We're bringing functional fare collection back to LA.

Metro DPS is finally listening.

Following months of advocacy, enforcement jumped to 19,277 fare checks in May 2026 (source), and fare checks have stayed at roughly this level all summer (source). 

We applaud Metro DPS for taking this first step toward restoring fare enforcement. But now, with Mayor Bass's fare-free plan, this progress is in jeopardy.

Optional fares are making LA Metro less safe.

In every LA Metro customer survey, the top issues are consistently cleanliness, safety and antisocial behavior. As of 2025, crimes against persons per million boardings are 60% higher (6.3) than in 2018 before the enforcement collapse (3.9) (source). We believe the collapse in enforcement is the main contributing factor, because as Metro revealed in 2024, 96% of violent crimes on Metro are committed by people who enter the system without paying (source). And with no cost to entry, Metro is defenseless against anti-social behavior like illegal drug use and harassment. To make matters worse, DPS has also functionally suspended Code of Conduct enforcement, typically issuing fewer than 1 non-fare CoC citation per day (source). It's time to start enforcing the rules of the system again and create a onboard environment that respects customers' safety.

LA Metro is doing fact evasion.

Since we launched our campaign in 2025, Metro leadership has attempted to distract from the collapse in fare checks by pointing to a grab bag of fare compliance initiatives. The problem: none of it works.

• The new paddle gates are easy to piggyback through and can't be installed on buses or street level stations.

• LAPD and LASD performing "TAP card checks" can't tell if riders paid because they don't have card scanners. Only the TSOs have them. That's because under the 2017 agreement, law enforcement isn't supposed to be doing fare checks.

• TAP-to-Exit only works when TSOs are standing at the gates, and Metro will never have enough TSOs to babysit every turnstile and farebox in the system. But Metro does have enough TSOs to do comprehensive random fare checks.

These initiatives create the impression of a fare compliance system but fail to create actual fare compliance. Instead of throwing spaghetti at a wall, Metro should simply go back to the one fare enforcement system that actually worked: fare checks.

An equitable LA Metro requires fare enforcement.

Right now, the real transportation barrier for low-income Angelenos isn't a $1.75 fare; it's a transit system that doesn't respect the safety or comfort of its riders and isn't collecting the funds needed to operate adequate service levels. Metro riders making under $58,300 a year already get 20 free rides a month under the LIFE program, and fare citations are adjudicated as a $75 civil fine leaving no criminal record (with a community service option for those who can't afford the fine). LA Metro already has the infrastructure for thoughtful, compassionate fare enforcement. They just stopped using it.

Here's what we want.

We want LA Metro to bring back onboard fare inspections on the rail system using their existing force of over 250 TSOs, setting a modest starting goal to check 20,000 passengers a day (117 per TSO shift). To make mass fare enforcement viable on buses, we propose that LA Metro convert buses to a proof-of-payment system as Muni has done in San Francisco, and make a dedicated effort to improve the reliability of Metro's notoriously unreliable back door TAP readers. Lastly, because LA Metro has not adjusted fares for inflation in 12 years, we propose that once Metro reestablishes fare compliance, fares should be increased to $2.25, $2.50 and continuously adjusted with inflation thereafter. The greatest transit systems of this country and the world got where they are by running good service, charging appropriately priced fares to pay for it and keeping the system secure. That's what Metro used to do, and we believe it's not too late to get back on track.

Good politics. Bad policy.

For decades, LA Metro has been under pressure from a powerful lobbying network of anti-fare nonprofits. These groups successfully pushed Metro to stop inflation-adjusting fares after 2014 and stop enforcing fares after 2018, with the end goal of going fare-free.

When fares were suspended during the pandemic, Metro launched the Fareless System Initiative to investigate the feasibility of keeping Metro fare-free permanently. After taking a hard look, Metro staff determined that ending fares wasn't worth the losses in revenue, security and farebox-contingent formula funding. But that history hasn't stopped Karen Bass from making Metro fares a political football all over again.

Bass is putting headlines before headways.

On July 22nd 2026, LA Mayor Karen Bass announced plans to launch a second fareless initiative in her term as Metro Board chair. On August 13th, she added in an AirTalk interview that she opposes TSOs (Metro's designated fare enforcement personnel) doing fare checks.

Bass's new proposal directly contradicts the wishes of most actual Metro riders, disregards international best practices in transit operations and comes just as Metro is beginning to rebuild its fare collection capacity with more TSOs and tens of millions of dollars in faregate upgrades.

Even if free fares are never implemented, launching another dead-end fareless study will waste precious time distracting Metro from restoring functional fare collection and delivering the safer, more frequent transit service riders deserve.