Just before Thanksgiving break, the Boston Globe published a story where they tagged-along with an MBTA fare evasion officer. While fare evasion is a problem across the entire system, it seems most prevalent on the Green Line, given the ease of discreetly boarding a streetcar above ground. As a university with its entire campus and most of its off-campus housing spread along one stretch of the E Line, Northeastern tends to be a hotbed of such activity.
Naturally, the Globe’s story revolves around an encounter with a Northeastern student on the E line. (It could have just as easily been written at Boston University along the B, but even the Globe has standards.) Orion Lexington, described as a “lanky dean’s list student at Northeastern,” gets tagged for ducking on the trolley at Longwood and not paying his fare. In the process, he whines about being singled out, and proclaims – if I may defer to Globe reporter Eric Moskowitz’s quote of Lexington – “This is my stop! I’m a newbie! I could just go pay! This is not fair! How is this fair? Look at this sea of people!” Lexington then lies about his address, refuses to show his ID, and eventually tears up the citation and walks away.
With the publication of this article, two things are immediately apparent. One, people with names as unique as Orion Lexington should be very careful about what they say to reporters of national newspapers lest they look like an ass on Google forever; two, there needs to be more bite and more enforcement of MBTA policy. I’m someone with a kind of inexplicable affinity for the MBTA. It’s impossible for a city to approach decency without a functional public transit system, and the T has the groundwork for a world-class subway — all that holds it back is antiquated infrastructure and a lack of funding marked for improvement.
The MBTA could, I suppose, raise fares and place the burden on regular riders and those who use it as their primary form of transportation, but this is fairly inelegant. Instead, let’s focus on the freeloaders.
The current fine for fare evasion is $15 with no real penalties for non-payment; the cost does not increase, and while renewal of a driver’s license can be held up by unpaid fines, it isn’t difficult to presume that those riding the T aren’t using their driver’s license all that often.
The legislature needs to raise this fine substantially, approaching the level where the cost outweighs the benefit. A fee of $100 for a first-time offense isn’t unreasonable, with added penalties if not paid quickly.
The city’s colleges and universities can also do their part to counter fare evasion by making
unpaid fines from the City of Boston or the MBTA a student conduct offense. The university goes on at length about wanting to be good neighbors and be responsible members of the community, so forcing its students to own up to civil fines will go a long way toward building good will.
As riders and students, we need to take responsibility and pay our fair share. And, should Mr. Lexington change his mind about paying his fare he can mail his $15 fine to the MBTA’s headquarters at 10 Park Plaza, Suite 3910, Boston, MA 02116.
– Michael Denham can be reached at [email protected]
