BART fare crackdown to grow despite concerns
A new report from BART shows pronounced racial disparity in the people who are cited for fare evasion, nearly half of whom are African American.
Although the numbers alarmed several members of BART’s Board of Directors, the board still voted Thursday night to expand the fare enforcement program, adding 10 non-sworn officers to its existing force of 47.
Of the 3,813 citations issued from March to the end of August, 47 percent went to black riders, 18 percent to whites, 15 percent to Latinos, 4 percent to Asians and 0.1 percent to American Indians. Twelve percent of people ticketed identified as other races, and BART lacked racial data for the rest.
The data led several BART
Without better analysis, “I cannot support the expansion.” Board Director Lateefah Simon
board members to question whether the fare enforcement program should continue.
“This is clearly not the direction that’s going to work for the diverse ridership that we have,” said Board Director Bevan Dufty, who represents San Francisco. He urged the transit system to shift focus to “station hardening” — raising gates or putting barriers around elevators — but then voted to support the expansion anyway.
The fare citation numbers sharply contrast with the racial makeup of ridership in general. A 2015 survey of weekday customers found that 12 percent were black, 44 percent were white, 23 percent were Asian or Pacific Islander and 18 percent were Latino; the rest were not identified.
BART defended its practices. The transit agency’s police auditor maintains that there is no evidence of bias in the inspections, which happen randomly in stations. After reviewing hundreds of hours of camera footage, the auditor gave written confirmation to the board that fare inspectors are not singling out individual riders, said agency spokeswoman Alicia Trost.
She pointed to another section of the report which showed that the demographics of people being stopped at Powell Street station closely match the racial breakdown of riders.
This isn’t the first time BART has come under scrutiny for possible racial profiling. In July, The Chronicle reported that two-thirds of the people banished from the transit agency’s property under what are known as prohibition orders are black.
Board directors discussed the report during a special meeting Thursday night at Pittsburg City Hall, set up to accommodate suburban riders who don’t normally show up to the board’s Thursday morning meetings in Oakland.
The debate showed a deeply polarized body, with most suburban board directors urging BART to beef up enforcement. Two of their colleagues from the urban core — board directors Lateefah Simon, whose district stretches from Richmond to the Embarcadero, and Rebecca Saltzman, whose district is scattered throughout the East Bay — asked the agency to redirect resources toward other deterrents, such as new fare gates. Simon and Saltzman were the only dissenting votes.
Fare evasion, which siphons up to $25 million a year, has created a quandary for BART. Officials at the transit system have tried swatting at the problem in various ways, even laying out plans this year to replace the 600 orange pie-wedge fare gates — at a cost of up to $200 million.
The transit agency has collected about $29,000 in fines from its proof-of-payment program, which costs $800,000 a year to operate. Two of the additional officers were included in this year’s budget, and the other eight will cost just under $1 million a year.
Roughly 10 percent of people cited — 390, according the report — paid their penalties. Those who do not pay may see the fine deducted from future tax returns, said BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas.
BART’s response didn’t satisfy Simon.
“I don’t understand how these numbers are so egregious,” Simon said, noting that BART had supplied raw statistics without a substantive analysis to prove a lack of racial bias.
Without better analysis, “I cannot support the expansion of a program that seems to have a devastating racial impact,” Simon said.
Board Director Debora Allen, whose district encompasses parts of Contra Costa County, argued that the program should continue.
“I don’t think we can make the automatic assumption that because a high percentage of one ethnicity received tickets, that that ethnicity is being targeted,” she said.
She and others noted that BART’s enforcement team is not allowed to use any discretion when stopping riders and asking for proof of payment. That means any rider who hasn’t paid gets fined, whether that person appears to be homeless, or is wearing a bespoke suit.
Rojas emphasized the idea of “customer equity” at the meeting Thursday night, saying the fare sting operations are designed to “protect against bias,” because inspectors check everybody who enters the system.
“This is a very micro-managed process,” he said.
Russell Bloom, the transit system’s independent police auditor, said that after reviewing more than 100 body camera recordings, he is confident that fare inspectors are “systematically approaching every single person in order.”
He said his office has received complaints about inspectors’ tone, about people being delayed on their way to work during a sting, and about “the existence of BART itself.”