give your name and address.