Some light rail riders learning of fines the hard way

NORFOLK

A $1.50 fare. Or a $150 fine. Which is greater?

It's a math problem that some Tide riders - about 150 so far - are learning the hard way.

Yet for transit officials, the numbers add up to a pretty honest bunch of customers. Consider that about 5,000 people ride light rail each day and that two extra-duty police officers are always on the trains checking for tickets.

"Having a police presence on trains is definitely a deterrent," said Ron Edwards, Hampton Roads Transit's chief safety and security officer. Riders are so accustomed to seeing police that they often have tickets at the ready show the officers, he said.

"They're trained to pull out their tickets, and that in itself says a lot," he said.

Riding light rail, which opened in August, without buying a ticket is a misdemeanor offense that requires scofflaws to appear in court.

While the law allows for fines of up to $250, one day last week in General District Judge Joseph A. Migliozzi's courtroom, fare evaders were generally fined $150, plus court costs of $95. Penalties vary by judge, however, as fines of $10 were standard in another courtroom last month.

More than a dozen were on the docket that day in Migliozzi's courtroom. The guilty ones quietly pleaded guilty, paid their fines and declined to talk about it later.

But not all were convicted. Cases were dismissed against a couple of college students who qualified for free rides but did not have their student IDs on them at the time.

Other college students who did not qualify for free rides mistakenly believed they didn't need to pay. HRT's agreement with Tidewater Community College does not go in effect until the first of the year. Those fines generally were waived, but not the convictions or court costs.

In another case, James Wideman could not figure out how to use the ticket vending machine, so he said he boarded with his cash in hand to either hand to a police officer or get help with the machine.

"It's not his job to show you how to work it," Migliozzi said. "You know you can't get on light rail without having a ticket?"

Wideman's court-appointed guardian, Krystian Zebrowski, said that "it was an honest mistake on his part."

The charge was dismissed.

Since HRT started enforcing fares on The Tide in late August, 153 summonses have been issued.

An additional 288 warnings were given. HRT expects to board the 500,000th light-rail customer sometime next week.

A study of light rail in 18 cities by the Transportation Research Board reported a wide range of fare-evasion rates - between 1 percent and 25 percent.

Riders must purchase a $1.50 ticket to board, but as with most light-rail systems there are no turnstiles or ticket-takers. Instead, it's an honor or proof-of-payment system.

HRT has hired 50 Norfolk police for extra-duty work. Every rider the officers encounter is asked to produce a ticket.

Issuing a ticket or a warning is left to the discretion of the officer depending on the circumstance, Edwards said. For instance, riders with tickets with time stamps that just expired will generally not draw a summons but instead will be put off the train to purchase a new ticket.

Violators are issued a summons and are escorted off the train. Repeat offenders will be barred from using the train for a period of time.

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com