People can enjoy free train rides to DIA until Saturday during the University of Colorado’s A-Line train’s first weekend of operations, but starting Sunday, people will have to pay for a ticket first, or pay a hefty fine.
Similar to the Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) light rail, there aren’t any turnstiles to prevent people without tickets to hop on for a ride.
However, different from the light rail, the A-Line train will have a security guard on board to check passenger’s tickets and ensure they paid the $9 fee.
Fare evaders face a fee of up to more than $100 and get points taken off their license. They could also get the violation placed on their permanent record.
An RTD spokesperson said fare evasion for their light rail is only at about three percent.
More than 6,000 fair evaders on the light rail were ticketed in 2014.
“We have a lot of people who have passes and prepaid media,” said Tina Jaquez, spokesperson for RTD, ”so it might look like people are getting on the train without fare, but a lot of times they just have a pass.”
Passengers enjoying their free ride on Friday said they’ll be willing to pay the ticket fee come Sunday.
“I would just get a ticket,” said Shawn Lawson, “it’s cheaper for an actual ticket than riding illegally.”
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