the system creates violators. is there any need for police sweeps of a city bus? no, because you cant get on without a ticket, the bus driver checks as you get on. there is a human being employed to keep you from doing the wrong thing. once you're on the bus, the fare is taken care of.

on the max, the fare system is based on the honor system. its easy to get on the max without a ticket. trimet management's answer to whatever percentage of riders do not pay is to use random checks of entire max trains. not having a ticket means a $100-200 fine. what bothers me is the disproportionate amount of police intervention. why are police fare inspectors in the first place? probably because the trimet inspectors got treated like shit and had no authority to drag someone off the max. at no time in my life as a middle class american am i subjected to "storm" operations where armed guards block every entrance/exit and ask you for proof of payment - until this year when riding on the max.

its an interesting sort of backfire of the max fare system - the percentage of non-paying riders is being used as justification for an expensive and extreme policy. having police on the max for public safety reasons is great, but one lost ticket can mean at least a half hour of delay and indignity and an expensive fine. subway systems can control entrance to the cars with the turnstiles at the entrance to the loading platform. the max's open platforms dont work this way.

the system is exploited so easily that its below the honesty threshold for some people. mostly the very poor who have significant reasons to avoid a $1.60 fee each way. is there something unjust in this system or are fare sweeps only picking up criminals?

the commando sweeps should stop. either we get a better way to control entrance to the max or we make the entire trimet system fareless.