CDTA buses traversing the Capital Region now bare marquees reminding riders that fares are required. As WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports, it’s part of a new public awareness campaign aimed at increasing fare compliance and comes as other regional transit systems consider how to approach payment.
"Respect the Ride, Pay your Fare” is a reminder to riders that paying the bus fare isn’t just a requirement, it’s a way to respect the bus driver, fellow travelers, and the community.
CDTA CEO Frank Annicaro says the new public relations campaign was initiated in response to increased reports of fare evasion from both bus operators and customers.
"We started seeing more and more reports from both that there are increased occurrences of people getting on board and choosing not to pay. We started hearing it slowly, and it just began increasing over the past few months."
Annicaro says the campaign emphasizes the requirement to pay the fare is being emphasized with visible signs and announcements over bus PA systems.
"It's messaging. It's to remind folks there is a fare required. You'll see fare required signs on the busses. You'll actually hear automatic announcements when our busses arrive at stops, saying the same thing, an audible announcement saying, 'please pay your fare, fare required.' And again, it's just to remind folks that there is a fare to ride our system. It is absolutely the best deal in town to get around, but you know, nonetheless, it is not free to ride our system," said Annicaro, pointing out that bus drivers may use their own discretion when riders cannot pay or don't have exact change.
Frequent rider Don Turner, of Albany, says he's never gotten to ride free on a CDTA bus.
DON: "They don't let you, sometimes, when you don't have bus fare."
ME: "Have they let you on without bus fare?
DON: "No, they haven't."
ME: "So you notice the signs now say, 'fare required' on the bus?"
DON: "Yes."
ME: "What do you think of that?"
DON: "Well, I think it's fair. I mean, they have a business to run."
Annicaro describes CDTA's approach to dealing with fare beaters as "passive" and designed to limit risk of altercation, as drivers in other cities like Chicago have reportedly been attacked when pressing riders to pay fares.
"So the current protocol is, if somebody gets on the bus, again, there's auto announcements, the bus operator will politely remind the onboarding passenger, they have to pay the fare, and if they refuse, you know, at minimum, the bus operator is required to record it in our fare collection equipment. We have a button they press right, record it. But every fare evasion is different, right? We're certainly isolating our bus operators from any sort of confrontation. But you know, there are also the times that folks, and it's the rare occasion, but folks may get on and they may become disruptive, because when they're asked for the fare. And if that happens, that's when supervision is called," Annicaro said.
CDTA’s enforcement campaign comes other regional transit systems consider how to approach payment. Westchester County lawmakers have introduced legislation that would establish civil penalties for fare-dodgers -- the county's Bee-Line has in the past experimented with free fares during summer months. Meanwhile, free buses have been a central tenant of Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral bid.
In Massachusetts, the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority began a free-fare system last November that is set to sunset in 2026.
CDTA's fleet went "fare-free" for several months during the COVID pandemic, which sparked Albany County Legislator Sam Fein, of the sixth district, to suggest CDTA conduct a study on implementing fare-free transit for all bus routes.
Annicaro says he hasn't contemplated that. "I can't really speak to it. That's to the up to the legislators to decide if that's something they want to consider," he said.
The “Respect the Ride, Pay your Fare” campaign will get some support from "ambassadors" Annicaro says will be on board busses along routes with higher fare-evasion rates. The ambassadors will offer riders assistance and information.
"Just being out there to allow people to know what different programs are out there. There are different programs for different folks. There's some half price programs. So that's in, an education, an equity lens of it, right? We're also going to be engaging some of the different municipalities to see if there's a potential to expand some half price programs for folks who need it," said Annicaro.
