Metro Transit to study fare enforcement barriers for light rail stations

Metro Transit is studying whether to add fare enforcement measures like turnstiles and barriers at its light rail stations. It's part of the agency's ongoing effort to improve safety and reduce crime on Twin Cities light rail.

Metro Transit's Jim Harwood helps oversee engineering and construction.

“We're looking at our existing light rail platforms and trying to determine, are there renovations, retrofits, other infrastructure improvements that we could or should be making to improve that customer experience,” Harwood said.

Those changes would mean construction on platforms. Metro Transit is using the next few months to study whether or not that's worth the costs.

“Another key consideration is how we can also navigate the system and deliver the service that we're aiming to provide,” said Brian Funk, Metro Transit’s Chief Operating Officer. “Anything can be engineered out but it might not be accessible for people who want to use the system.”

Metro Transit has looked into fare enforcement before, when the light rail first opened — and decided it wasn't worth it.

Metro Transit is looking to cities with similar transit systems to see how they enforce fares. They've picked four different platforms across the light rail system to study and see how different models could work. They say they plan to wrap up the study next spring.

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