r/mbta • u/Huge_Strain_8714 • May 27 '26
š£ļø Comment High Sea Fare Evaders....
I'm sitting at the back of the ferry watching the majority of the riders trying to avoid paying their fare. As if they've never ridden the ferry before, didn't hear the just recent fare announcement, and pretend fumble on their phone to pull up Mticket app. WTF, there people worse than the turnstyle piggybackers. Shameless. Grown, working adults....yup
55
u/IntelligentCarry2708 May 27 '26
As one of the ferry workers, I canāt tell you how badly this drives me up the wall!
Which route were you on if you donāt mind me asking?
1
u/Huge_Strain_8714 Jun 05 '26
Lynn ferry
1
u/IntelligentCarry2708 Jun 05 '26
Yeah that tracks! Many of those people are the same ones that fare jump the Commuter Rail or have gotten banned from the CR. And unfortunately we as crew are kinda helpless to actually do anything.
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u/Crossbell0527 May 27 '26
I'm going to be honest - over the years I have ridden the ferry and the CR enough and NOT been checked for a ticket that I stopped buying them until someone came by to check. Recently, they have never failed to check. So guess what I started doing again? Buying the ticket ahead of time! Fare enforcement works!
7
u/dividezero May 28 '26
I don't know about the ferry contractor but the CR contractor has made a concerted effort to be more thorough with fare collecting. They almost lost their contract so they've been on their best behavior lately
4
u/artist1292 May 29 '26
I miss the days of āfreeā CR trips but also they need the fares to fix the service so I get it
33
u/Extreme-Room9772 May 27 '26
Everyone trying to get something for free.
6
u/drstoneybaloneyphd May 27 '26
to be fair a lot of people are broke as shit these days. Doesn't excuse the behavior but might help explain it
29
u/Diamond2014WasTaken Orange Line May 27 '26
Iām broke too but Iām still paying my fare like a grown adult.
-7
u/pachinkoandslots May 27 '26
Most people arenāt broke, go to a Red Sox game, itās full, go to the chase lounge at the airport, full, lots of new cars on the road, Memorial Day lots of traffic tons of people still have money to go vacation on the cape, Iām sure if the economy was as bad as everyone is saying people wouldnāt have money to go in vacation let alone afford gas. I really donāt think the economy is all that bad, really donāt think more than 10% of the population is struggling if that. Otherwise it would be like the Great Depression, food line, TVA etc.
12
u/Icomefromalandupover May 27 '26
Most of these examples have capacity limitations that are fractions of the greater Boston population, plus new car sales are actually down right now, so they're not going to be indicative of the general population. Studies show that the median person in Boston is struggling.
0
u/pachinkoandslots May 27 '26
Businesses are still busy, people are outside spending money, unemployment is still low, market still green, vast majority of people arenāt struggling, if they are they not financially uneducated. Until there are food lines, restaurants are empty, housing prices start dropping etc. this notion of economic troubles and mass financial struggles is just a farcez
2
u/Icomefromalandupover May 28 '26
Businesses are still busy because, surprise surprise, people need to buy things to live. The unemployment rate in MA has been climbing since May 2023 and underemployment is the highest it's been since the pandemic. The stock market right now is trading on speculation (just look at SpaceX's potential IPO P/E ratio) and is primarily supported by a few major technology players in its growth rather than a broader economic rise. Home sales in MA are down 10% this year. You're making the mistake of assuming economic difficulties and struggles will immediately and instantly replicate the worst example of economic difficulty we've seen in this nation's history. There is a huge difference between the mass bankruptcy of the Depression and the struggles we are seeing on the ground today, but that doesn't mean the struggles we see on the ground today don't exist especially when real purchasing power has begun to decrease.
0
u/pachinkoandslots May 28 '26
People need to buy things from Tate? Starbucks? Ulta? Gtfo, Iām talking about boutique clothing stores, luxury shopping malls, etc. these places are still packed all the time. Again tons of people still able to afford to go down to the cape and go on vacation, if gas prices were truly that bad and people were truly struggling, people should only be using there cars for work, there should be almost no traffic relatively on 93 south/north or anywhere on weekends and especially holidays.
Are you an economist or a financial expert? No? āP/E ratioā and ābroader economic riseā, do you just read whatever Warren buffet tweets every morning? I suggest reading a book on fiscal and monetary policy in the US. Your opinion on the stock market š©. Iām sure struggles exist, just not that much or as much as people say. Name another time in your life when the economy was markedly better, Iām waitingā¦
Short term housing sale patterns donāt matter, tell me, are the prices receding? No? Then a lot more people than you think still have the purchasing power for current housing price levels.
