Light-rail passengers using U-Passes provided for free by the University could face fines between $50 and $500 if they board a train without tapping their passes at the platform.

New handheld devices allow Metro security guards to detect if U-Passes have been validated, said Hillary Foose, Metro spokeswoman. If guards determine passengers did not tap their passes at the validation machines before boarding, they can issue a citation.

“[Passengers] have to tap with each ride,” she said. “That’s not once a day, that’s every time [they] get on board.”

Metro bills ASU $1.25 each time a U-Pass is used on the light rail, Foose said, so any passengers who do not validate the pass are effectively evading fares.

The fine for fare evasion starts at $50, but Foose said someone who incurs several citations would have to go to municipal court, where a judge can impose larger fines up to $500.

Foose said Metro and ASU are trying to remind students to tap their U-Passes at the validation machines at each light-rail boarding station.

“It’s a learning curve; we’re all on it,” she said.

ASU’s Parking and Transit Services included reminders to students to validate U-Passes on its Web site, in its monthly newsletter and on its Twitter and Facebook profiles, communications coordinator Shereen Eaton said.

With more than 26,000 passes issued to students and more than 1,000 to employees, Eaton said PTS has tried to make sure every card holder knows how to properly use the U-Pass.

“It’s really crucial that they do so in order to avoid those fines,” she said. “We’re definitely working to get that message out there.”

PTS sets aside about $2 million each year to pay for the passes, Eaton said. That money comes from revenue gathered from parking passes and citations, not from the University.

Foose said monthly ridership numbers are not available since the light rail is new this semester.

Business communications sophomore Victoria Revel said she once boarded the light rail to go to a basketball game without knowing if her card was validated.

“I tapped it and it didn’t really do anything,” she said. “I think I went on, and it didn’t [validate].”

At the time, she did not know security guards could check U-Passes on the train and issue citations to passengers. But at the chance of a fine, she said she would ensure the machines accept her card.

Even if there is some uncertainty when using the U-Passes, she added she was glad the University could provide them to students because it helps her save on gas and parking.

“It’s actually extremely convenient,” she said. “It’s a pretty good resource, and we get it for free.”

Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu.