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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 30/09/2026

POV: You haven't paid for the G Line since 2020 and LA Metro just sent the 'we need to talk' text. 👀 @metrolosangeles.bsky.social is soft launching her ✨fare compliance era✨ and Metro riders' advocacy manifested it.💅 If I were you, I'd TAP that.

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 25/09/2026

We've gotten some questions this week about the status of Karen Bass's free fare push. We're also confused, but here's what we know so far. Last week, at the Exec Committee, Bass introduced a motion to study increasing fare discount participation rates. 🧵

29. SUBJECT-

KEEPING METRO AFFORDABLE, EXPANDING METRO'S SUBSIDIZED FARE AND FARELESS PROGRAMS MOTION

2026-0689

RECOMMENDATION

APPROVE Motion by Bass, Dupont-Walker, Richardson, Mitchell, Solis and Sandoval to direct the CEO to:

A. Develop a plan to increase participation in Metro's subsidized fare and fareless programs by at least 30 percent, including the LIFE Program, GoPass, U-Pass, the Employer Program and all existing programs that provide free or reduced-cost transit to eligible riders. The plan should include strategies to increase employer participation and encourage more employers to subsidize or provide free or reduced-cost transit with their employees:

Report back to the Board within 90 days with recommendations for achieving the 30 percent expansion for callendar year 2027, including but not limited to:

1. Current enrollment and utilization levels for each subsidized or fareless fare program:

2. An assessment of eligible riders consistent with an equity lens who are not currently enrolled or regularly utilizing available benefits;

3. Strategies to increase enrolliment, retention, and utilization:

4. Identification of administrative, technological, or other barriers to participation;

5. Opportunities to simplify enrollment and eligibility verification;

6. Opportunities to expand digital access to fare benefits through the TAP app and other TAP system enhancements;

7. Recommendations for measuring the impact of the expansion on ridership, customer access, public safety, and other relevant outcomes.

8. Gather data that analyzes the demographics and ridership in the City of Los Angeles, the 87 cities, and unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County:

9. An assessment of the resources necessary to sustain increased participation, including potential federal, state, local, philanthropic, and other funding sources and fare recovery:

C. Expand outreach and enrollment efforts, in coordination with community-based organizations, schools, local govemments, social service agencies, and other community pertners, with an emphasis on reaching eligible residents who are not currently participating in Metro's subsidized fare programs: and

D. Analyze the 2021 Fareless System Initiative Study to identify opportunities for potential implementation, including consideration of operational. financial, equity, and regional impacts.

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 16/09/2026

LA Metro dejó de hacer cumplir el pago de las tarifas después de 2018. Estamos dándole a Ctrl+Z, y necesitamos tu ayuda.

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 16/09/2026

Data drop: In July, LA Metro did 32,247 fare checks, the highest level achieved since February 2020. This exciting news follows a year of advocacy and collaboration with Metro DPS, pushing for a return of fare enforcement to LA's trains and buses. You made this possible. ♥️🎫

Graph titled LA Metro Fare Enforcement Activity.
Winter 2017, LA Metro transfers fare enforcement duties from LA Sheriff’s Department to in-house security. Enforcement drops from roughly 700,000 monthly fare checks around 350,000. Fall 2018, fare check activity begins dropping to around 30,000 checks a month under mysterious circumstances without public explanation. Spring 2020, fare enforcement suspended due to COVID-19 lockdown. Fare checks remain well under 10k per month until 2026. Summer 2025, Enforce the Fares campaign launched. Summer 2026, LA Metro begins limited reintroduction of fare enforcement on select lines. Fare check activity increases to above 20,000 checks a month.

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 03/09/2026

In rider surveys, @metrolosangeles.bsky.social's biggest issue is onboard safety. But Metro's most powerful tool to fix that problem is barely being used. That's where we come in!

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 02/09/2026

Our members ride Metro every day and can't wait to apply!

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 31/08/2026

Here's the real reason LA Metro can't go fare-free, no matter how many times we study it.

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 26/08/2026

Joining Metro's Public Safety Advisory Committee is an opportunity to shape Metro's security policy. Apply by Sep 8th to help get Metro security back on track. forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon...

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 16/08/2026

Paying for LA Metro is narc behavior. We're trying to change that.

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 13/08/2026

Huge thanks to Kavish for interviewing us in this story! As documented inside, Metro already investigated going fare free under Phil Washington and backed down for good reasons (like avoiding the paratransit budget crisis that would be triggered by free fares, or jeopardizing future TDA funding).

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 07/08/2026

We trot this graph out a lot, and that's because every single LA Metro rider needs to see it. Metro DPS claims they're using a ✨Multilayered Holistic Approach™✨ to improve fare compliance, yet Metro's ~50% evasion rate hasn't budged. Here's the real solution: Make that red line go back up.

Line chart showing the number of monthly onboard fare checks on LA Metro from 2015 to 2026. Blue line ('LA County Sheriff's Dept.') fluctuates between ~500,000–1,000,000 checks/month from 2015 to mid-2016, then drops sharply to ~130,000 by early 2017. Red line ('Metro Transit Security') starts around 2017 near 480,000, fluctuates downward through 2018–2019 (roughly 150,000–400,000), falls near zero by mid-2020, and stays near zero through 2026 with a small spike to 19,000 in May. Source note: 'Monthly LA Metro Transit Security reports, linked at www.enforcethefares.org.

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 07/08/2026

The bigger threat of Karen Bass's free fare grift isn't that it would actually happen. It's that we'll be trapped in an eternal Schrodinger's farebox, where no one wants to fix Metro's broken fare collection system because we're always just one more year away from shutting it down.

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 31/07/2026

This is so based. In the Bay Area, they made a fan page to foam the fare enforcement! We gotta bring this vibe to LA.

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Enforce the Fares @enforcethefares.org · 30/07/2026

Five years after the last failed free fare attempt, LA Metro's new board chair Karen Bass apparently wants to try it all over again. Instead of chasing another distraction, Metro should copy peer transit systems and use fare collection as a tool to improve service and security.

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