ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[MidTowner]

Four unarmed transit officers is not an “aggressive” police presence.

I missed the “complete failure” of our fare payment system. I understand it has problems, but “complete failure” feels like hyperbole to me. My impression is that transit enforcement is understanding of people having trouble with it; if anybody is aware of problems with their reaction I’m interested in hearing about it.

As to the costs of fare avoidance, it’s not about the cost of the current level of fare avoidance. Enforcement is about making it clear to everybody that the fare system is not an “only losers and chumps pay” policy, which is what a no-enforcement policy would be. I consider myself a pretty honest person, but if it became clear that transit enforcement was effectively non-existent, I fail to see why I should be the one to continue paying even if large portions of the population were getting away without paying.

I’ve heard that they have really intensive enforcement in some European cities. I’ll bet it costs way more than the cost of their fare avoidance, but they have judged that they need to maintain the appearance and actuality that everyone who rides contributes to the cost of running the service.

As to driver enforcement, totally agreed. I have been dismayed by recent articles which seem to be saying that the number of tickets issued in recent years is way down compared to the past. Everything I said about only chumps paying applies to traffic laws too, except that there are usually safety problems with violating traffic laws.

Well-put. And there doesn't seem to be enough enforcement, in my experience. I've only encountered it a handful of times, and I take the system nearly every day. It's a function of when I often take it (I work early and am typically on the train for my morning trip before 6:30), but that's too bad: I see fellow commuters at that hour stroll on to the platform without tapping, and it's obvious that, at that hour, I'd have practically zero chance of being caught evading the fare.

There should be extensive enforcement. It shouldn't be aggressive, and my limited experience with it is that it isn't. It is not discriminatory: every single rider is asked to present proof of payment. It has been friendly, at least in my experience: on principle, I greet the inspectors and wait for them to request proof of payment, instead of just holding it out. I've received courteous greetings in return, and polite requests.

If any of that were to change, their practices and maybe the whole system should be evaluated. It would be worth making it inescapably obvious to transit users that these are not police, and have extremely limited powers.