Students in the Madison area may have noticed this past week that their fare cards alone did not guarantee a ride on the Metro bus.
As of Nov. 12, Madison Metro Transit drivers focused on riders who hold unlimited ride passes, asking them to show their ID in addition to swiping their fare card when boarding the bus.
Officials renewed their commitment to check IDs due to multiple reports of fraudulent fare pass sale and use.
Like other colleges in the Madison-area, Madison College offers each of its students an unlimited bus pass for the year.
With the rise of websites such as eBay and Craigslist, school administrators have seen bus passes for sale to the highest online bidder. An increasing number of students are not using the school-issued passes, yet are selling them for profit on these sites.
“Every time that happens, it hurts the students. It drives up costs,” said Jackie Dahlke, Student Life Coordinator at Madison College.
Dahlke has worked for the college since 1997. She has closely observed data on student bus riders for the past several years. Recently, several administrators have seen and reported advertisements on Craigslist and eBay.
According to Dahlke’s records, Madison College issued 8,036 bus passes for the 2011/2012 academic year. No records exist that reveal how many of those are sold for profit or given to students’ friends and family members.
Each swipe of an unlimited Madison College student bus pass costs the Commuter Services Fund $1.15. Student fees pay for this fund and cover student use of Metro bus, para-transit services, campus-to-campus shuttles and parking. Students ultimately take the hit with the increase of fraudulent bus pass users.
“They’re pirates. That’s what we call them,” Dahlke said.
She explained that students have always been required to show their photo ID if a bus driver asks, yet the enforcement had fallen by the wayside in recent years.
Mick Rusch, customer service manager for Madison’s Metro Transit system, says that the policy is printed on the back of the pass.
“When ridership took a turn for the better, we stopped ID-ing everyone to speed up boarding,” Rusch said.
School administrators in the Madison area began approaching him, reporting an increase in bus fare billing. Some expressed the looming possibility of having to end complimentary student bus passes.
Given that nearly half Metro Transit’s 14.9 million total rides last year came from passes issued by local schools and businesses, he knew it was time to reinforce the existing policy of checking photo ID in the interest of cost control.
“We had people coming up to us saying ‘we can’t do it any longer if our prices keep going up.’ Nobody wins if nobody gets to use those passes,” Rusch said.
He added that individuals who have bus passes confiscated will be issued a day pass. Metro transit will report the pass number to the issuing college so that, if it was taken in error, they will re-issue one to the student.
While drivers have the liberty and responsibility to ask for ID, Metro Transit has instructed them to be mindful of crowds and potential confrontations.
Both Dahlke and Rusch mentioned that future developments may eliminate the need to show both an ID and a bus pass in order to ride.
“We are in the process of purchasing new fare boxes and we’re looking at smart card technology. There’s a smart card chip on a sticker and it could go right on the ID,” Rusch said.
He warned that removing the stickers would deactivate the passes.
Dahlke mentioned that officials have discussed integrating the bus pass and college ID for the past 10 years. All involved parties would need to coordinate and overcome financial and technological challenges.
“Fare box technology and college or corporate ID systems require investments of millions of dollars,” Dahlke said.
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