Understanding Transantiago Users’ Motivations for Paying or Evading Payment of Bus Fares

Transantiago, the public transport system implemented in Santiago, Chile, remains a controversial subject of public debate due to constantly increasing fare evasion rates throughout its decade-long existence. TheTransantiago, the public transport system implemented in Santiago, Chile, remains a controversial subject of public debate due to constantly increasing fare evasion rates throughout its decade-long existence. The research question under consideration in this paper is as follows: What motivates individuals to evade or pay bus fares? To answer this question, we developed a multidisciplinary study that combined relevant engineering expertise with a sociological perspective and combined quantitative analyses with qualitative methodologies to include new variables and categories that previous studies on the subject have omitted. We formulated a poll, which was administered to Transantiago, the public transport system implemented in Santiago, Chile, remains a controversial subject of public debate due to constantly increasing fare evasion rates throughout its decade-long existence. The research question under consideration in this paper is as follows: What motivates individuals to evade or pay bus fares? To answer this question, we developed a multidisciplinary study that combined relevant engineering expertise with a sociological perspective and combined quantitative analyses with qualitative methodologies to include new variables and categories that previous studies on the subject have omitted. We formulated a poll, which was administered to 503 public transport system users. The data we obtained were analyzed using a factor analysis. As a result, we identified 6 dimensions that explain motivations for fare evasion: i) behavior and social norms, ii) the public transport service’s image, iii) social acceptance of evasion, iv) trip planning, v) anti-evasion methods, and vi) fear of law enforcement. public transport system users. The data we obtained were analyzed using a factor analysis. As a result, we identified 6 dimensions that explain motivations for fare evasion: i) behavior and social norms, ii) the public transport service’s image, iii) social acceptance of evasion, iv) trip planning, v) anti-evasion methods, and vi) fear of law enforcement. research question under consideration in this paper is as follows: What motivates individuals to evade or pay bus fares? To answer this question, we developed a multidisciplinary study that combined relevant engineering expertise with a sociological perspective and combined quantitative analyses with qualitative methodologies to include new variables and categories that previous studies on the subject have omitted. We formulated a poll, which was administered to 503 public transport system users. The data we obtained were analyzed using a factor analysis. As a result, we identified 6 dimensions that explain motivations for fare evasion: i) behavior and social norms, ii) the public transport service’s image, iii) social acceptance of evasion, iv) trip planning, v) ineffective anti-evasion measures, and vi) fear of law enforcement.

“Blacks Can’t Jump”: The Racialization of Transit Police Responses to Fare Evasion

This study demonstrates that racially disparate fare evasion citation outcomes are the product of racialized social systems that allow transit police officers to determine the belongingness of Black riders in systems of mass transit. Using citation data from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, we test the impact of race and place attributes on transit officer decisions to allocate punishment for subway fare evasion using mixed effects logistic regression controlling for individual and contextual predictors. Although rider racial identity alone proves statistically irrelevant, Black riders suspected of fare evasion possess an elevated risk for being fined as opposed to merely being warned at stations located within predominately white neighborhoods and as stations increase in ridership. These findings demonstrate how transit police officer discretion challenges Black belongingness on systems of public transportation. Broader implications of this work include the importance of scholarship linking statistical disparities to organizational intent and integrating diverse voices in policing policy development.

The policing of subway fare evasion in postindustrial Los Angeles

According to the postindustrial policing thesis, cities that use cultural development strategies to attract new residents and visitors rely on order maintenance policing tactics to reinforce middle-class perspectives of safety and civility. This study applies that thesis to understand how shifting social structural dynamics influence the policing of fare evasion across the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority subway system. In accordance with the postindustrial perspective, results indicate that order maintenance policing is most intense at stations located in gentrifying neighborhoods; and, at the average station this form of policing is overwhelmingly directed towards Black and Latinx riders. Collectively, study findings suggest that mass transit in gentrifying areas represents a disputed resource that is policed in the interests of urban revitalization. Moreover, this treatment of fare evasion joins a growing body of penal remedies that expands the sphere of public social control, and further marginalizes disenfranchised groups.