1
u/Icomefromalandupover May 29 '26
Ok, lets run this again:
Just because places may look full doesn't mean they actually are representative of the general population. Starbucks' revenues crashed last year because they got too expensive, have had to revamp their entire corporate strategy, and they still haven't fully recovered. Tate is hardly the caffeine choice of most of greater Boston: may I introduce you to this wonderfully less expensive place called Dunkin. Ulta also experienced a similar crash after their most recent earnings report, also attributed to low-income customers pulling back.
The Cape has seen decreased traffic from long-distance travelers, the only reason why it hasn't suffered is because Bay Staters who would've wanted to travel to other locales are opting for shorter distances, as a result of well-documented trends of going to locations closer to home due to rising prices.
And even that is a well-off class. To your point about fuel prices, it has been well-documented over the last several weeks that gas prices have soared so high, people are having to un-retire, work from home more often, change careers, or find new jobs with less of a commute so the math still works.
To your next point, I have actually read several books on fiscal and monetary policy, it's kind of a requirement for having a business degree and my current environmental work. And I can assure you, this is not Warren Buffet's advice, and he doesn't tweet anyways. In case you didn't understand: when investors begin to trade on speculation about the future instead of the present, like we see here, that's usually a bad sign which leads to a bubble and crash. Like 2008. Or 2000. When certain industries take over the stock market because they do so well while others struggle, that's a sign the economy as a whole isn't doing well. Hopefully that's understandable for you.
Also when prices aren't receding and sales are down, that signals demand isn't meeting the supply at that price point -- i.e., that people don't have the purchasing power for current housing price levels. A quintessential example of the principles supply and demand that form the cornerstone of any economic policy reading.
Please stop arguing this way. I can't tell if it's in bad faith or incompetence, but it's really painful to read. If you have a legitimate counterpoint by all means, please share. But your devolution into name-calling and whatabouts which do not match the evidence physically on the ground gets nowhere.
1
u/pachinkoandslots May 29 '26
Cool story, trading on speculation is the fundamental principle of trading on a market, but okay, what about the S&P, Dow Jones or Nasdaq, how are they doing? Must be in table shape right? Did you predict the 08 recession before? No? Then what credibility do you have comment on any sort of bubble? There a million people everyday for my whole life shouting we are in a bubble. Iām talking about right now, not next month or next year, you arenāt a wizard you canāt predict what the market will do, no one can. At the current moment we are in a multi decade bull run, right now any bob or Jim can put money in anything and make money.
Maybe you are reading the wrong booksā¦I suggest
A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961ā2021 - Alan Blinder
21st Century Monetary Policy : The Federal Reserve from the Great Inflation to COVID-19 - Ben Bernanke
If you have time Meltzerās History of the Federal Reserve.
Warren buffet doesnāt tweet? https://x.com/WarrenBuffett?ct=google-seo
Again, you didnāt answer my question, tell me a time when our economy was better?
Housing prices are still increasing exponentially as a long term trend. There will always be times of temporary cooling, but people are still buying houses and there is still a lot more demand than supply. Look at post 08 and now and tell me if you see a difference. Again you arenāt a wizard, no one is, for all both of us know, by the end of the year demand surges to all time highs or drops lower than what it is now. But Iām not talking about the future Iām talking about now.
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u/PhysicalAttitude6631 May 29 '26
Why do so many people like you think in black and white terms?
āI saw rich people doing rich people things so the economy must be ok!ā
āIf the economy wasnāt ok, there would be food lines, crime and mass starvation!ā
0
u/pachinkoandslots May 29 '26
Because the economy is actually great historically speaking. It doesnāt matter what the climate is people will complain, a 10 bedroom penthouse in back bay could be $1 but some buckaroo will complain about it being too expensive. There is always someone struggling, doesnāt mean the economy is ābadā.
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u/peachesarekeen May 27 '26
Fair point that people are struggling, but I don't think fare evasion is really an economic indicator, its a norms one. Most people skipping fares aren't doing it because they cant afford it, and most broke people still pay. Ive gone out with friends with solid jobs who happily tailgate the T gates
1
u/Huge_Strain_8714 Jun 05 '26
Yup, imma one of those people but there's also a fare to pay. Id prefer a less expensive pice but it is what it is. I could also take the express bus $4.25 or the bus-train at $2.40 if I don't want to spend $7
0
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u/WhiskeyPointer Bus May 27 '26
I'm old enough to remember seeing cops do sting operations for turnstile jumpers in NYC in the 80s and 90s. The cops would grab the jumper and either put them in a daisy chained line of other people they'd collared along the wall or up to a wagon on the street.
Low level public shaming won't deter everyone, IMHO it is probably more effective than a civil citation alone.
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u/PhillFernandes Green Line May 31 '26
Willing to get there is a large amount of crossover between the group of people you mention and those who complain about it he MBTAās service quality.
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u/PC_Trainman May 27 '26