Honest question: do fare validation machines allow multiple fares to be paid with one Charlie Card?
Also the jumble of:
- Some Green Line stations have fare gates that you need to pay at
- Some have fare validation machines on the platform that you need to tap at before boarding
- Some have no fare validation mechanism and you need to pay on board (at the front door only)
- Except on some trains you'll be able to get on and pay at that back door
- Some have fare validation machines on the platform that don't work, and you need to ignore those and pay on board (see 3)
is legitimately confusing, even for regular T riders! And with the potential for this legitimate confusion, it's going to be hard to enforce "stiff fines" on people who don't have validated tickets.
I've ridded plenty of GL trains where the on-board fare collector doesn't work, and conductors just wave people on. Conductors often do the same on crowded trains, even when the validators do work. In a world where these sanctioned T practices exist, you then can't fine people on board trains who don't have validated fares. You need to implement rock solid fare validation everywhere before you can impose fines anywhere. And I don't see that happening any time soon.
We've talked about this before on this thread, but with the grade-separated, controlled access designs of many GL stations (see, e.g., Union, Gilman, Magoun, Medford/Tufts) it's almost like the T is intentionally going out of its way
not to install fare gates in places where they naturally fit. I don't get it.
The same way that 95% of people pay their fare today when boarding the bus. The bus driver isn't going to arrest you if you don't.
Also because civilian fare inspectors will still have authority to call the police if needed if someone refuses to comply. That usually gets people willing to either show ID or leave.
Works fine in the UK, London has an incredibly effective fare collection system run entirely by proof of payment, civilian fare inspectors, and then fare gates where possible.
My one critique is not having fare gates at GLX stations, and not having people tap out at subway stations. I'd argue 90% of people boarding at surface level/GLX stops will leave the train at a gated station, if they had tap-out then they would still be forced to pay, fare inspection or not.
There's a lot of documented psychology about the way people respond to barriers and norms when it comes to rules compliance. Plenty of people will sneak on the back door of a GL train without paying (I used to see it every day when riding the E, or boarding the D at Fenway), but that same person won't tell the conductor to eff off if they get called out for it. And that same person also probably won't jump the turnstile at a gated station. Different social interactions and expectations lead to different behaviors. It feels "sneaky" to hop on a train without paying when nobody is watching, but it feels "wrong" to jump a turnstile. Most fare evaders are not hardened criminals who will stop at nothing to get on the train for free; they're slightly mischievous people who will just slip through it it's easy to not pay, but still pay when they get called out on it. Non-gated off-board validation with no (or minimal) checks gives them another easy way to slip through, but if you put up a gate they'd probably pay.
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