MAX factors fare-evader tactics into revised inspection M.O.
Hey, it’s Monday. Forgive the pun, K?
It used to be that when you got on the MAX train, were only going to ride a couple of stops and didn’t have proof of fare payment, you would simply take a couple of long looks thru the car you were boarding. If you spotted a couple of uniformed fare inspectors with their ticket pads - fairly easy to detect- you wouldn’t get on the train.
Up until earlier this year, I did this when riding from downtown to the PGE Park stop. Since that stop is the first westbound stop outside Fareless Square, the fare inspectors would seldom bust people so close in. So like Edgar Winter, I took a free ride.
But now, I notice that the MAX inspectors have factored these evasive maneuvers into their patrol strategy. So rather than only ride trains to bust fare evaders, they now wait at stations for unsuspecting passengers to disembark. Saw that at PGE Park just this morning, and at the Sunset Transit Center stop last week. I saw them nab several uneasy riders who all of a sudden began to claim that gee, the receipt must have fallen out of my pocket.
Fare thee well, MAX riders.
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I thought they recently expanded Fareless Square to include the PGE Park stop…? (The website doesn’t reflect this, but it was scuttlebutt on the train lately…)
Yeah I’m a pretty frequent rider, and they don’t seem to check the trains much during peak commute hours, but outside of that watch out…
Sunset TC is a bad place to be caught without proof of payment because like the stops along 84, there’s no way to casually slink off…there’s only two exits, and usually a cop on either end. I’ve noticed Fridays are a recurring theme.
Portland’s got one of the easiest systems to scam, but one of the highest fines for getting caught, so there you have it.