In certain circles — namely local Democratic politics and left-wing Twitter — it is very unpopular to suggest there is anything wrong with blatantly hopping subway turnstiles. These folks need to come to terms with the fact that their politics are harming minorities and poor people.
In 2017, the Metro system in and around the nation’s capital began cracking down on fare evasion, partly in response to rising crime in the system. The political and activist class responded by crying foul.
HOUSE PASSES FIRST BILL TO BLOCK FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S GAS STOVE BAN
Democrats soon decided to decriminalize fare evasion on the Metro system. They pushed it as a racial justice issue. “I’m sad that Metro’s losing money,” city councilman Robert White said, “but I’m more sad about what’s happening to black people.”
The council passed its decriminalization bill over the veto of Mayor Muriel Bowser. “This bill does not say that crime is OK,” councilman Vincent Gray said. But in fact, it did say that crime was OK.
Police still have the power to issue citations with $50 fines on the Metro in D.C., but that’s totally toothless: The police have no ability to demand actual names or addresses from the turnstile jumpers they catch.
Amid this only-suckers-pay regime, unsurprisingly, crime rose. Then, amid the COVID lockdowns, when fewer people were riding and riders were forced to wear masks, crime rose more. And more crime begets more crime.
Now, Metro is begging D.C. actually to enforce the law. Metro General Manager Randy Clarke recently wrote a letter to the City Council asking it to give law enforcement the right to demand actual identification from the folks it tickets.
Here’s the most telling part of the letter:
“Since the decriminalization of fare evasion, WMATA has seen an increase in Part I crime. Crime data shows that when we increase fare enforcement, our Part I crime number is lower, and when we decrease enforcement, Part I crime increases.”
Part I crime is murder, assault, sexual assault, and theft.
Decriminalizing fare evasion caused more assault, murder, and sexual assault. The defenders of the fare jumpers are defending a dangerous, crime-ridden transit system.
It jibes with certain ideologies to claim that encounters with law enforcement are the biggest threat to marginalized populations. In truth, encounters with rapists, murderers, and muggers are the biggest threat to marginalized populations. A more dangerous transit rail system disproportionately hurts people who have no other options, which in D.C. means poor black people.