WA high court to hear case about transit fare enforcement

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state Supreme Court will consider whether fare enforcement on public transit represents an unconstitutional incursion into passengers’ right to privacy. Lower courts have rejected the case brought by a man who was asked in 2018 by Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies to prove he’d paid for his ride on a bus in Everett. The Seattle Times reports Zachery Meredith’s lawyer argues that act of fare enforcement violated his civil rights under the state constitution. If Meredith’s case is successful, transit agencies could be stripped of the authority, granted by the state, to ask riders for evidence they’d tapped their ORCA cards or bought a ticket.