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FARE EVASION license." The idea is similar to when a vehicle owner doesn't pay a parking ticket: their vehicle registration won't be re- newed until they pay. As a result of the sweeps, MBTA in- creased the number of fare citations for this year over last year, so far. In August, 2011, it issued approximately 2,000 fare evasions, and in August 2012, it gave out over 3,000 showing an in- crease of about 53%. The next step, MacMillan says, is working with the state legislature on a sanction for fare evaders who don't have a driver's license. CREATIVE DEPLOYMENT The San Francisco Municipal Trans- portation Agency (SFMTA) has a lim- ited number of fare inspectors, so it has to be creative in how it deploys them. When concentrating most of the in- spectors in problem areas on the system wasn't proving effective, Lea Militello, director of security, investigations, and enforcement, SFMTA, found a better way to stop fare cheats. Militello says that the previous method was "singularly focused." When she came on board about one year ago, Militello read several stud- ies done on San Francisco's municipal service and found that fare evasion was a problem system-wide. Her solution was to have the fare in- spectors operate by a deployment calen- dar. Every month the proof of payment manager produces a calendar that shows fare inspectors where they're going to be in the system. They are now placed system-wide and rotate where they are and where they do saturations — board- ing a bus and checking every passengers' proof of payment — every day. By be- ing everywhere on the system, SFMTA started to see a reduction in fare evasion. "We're not just randomly checking people," Militello says. "The only way we'll get an accurate percentage of fare evasion is if we're checking 100% of the people on any given bus." S FMTA reviews its statistics and real- time data daily and adjusts its deploy- ment strategy accordingly. "The feedback from people that ride our system regularly is, 'This is the fi rst time I've ever been asked for my proof of payment,'" Militello says. "Our cita- tions are static, but in some instances we're seeing more compliance. What that tells me is that what we're doing and how we're deploying our fare in- spectors is working." Now, the public calls with tips on specifi c areas to check. Saturations are sometimes scheduled based on cus- tomer feedback. "People who pay their fare don't like when others [game] the system," Mi- litello says. "They expect everyone to pay." We're putting together the building blocks INFOtainment Quality Value Destination Signs Technology Service Shelter Signs Next Stop Signs 900 Klein Road Plano, TX 75074 1-800-388-8205 To provide one source for all your passenger information needs 92 < mETRO mAGAZINE SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2012 metro-magazine.com