Los Angeles:
$154 million conversion to turnstile fare collection hits $46 million snag, gets denounced as "boondoggle"

Los Angeles — Many public transportation advocates have criticized the move by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority [LACMTA] to eliminate the "passenger proof of purchase" (PPOP) fare system used on the region's metro and light rail transit (LRT) systems for more than two decades, in favor of a turnstile-based system. Advocates have argued that the turnstile system is more expensive and less secure than the PPOP system (whereby passengers purchase tickets before boarding and are randomly spot-checked by ticket inspectors), and a hassle for passengers that potentially may impede ridership growth.

Now, with the turnstile-conversion project well underway, the MTA's expenditure of $46 million for turnstile technology that would accept so-called "smart cards" at subway and some LRT stations is being called a boondoggle.

A 21 August 2010 article titled "Gateway to Nowhere" in the Los Angeles Daily News reports that "After spending more than $154 million for a system of locking turnstiles and electronic payment cards for the county transit system, officials are discovering that at least a third of the money may have been wasted because they can't use the new devices as planned.

While the turnstiles were projected to supposedly save $13 a million a year in lost revenue and reduced fare inspector costs, "the turnstiles can't be configured to lock until Metro fully converts to a new electronic Transit Access Pass system – and that is proving nearly impossible" says the article.

"The stalled effort has raised questions from critics about whether the turnstile contract has turned into a costly boondoggle" notes the paper, quoting Metro board member Richard Katz, who it says voted against the locking turnstile contract, and "felt from the beginning it was not worth the expense."

"I didn't think it would pencil out, which appears to still be true" argued Katz, described as a former assemblyman for the San Fernando Valley. "They were trying to solve a problem that may not have existed, or is not nearly as great as the money spent for the solution."

He added that he doubts the system has lost sufficient revenue from fare evasions to make the expense worth the cost, even if the turnstiles were operating.

The new fare system depends on blue-and-orange plastic fare cards, called TAP cards, that include an electronic chip that stores the user's pass and payment information. Passengers must tap their card against the TAP validator when they board a Metro bus or enter subway and LRT stations.

As the Daily News further explains,

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Earlier this month, Metro finished installing 379 turnstile fare gates, designed to work with the TAP cards, at its subway stations and half of its light rail stations. The rest of the light-rail stations, however, will not have the turnstiles because they are not configured to fit them.

Originally, Metro estimated it would save $3 million to $6 million annually using locking turnstiles and up to $7 million a year on reduced fare inspector costs. Metro officials said they had found a 5 percent fare evasion rate across all the rail lines and they expected the new system to pay for itself in four years.

In 2008, the Metro board approved a 10-year, $46 million lease contract with Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. to install the locking gates - similar to those in use in most other big-city systems, like New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
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"Some transit experts doubt the Metro board will ever decide to use the locking turnstiles" reports the Daily News.

"It's a boondoggle" said Kymberleigh Richards, the public and legislative affairs director at Southern California Transit Advocates. "We are never going to get [$154 million] in lost fares out of this. At $1.50 a ride, how many fare evaders do you have to catch to make back [$154 million]?"