Andrew Keatts | Voice of San Diego<\/p>\n
San Diego\u2019s trolley operator, the Metropolitan Transit System, does routine fare checks \u2013 where a security guard scans people\u2019s trolley passes to make sure they\u2019ve paid \u2013 every day.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s another type of operation to check fares that happens semi-regularly and is much more intense. There, dozens of officers take over a station for hours, checking every single rider\u2019s proof of fare and pulling aside each person who doesn\u2019t have one.<\/p>\n
Some residents in the area where these efforts overwhelmingly take place inevitably see these operations \u2014 and MTS personnel in general \u2014 as a security force they constantly have to deal with, even when they\u2019re not doing anything wrong.<\/p>\n
MTS let me tag along for one operation. It\u2019s a show of force, often with eight to 10 security personnel for every one resident waiting for a trolley. Apprehensive-looking riders tip-toe off of trolley cars at the sight of a platform teeming with officers.<\/p>\n
Originally, MTS told me it chooses the locations for those intense operations at random.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiterally from a hat,\u201d MTS spokesman Rob Schupp wrote in an email.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re not random. And MTS has since admitted as much.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurns out swarms aren\u2019t as random as I thought,\u201d he wrote in a follow-up email, along with data showing the locations of the operations. \u201cThey concentrate on the downtown area where all of our lines intersect and we have the most fare evasion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, the numbers show the areas where fare evasion was lowest were home to the fewest operations.<\/p>\n
Unlike the Sheriff\u2019s Department sweeps<\/a>, MTS\u2019s efforts really do seek to crack down on fare evasion. They\u2019re not trying to arrest people who they suspect might be likely to commit major crimes in the future, though people are asked about outstanding warrants or whether they\u2019re on probation or parole<\/a> if they\u2019re found without a fare. For the Sheriff\u2019s Department, fare evasion is mostly just a pretext to question people and identify other possible offenses.<\/p>\n MTS security runs two types of more aggressive fare enforcement, on top of the routine daily fare checks.<\/p>\n One is called a swarm<\/a>, where a few officers in plain clothes board a train and start asking for proof of fare. The other, \u201cSpecial Enforcement Units\u201d or SEUs, are when dozens of officers take over a station for an extended period.<\/p>\n The undercover swarms happened overwhelmingly at the Imperial and 12th Avenue station, where all three trolley lines intersect and ridership is the highest, or on the trolley leg downtown between City College and Santa Fe Depot. Of the 24 swarms in the first six months of 2014, 21 were in those two locations.<\/p>\n Data from the special enforcement units provided by MTS shows they too were concentrated downtown, but also in areas along the southeastern portion of the trolley system.<\/p>\n Of the 26 operations in 2014, six were held in Lemon Grove, the most of any station.<\/p>\n But on a wide swath of the Green Line, from Old Town to SDSU through Mission Valley, the 11 stations there had just two operations, both at the Fashion Valley Transit Center. (And, to Schupp\u2019s point, the rate of fare evasion found during those two stops was the lowest during the course of the year.)<\/p>\n