Anger At Sound Transit Fare Checks On Seattle's First School Day

SEATTLE, WA — A photo of a fare enforcement officer targeting students aboard a Sound Transit train on the first day of school in Seattle has sparked outrage.

The photo, snapped by author and former Garfield High School teacher Jessie Hagopian, shows an officer scrutinizing the IDs of two girls. Seattle public school students get Orca cards to ride trains and buses for free — but they don't get the cards until orientation on the first day of school.

Responding to Hagopian's tweet, the official Sound Transit card Twitter account said that the fare enforcement officers were just reminding the students "how the system" works.

"If they're like my kids, [Seattle Public Schools] gave them a one-day paper ORCA card that covers today. It's good to remind folks how the system. And officers have discretion to issue warnings instead of fines," the Sound Transit tweet said.

"Your absolutely right. This is a good reminder of how the system works: if you’re young, Black or Brown, or don’t have a lot of money, then you will be harassed & intimidated by the system," Hagopian responded to Sound Transit on Twitter. "There are 150 homeless kids at my school who might not have gotten that pass in the mail."

Hagopian called the enforcement "intimidation" because he said the officer photographed the students' ID cards. Typically, fare enforcement officers will warn a rider on the first offense, but will photograph an ID for future enforcement.

"If you are caught without having paid your fare, you are subject to a $124 fine. If it’s your first offense, your name will be entered into a database and if you are caught again within twelve months, you will most likely get a ticket," Sound Transit said of its fare enforcement system.

Later in the day Wednesday, Sound Transit said on Twitter that it did not issue any tickets to students, and wasn't even giving out formal warnings. The agency also tweeted that "any Seattle high school student who mistakenly received a ticket" on Wednesday should email them.

Sound Transit and King County Metro uses private security guards to walk through trains and buses to verify fare payment. A 2018 King County Auditor report found that fare enforcement aboard Metro RapidRide buses disproportionately hurts low-income and homeless people. That spurred King County Executive Dow Constantine to seek a new process for resolving fare violations.

Sound Transit began studying changes to fare enforcement this spring.