The Validator

I was a fare jumper today:

No, I didn't physically jump a turnstile, but I did board Sacramento RTs light rail this morning without paying for a ticket. I jumped the fare. It's not the first time I've done it and it won't be the last and I freely admit to doing it...but I'm wondering...should I feel guilty about it?

Here's how to do it: I stick my one-way ticket into the station validator at, say, 6:15AM. It's good for two hours on light rail, good until 8:15AM. However, my ride to work lasts a whole 14 minutes, so at 6:29AM I depart the train but I [accidentally] leave my ticket on the validator machine on my way out. Someone else comes along, ready to validate their own ticket, but finds mine and wa-hey! -- a free ride. The only way for me to take advantage of this is for others to do the same. And they do.

So...this morning I spied two two! still-valid tickets lying on the machine at the 8th and O Station and I snagged one. I walked to the Archives Plaza Station, boarded the train, and got to work at the same price as it used to cost me before September 1st. Unfortunately, I [accidentally] lost that ticket somewhere near the 59th street station. Somewhere near the validator, I think. Pity.

I will tell you -- there are more of these valid tickets left on the validator machines, now more than ever -- now that riders have been fucked over by the decision to eliminate the RT transfer on September 1st, a decision that doubled the cost of my transit. I believe it is against the spirit of the law to [find and use] an unexpired fare, but I nonetheless boarded the train with a legal and valid pass.

My first question I ask again -- should I feel guilty about it? You would think that someone who blogs about bad urban design and the underwhelming nature of Sacramento county transit would never even consider stealing a transit ride. You would think that the more I do this the more transit becomes a less viable mode of transportation.

You would think that.

Until, of course, you understand that the subsidization of transit is totally and completely dwarfed by the subsidization we endure to enable the private automobile. We spend trillions of federal, state, and local tax dollars to build and expand roadways to enable Easy Motoring For Everyone while the actual use taxes don't even come close to shouldering a fraction of the total burden. Seeing how my effective tax rate is 16%, I think I pay more than enough for the road capacity upgrades that I don't use by bicycling and using transit but I still pay for regardless. Transit funding has never been about a lack of resources; it never has -- it has only ever been about the failure to allocate resources to transit instead of private transportation.

So I will rationalize my stealing, and I won't feel guilty about it. Catch me if you can.