Muni may change fines for juveniles who don’t give up seats to elderly and disabled
Hey kids: You should always give up your seat to the elderly and disabled, but Muni doesn’t want the fines to bankrupt your entire allowance either. According to a KTVU report, currently you could be fined if you don’t give up your seat to the elderly and disabled on Muni—this is a federal law. But for people under age 18, it could also be a criminal offense, which means it can double the cost you’ll need to pay because of court fees. KTVU reported that the fee could be as much as $300 for juveniles.
KTVU talked to Paul Rose, spokesperson for the SFMTA, who said that the original citations had been that way until 2008, and that it was not up to Muni at the time:
“When we moved forward with administering adult citations for transit, the San Francisco juvenile system asked that we keep it this way,” says Rose. Muni says the fines for both adults and youth start at the same price. But when you add the court cost to the youth citations that’s where the cost more than doubles.
…
“When we move forward with decriminalizing these citations it allows for a smaller price because you do not have to go through the court system. So we wanted to make sure there was parity for adults and youth violations,” says Rose.
On Tuesday, the SFMTA board voted to decriminalize these offenses for people under 18, which means their fines will now be about half of what adult offenders might pay. The Board of Supervisors still has to approve this decision.
Regardless, it’s still illegal (and rude) not to give up your seat. So don’t be a transit jerk!
Photo by joe_moore
This strikes me as very “kids these days.”
I was surprised to see the stats quoted about enforcement of these citations/fines. Seems like they would be needing to call the cops really often to cite violators on the bus.
Good finally
Coo,
why just juveniles? why not grown ass people too?
Carrie but only fine juveniles? WTF.
It is rude, but absolutely ridiculous to criminalize kids for acting like stupid kids. The last thing we need are more kids hooked into our broken criminal justice system.
How do they plan to enforce this?
Fine the techies who sit there to involved in their phones to get up; see this every morning in the J. And people with small children they could put in their laps!
But it’s already federal law (CFR 37.167). If they’re not enforcing that, how are they going to enforce it at the municipal level? (But, hey–whatever works with these cretins.)
what about pregnant women, mothers or fathers of babies and toddlers, kindergartners? They need those seats too but MUNI doesn’t care!
I used to make punks move all the time when I saw one refuse to move or not notice. Nothing like some public humiliation to make some gentrifying hipster act polite to the locals.
i was on crutches with a broken ankle and when i got up to give up my seat for a very pregnant lady, I proceeded to embarrass these teenagers that wouldn’t initially. Jerks.
Dude on the street car here in Portland I don’t even sit down unless I’m like one of three people on it, the fuck are kids thinking these days, in elementary school we had a “lesson” on public transit code and conduct.. Do they not do that in school anymore?? They fucking need to!!!!
GREAT. I’m on a walker. It’s already hard enough!!!!
They already charge fines, though I’ve never once seen it happen:
“It’s already against the law to not give up your public bus seat for an elderly person, or person with disabilities. But in San Francisco, the penalties for doing so are harsher if you’re under 18. Youths who don’t give up their seat face criminal penalties and fees up to $380, whereas adults are charged administrative citations for the same offense, with fines up to $112.”
http://www.sfexaminer.com/muni-may-decriminalize-citations-for-youth-who-dont-give-seats-to-the-elderly/
I’ve seen adults pretend to be so engrossed with their phone or book that they don’t notice the elderly person struggling to stand right in front of them. It’s infuriating.