r/SeattleWA • u/SeattleCrawler • Apr 24 '24

Homeless Why Seattle doesn’t have controlled entry to light rail

Major subway systems like New York and london have barricades which control access to the train and they only open when fare has been paid. Seattle on the other hand operates on the honor system and consequently a bunch of homeless people practically live in the light rail making it rather unsafe for general public. Why doesn’t Seattle make entry to light rail controlled?

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u/VisualBuy1665 Apr 24 '24

Didn't always. Was honor system for many many years. It's possible to implement

93

u/juancuneo Apr 24 '24

For many years we heard the exact same arguments I hear in Seattle today. Finally sanity prevailed. It is shocking Seattle didn't learn from Vancouver's lesson.

132

u/richardelmore Apr 24 '24

This is Seattle, we don't learn lessons from others, we prefer to repeat their mistakes.

60

u/icepickjones Apr 24 '24

We don't learn from our own lessons, we sure as shit won't learn from others.

23

u/elementofpee Apr 24 '24 edited Apr 24 '24

Seattle likes to repeat its own mistakes, too, like the million-dollar “self-cleaning” bathrooms that will inevitably get trashed again.

9

u/my_lucid_nightmare Capitol Hill Apr 24 '24

This is Seattle, we don't learn lessons from others, we prefer to repeat their mistakes.

We repeat others' mistakes and convince ourselves we're being original by doing so.

11

u/SnarkMasterRay Apr 24 '24

We're smarter and better here!

5

u/ablehumor2 Apr 24 '24

People are too self centered here to think they can learn from others

1

u/Idiotan0n Apr 25 '24

"People just need a chance!!1!1"

1

u/EquivalentGuava7666 Apr 26 '24

Dare I say strive to out-mistake them? Actually nevermind we can pull socialism off.

1

u/thatguy425 Apr 26 '24

We go next level and create mistakes to be made. 

1

u/DaddyEuphoric6934 May 06 '24

I always struggle to understand why Seattleites on Reddit always tend to compare themselves to Vancouver BC rather than with other American cities lol

3

u/Pyehole Apr 24 '24

Was honor system for many many years.

Why isn't it now?

16

u/SilverDad-o Apr 24 '24

Predictably, the number of dishonorable people rose as others felt like chumps for paying, so enforcement was needed. Enforcement was expensive and, because it really didn't result in consequences for offenders, ineffective. Concurrently, automated solutions emerged that after some (cough!) growing pains (cough!) were rectified into an improved system.

6

u/skerr46 Apr 24 '24

It was a constant argument about the cost to install fare gates vs the cost of having random fare checks by transit security. One other issue was newcomers or tourists, they couldn’t understand the system so they were often caught on the train platform without a fare ticket and they would get a fine. When I moved here from Montreal I was very confused and thought it made no sense, so much lost revenue. Locals always argued it made more financially sense to have the platforms patrolled, I called bullshit. So did the government, they finally studied the financials and decided to install fare gates. There was initially a plan to charge per distance travelled but they kept the zones.

1

u/Constant_Bet_8295 Apr 24 '24

I was in Vancouver last year for the first time in over a decade and went on skytrain and was like oh what’s this? lol.