Maryland Transit Administration Police will be conducting "fare compliance enforcement sweeps" on light rail trains beginning Tuesday and lasting through Sunday to correspond with the Orioles' home stand against the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, the MTA said.
The agency's light rail system, which has a stop outside Orioles Park at Camden Yards, is an open system that relies on the honesty of its passengers to pay for tickets. Big Orioles games usually correspond with higher-than-average ridership on the system.
The MTA conducted 1.9 million fare inspections on light rail trains in 2014, and the fare evasion rate was only 2.2 percent, meaning most people checked had a ticket.
Still, fare evasion has been a stated concern of new leadership in the agency, which has struggled for years to reach fare revenue goals mandated by the state.
"The perception of a high fare evasion rate on the Light Rail doesn't match up with the reality that the rate is actually pretty low. Part of that is driven by the fact that 74% of our customers have already paid their fare and use multi-fare passes or flash passes. So, many customers who ride [and] pay for single fares may notice other people getting on the train without going to a ticket machine first," said MTA Administrator Paul W. Comfort, who was named to his position in April, in a statement.
Comfort said the initiative was "as much about educating riders on how to use our system" as "the small percentage of people who try and ride for free."
Douglas DeLeaver, the agency's new director of farebox recovery, said the fare compliance sweeps "show the MTA is taking the issue of fare evasion seriously."
The Orioles play the Red Sox on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and the Yankees on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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