(a) A person shall not do any of the following with respect to the property, facilities, or vehicles of a transit district:
(1) Operate, interfere with, enter into, or climb on or in, the property, facilities, or vehicles owned or operated by the transit district without the permission or approval of the transit district.
(2) Interfere with the operator or operation of a transit vehicle, or impede the safe boarding or alighting of passengers.
(3) Extend any portion of the body through a window opening of a transit vehicle in a manner that may cause harm or injury.
(4) Throw an object from a transit vehicle.
(5) Commit an act or engage in a behavior that may, with reasonable foreseeability, cause harm or injury to any person or property.
(6) Violate a notice, prohibition, instruction, or direction on a sign that is intended to provide for the safety and security of transit passengers, or the safe and secure operation of the transit system.
(7) Knowingly give false information to a district employee, or contracted security officer, engaged in the enforcement of a district ordinance or a state law, or otherwise obstruct the issuance of a citation for the violation of a district ordinance or a state law.
(8) Violate any of the conditions established by a transit district ordinance under which a passenger may board a transit vehicle with a bicycle and where that bicycle may be stowed on the transit vehicle.
(b) For purposes of this section, “transit district” means an entity that qualifies as a claimant, as defined in Section 99203, eligible to receive allocations under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 99200).
(c) A violation of this section is an infraction under Section 19.8 of the Penal Code punishable by a fine not exceeding seventy-five dollars ($75), and a violation by a person after a second conviction is punishable by a fine not exceeding two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or by community service that does not conflict with the violator’s hours of school attendance or employment for a total time not to exceed 48 hours over a period not to exceed 60 days.
(d) A transit district shall provide reasonable notification to the public of the activities prohibited by this section and the penalties for violations of those prohibitions.
(e) This section does not prohibit a person from engaging in activities that are protected under the laws of the United States or of this state, including, but not limited to, picketing, demonstrating, or distributing handbills.
(f) Revenue from fines imposed pursuant to subdivision (c) shall not be distributed or allocated to the transit agency issuing citations under this section. Fine revenue instead shall be allocated to the other entities eligible to receive those funds under existing law.
(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 253, Sec. 2. (SB 1236) Effective January 1, 2015.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018