Riders Call On GCRTA to Restore All-Door Boarding on the HealthLine and to Decriminalize Fare Evasion
On October 26, 2017 Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Emanuella Groves ruled that the “Proof of Payment” system used on GCRTA’s Red Line and the HealthLine routes is a violation of passengers’ Fourth Amendment rights if enforced by law enforcement officers onboard transit vehicles.
The HealthLine was designed for all-door boarding with Proof-of-Payment fare inspections which allowed GCRTA to reduce boarding times by up to 43 percent vs conventional fare collection. This was one aspect of the HealthLine that allowed it to provide efficient transportation to riders and to become North America’s top-rated bus rapid transit (BRT) system.
GCRTA’s response to the court ruling has been to shift fare enforcement to bus operators. This delays HealthLine riders by up to 25 minutes, reduces efficiency and increases GCRTA’s operating costs. Clevelanders for Public Transit estimates that the delays caused by suspending Proof-of-Payment cost GCRTA at least $20,000 per month in additional operating costs. We also believe that GCRTA is potentially at risk of having to refund a portion of the $82 million in federal dollars used to build the HealthLine, which provided for all-door boarding.
Daily HealthLine rider Marques Manus says, “There are a lot of delays in the afternoon when I get off work. I have been asked to show my pass to transit police before getting on the bus sometimes. Then I have to show the driver my pass after I board every time. Many stations are only using one door and it’s causing delays.”
HealthLine and Red Line riders have also been subject to indiscriminate fare enforcement by armed law enforcement officers for the last nine years, often resulting in innocent men, women, and even children entering the criminal justice system over the cost of bus fare.
Clevelanders for Public Transit is calling on GCRTA to immediately restore all-door boarding on the HealthLine and to implement equitable fare enforcement policies without invonvencincing riders and increasing operating costs by implementing these best practices as identified by the Transportation Research Board:
- Commit to establishing a constitutional system-wide proof-of-payment system to be enforced by unarmed civilian fare inspectors with consistent inspection across routes and times of day.
- Decriminalize fare evasion by reducing fare evasion to a civil penalty as opposed to a criminal offense.
- Shift adjudication of fare evasion cases in-house, which would reduce the docket load in municipal courts and enable GCRTA to capture revenues from fare evasion fines.
Clevelanders for Public Transit would like to see GCRTA implement all-door boarding for its busiest routes, which would increase the convenience and attractiveness of transit, especially riders who are unfamiliar with the current system of fare collection, validation and enforcement.
Riders who have been impacted by GCRTA’s HealthLine fare collection and validation changes should attend GCRTA’s board meeting to share their experiences with delayed HealthLine buses and interactions with GCRTA police. The meeting will be held Tuesday, November 21 at 9:00 AM at GCRTA Headquarters, 1240 W. Sixth St.