Sound Transit to add fare gates to get riders to pay the fare

(The Center Square) -It's going to get harder to skip paying the fare on the Sound Transit light rail system.

Faced with an almost $35 billion budget deficit to complete the transit system, Sound Transit board members are hoping fare gates will help bring in needed revenue.

Sound Transit statistics show that around a third of passengers currently skip the $3 one-way fare.

The transit agency's board voted on August 27 to add gates at 14 of the system's busiest stations between late 2029 and early 2030. The system first opened in 2003.

An unsigned Sound Transit press release to passengers on August 27 states the fare gates initially did not make sense.

"For years, this proof-of-payment system worked well for Link, which was initially a relatively small system serving many street-level stations," the release said. "Past board-requested studies indicated that the cost of installing fare gates would exceed the fare revenue they could recover."

The statement said a new implementation study published earlier this year determined that fare gates make financial sense now that the Link system has expanded.

"Specifically, estimates show a breakeven point for capital and operational expenses at around two to three years after fare gate implementation," the statement said.

Sound Transit’s preliminary assessment, which models three different scenarios, estimates that fare gates can ultimately increase net revenues from fares by $32.8 million to $82.7 million per year.

The August 27 vote greenlights $6 million for the design and planning of the fare gate pilot.

Sound Transit documents show the total cost to build the fare gates and add more ticket booths is estimated at $87 million. That money will have to be approved by the board at a later date after design and planning is completed.

Some Sound Transit board members, including King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, highlighted equity concerns at the August 27 meeting regarding how physical fare gates might make it harder for low-income residents to access the light rail system.

But Brian de Place, Sound Transit’s executive director of security and fare evasion, said more reduced-benefit fare cards will be available in the future for those who could not afford to ride the system.

He said that the fare gate decision is not just about collecting additional revenue.

“There’s been a significant amount of attention, in transit circles at least, around other benefits from fare gates, including increased perceptions of safety [and] lower maintenance costs," he said. "And importantly, fare gates also allow the opportunity to de-conflict compliance-related actions that sometimes result in escalations and can put our workers at safety risk.”

This story originally appeared on thecentersquare.com.