We're bringing functional fare collection back to LA.

In Fall 2018, LA Metro started quietly ramping down fare enforcement to near zero. This policy change cratered fare revenue and worsened onboard safety.

In summer 2026, LA Metro agreed to begin a limited reintroduction of fare checks on select lines.

Metro DPS is finally listening.

In summer 2026, at our recommendation, Metro DPS began piloting fare checks on the G Line (Attachment A). Metro DPS has also begun a limited introduction of fare checks on select segments of the rail system. We applaud Metro DPS for taking this encouraging step forward and are currently gathering data to assess the results of this new enforcement activity. 

In July 2026, Metro DPS did 32,247 fare checks, the highest level achieved since February 2020. This represents less than 10% of the monthly fare checks done in 2018, and most of the system is still de facto fare-optional. However, we see this limited rollout of enforcement pilots as the first step toward rebuilding Metro's fare collection capacity. The work isn't done, but we're getting there.

We're up against a powerful, anti-fare lobby.

For decades, LA Metro has been under pressure from a 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.

Despite this history, 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.

In August 2026, we launched an effort to block Mayor Bass's free fare push. Mayor Bass then pivoted to a motion directing Metro staff to review the findings of the original Fareless System Initiative and develop a plan by December to increase fare discount enrollment by 30%.

We believe fare collection is an essential component of running a functional major transit system, and we stand ready to defend Metro's ability to collect fares.

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 were committed by people without proof of payment (source). 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.

Everything that isn't fare enforcement.

Since we launched our campaign in 2025, Metro leadership has periodically pointed to a series of fare-compliance interventions other than fare checks. We believe these interventions are not productively moving the needle on fare compliance for the following reasons.

• The new paddle gates are easy to piggyback through and can't be installed on buses or street level stations. In Oct 2026, we published an investigation of the faregates' effectiveness, finding they reduced evasion by 36% on average. We support their installation, but they will never come close to supplanting the need for human enforcement.

• LAPD and LASD performing "visual 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.

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.