Security Guards To Be New Safeguard For California City Transit

Dec 4, 2007 3:36 PM

Undercover security guards will now ride San Francisco's famed cable cars in a plan to revive a program from the San Francisco Municipal Railway to make sure the crews aren't pocketing cash fares, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

The transit agency ended a similar covert operation more than a year ago, but officials want to give it another try.

The Municipal Transportation Agency, which oversees Muni, has included the "cable car observers" program in a proposed contract for agency-wide private security guard services. It calls for six to eight unarmed security guards in plainclothes to work part time on the cable car detail.

According to The Chronicle, the contract specifies that their primary function "is to be alert for any fare-handling violations." They will be rotated among various shifts to avoid detection by the cable car conductors and gripmen.

They will monitor whether the crews issue receipts, which are required every time a passenger pays the $5 cash fare. They also will be on the lookout for fare theft and to see whether the operators collect fares or ask to see a pass, Muni spokesman Alan Siegel told The Chronicle.

He says the security initiative is not based on real or perceived widespread abuse, but to add another safeguard to the system. "There has been no indication of rampant problems," Siegel says.

The proposal, which will go before the Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors for consideration, comes just shy of two years after Mayor Gavin Newsom said he was convinced that fare revenue was "going in the pockets" of some cable car operators. He based his assertion on personal observations of passengers paying fares but not getting a receipt in return. At the end of the day, the number of receipts issued is compared with the amount of the cash that comes in.

The Chronicle reports that earlier this year, the city controller's office issued a report that found, based on findings of undercover auditors, that cable car fares went uncollected 40 percent of the time. That report and the mayor's allegations prompted Muni management to tighten controls.

Muni is making a bigger push to get people to pay fares in advance at ticket kiosks as a way to reduce cash transactions on the cable cars. In addition, training has been stepped up to remind the operators on the importance of issuing receipts.

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