Benjamin Brink

TriMet is issuing fewer warnings and citations to passengers for not paying to ride, according to a Portland State study on the role of race in fare enforcement, but the transit agency struggles with repeatedly banning a handful of African American riders from the rails.

That was one takeaway from the second study looking at whether the tri-county agency’s fare officers are unfairly targeting passengers of color. The report, released Wednesday, looked at citations, warnings and so-called exclusions handed out from March 2016 to March 2018.

Two years ago, TriMet's first study on enforcement habits sparked numerous changes. TriMet may now lower the fine for fare tickets, direct riders to a low-income fare program if they qualify, or offer community service in lieu of a fine or criminal punishment. TriMet says it is the only transit agency in the nation to repeatedly study its enforcement habits and how they affect people of color.

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Elliot Njus/Staff

“Equity and transparency in fare enforcement are a priority for TriMet and will remain so as we increase our enforcement efforts,” TriMet General Manager Doug Kelsey said in a statement.

This analysis, as with the previous report, concluded TriMet’s citations and exclusions are not significantly higher for riders of color than for whites, or at least not enough to demonstrate systemic racial bias.

But one category showing an elevated disparity for African Americans is chronic fare evaders.

“There is an issue of chronic exclusion occurring,” Brian Renauer, a professor and director of PSU’s Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute,” said at a TriMet board meeting Wednesday.

TriMet can ban passengers from light rail or buses temporarily, and fare officers continue to do so with a small portion of riders. “Continuing to cite them and exclude them doesn’t seem to be solving the issue,” Renauer said.

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Benjamin Brink

Passengers may be excluded for various reasons, including repeatedly not paying for a ticket, for criminal activity or for other charges. Renauer’s report found 56 African American riders were banned from the MAX more than three times during the two-year period.

“In 46 percent of incidents involving African Americans, the rider involved had at least one other fare evasion during the two-year time frame,” Renauer said in a statement.

Renauer described the chronic fare evader data as an “important finding” that deserves further study. A group of 142 white passengers was repeatedly excluded also, the analysis found.

The study avoided the Portland region’s overwhelming whiteness – the metro area is roughly 74 percent white, according to the 2016 American Community Survey.

Renauer said he didn’t compare the statistics to the regions demographics or the agency’s estimated ridership by race for a number of reasons. Different races or ethnic groups may ride transit more than others, he said, and other groups may commit far evasion at a higher rate. “The best baseline for determining if racial/ethnic disparity in fare enforcement exists is knowledge of the ‘true incident rates’,” he wrote in the report, “or what proportion of riders of each race/ethnicity are actually evading fare.”

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Dave Killen

The report showed a spike in one area: fare officers classifying 2,706 incidents as occurring with a rider of “unknown” race, a nearly three-fold increase over the previous report. Enforcement officers, using their perception, register a passenger’s race on their report. Renauer said the data don’t show that increase correlated to unfair enforcement, but he said it may represent a training issue that should be addressed.

Systemwide, TriMet continues to see remarkably high numbers of passengers believed to be riding without paying a fare.

According to the study, the estimated percent of MAX riders who don’t pay rose to 16.6 percent in 2017, up more than 2 percentage points from 2016.

Kelsey, TriMet's general manager, said the agency has about 60 fare enforcement officers but . is adding more.

He believes the low-income fare program and increased enforcement will help lower fare-less ridership. “This is part of a multi-step process,” he said.

But John Gardner, TriMet’s director of diversity and transit equity, told board members the agency does survey fare evaders asking why they didn’t pay.

The price of a fare isn’t the top reason.

The vast majority, Gardner said, aren’t paying for a ticket for a different reason: “They’re trying to chance it.”

Here’s a look at some of the highlights.

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Total citations:

2014-2016: 54,594

2015-2018: 48,060

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Number of citations in 2016-2018:

African American: 6,565

Asian: 2,083

Hispanic: 2,843

Native American: 94

Unknown: 2,111

White: 25,879

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Number of warnings in 2016-2018:

African American: 673

Asian: 248

Hispanic: 338

Native American: 14

Unknown: 454

White: 2,501

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Number of exclusions in 2016-2018:

African American: 966

Asian: 63

Hispanic: 334

Native American: 70

Unknown: 141

White: 2,794

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Estimated percent of MAX evaders:

2016: 14.5 percent

2017: 13.1 percent

2018: 16.6 percent

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-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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