TITLE: CONCERNING THE AUTHORITY OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ENTITIES TO APPOINT FARE INSPECTORS TO ENFORCE THE STATUTORY PROVISION PROSCRIBING THEFT OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SERVICES BY FARE EVASION.

Fiscal Impact Summary	FY 1999/2000	FY 2000/2001
State Revenues General Fund
State Expenditures General Fund
FTE Position Change	0.0 FTE	0.0 FTE
Other State Impact: None
Effective Date: None
Appropriation Summary for FY 1999-2000: None
Local Government Impact: Additional employees and revenues

The bill would allow public transportation authorities to appoint/employ fare inspectors to prevent fare evasion. Fare inspectors would be able to issue citations on behalf of the county where the evasion took place.

This bill would affect local governmental entities which provide public transportation services. This bill would primarily impact light rail or other services where an employee of the agency does not witness the payment of the fee at the time the person enters the vehicle. The public transportation service provider would be able to employ individuals as fare inspectors. The number of inspectors and the cost may vary. It would be expected that employing a fare inspector would reduce fare evasion and increase fare revenues. The amount of the increase in fares would be minimal to the total transportation service budget.

Under current law, ticket enforcement is based on a local city ordinance. For the Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) light rail, ticket verification is contracted to a security company. A rider in violation receives a warning for the first offense and their name is placed in a database. On second and subsequent violations, RTD managers and supervisors or local police officers may issue a citation. RTD has indicated that approximately 238 tickets were issued under the current practice. Under this bill county governments that have jurisdiction over the tickets would receive additional fine revenue. Denver’s current ordinance imposes a $26 fine for the first offense, $51 for the second, and $76 for the third and subsequent offenses. The amount of fines revenue that may be collected has not been estimated at this time.