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Even if I am homeless I don't think
the government should be stealing your
tax dollars and giving them to homeless
people.
Charity at the point of a gun is wrong. Let the private sector get donations from willing people and give them to the homeless. Phoenix homeless transit passes at issue Officials concerned about possible abuse of program by Emily Gersema - Sept. 15, 2011 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic Phoenix is taking over management of a special bus and light-rail fare program for the Valley's neediest people. City officials are concerned that the program has run unmonitored for years and that homeless people have misused the fares to ride buses and trains all day to escape the summer heat. The Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority and Phoenix share responsibilities to run the special-fare program meant to ensure that the homeless have some way, train or bus, to get to doctors or mental-health specialists, classes, stores, job interviews or work. The program is important to charities because it enables them to buy fares for the needy people they serve at half of the cost of normal fares. An all-day pass that is normally $3.50 per person is reduced to $1.75 for the charities. Last year, the non-profit groups combined spent $1.7 million on the homeless fares, according to Phoenix transit officials. Phoenix has handled the sales while Valley Metro RPTA has taken in the homeless-fare applications from non-profit groups. But interviews with Phoenix and Valley Metro officials revealed that neither the city nor the regional transit authority tracked usage of the special fares since the program formally started in 1993 for buses and in 2008 for light rail. Without a tracking system, it's unclear how many needy people have been using the homeless fares correctly or misusing them to sleep on buses or trains. The lack of oversight has rankled Phoenix Councilman Tom Simplot, also a member of Metro light rail's five-member board of directors. He believes it has exposed the homeless-fare program to abuse. "There's no data or monitoring," Simplot said. "That's precisely the issue." Simplot said officials are trying to work out a system of accountability, perhaps one that would require non-profit groups to stamp each fare card they purchased for easy tracking. Today, Phoenix transit staff members are expected to ask the Phoenix Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability Subcommittee to let the city take over the entire homeless-fare program. The full seven-member City Council will be asked to approve the changes later this month. Mark Holleran, executive director of the state's largest homeless shelter, Central Arizona Shelter Services, said the stamp is a bad idea for shelters like UMOM New Day Centers that try to shield victims from their abusers. Anything that could identify the victims could be a threat to that protection and jeopardize their trust in the shelter. Non-profit fare stamping "just doesn't sound like the right fix," Holleran said. Darlene Newsom, executive director for UMOM, which primarily helps needy families, said the suggestion of stamping "makes me feel a bit more uncomfortable." "Stamping. It stigmatizes," she said. "It says, 'These are reduced-price passes (for the poor or homeless).' " Newsom said she has been surprised that fare abuse appears to have become an issue. She said she had never heard such complaints before. Non-profit groups said they wonder if the discussions about solutions have been misdirected at them instead of at fare enforcement. Statistics show enforcement has fallen short of Metro light rail's fare-check goal of inspecting 20 percent of all passengers each fiscal year. For the recent fiscal year that ended June 30, Metro checked 10.15 percent (757,502 riders) of the 7.46 million light-rail passengers. Of the passengers whose fares were checked, about 3 percent (25,526 riders) had invalid fares or didn't buy any. Simplot has held meetings over the summer with non-profit groups to discuss possible solutions to concerns about the homeless-fare program. Although glad they've been brought into the discussion, the groups fear program changes and complaints about transients may lead to burdensome paperwork or worse - the program's shutdown. "I think that the agencies have been most concerned about being able to continue our discounted tickets," said Blase Bova, director of operations at St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix. "We've all expressed what a wonderful program it was for us. We all have offered to do what we could to reduce the number of homeless people who appear to be riding all day." St. Vincent de Paul is among the 231 Phoenix-area charities that purchase homeless fares in bulk. Bova estimates it buys about 1,000 of the homeless fares each month. Central Arizona Shelter Services, near 12th Avenue and Jackson Street, buys 3,000 to 4,000 fares per month. Non-profit groups in all bought 19,125 fares in July. Holleran said CASS officials carefully monitor which of their clients receives the fare. Caseworkers request fare passes for homeless clients who are going to doctors appointments or mental-health checkups, for instance. The clients usually are asked to bring back some evidence that they used the fare appropriately, such a doctor's bill or a prescription. |