2023-05-18 03:05:56
what to know
- Whether it’s people jumping turnstiles, opening easily accessible emergency exit doors, or jumping on a bus without paying, fare evasion is rampant across the city.
- The panel found that the MTA lost $500 million to fare evaders in 2021 and a loss of $690 million last year, an increase of 38%.
- Of this loss, the buses represent $315 million and the subways $285 million.
NEW YORK — Whether it’s people jumping turnstiles, opening easily accessible emergency exit doors, or jumping on a bus without paying, fare evasion is rampant across the city.
Unlike the MTA’s current turnstiles, which have been prone to fare skipping for years, some of the high-tech models the MTA is reviewing now have taller glass doors and can detect when someone tries to slip behind another. person.
Roger Maldonado is co-chair of a 16-member panel that has spent the past year studying fee evasion and says the gateways are designed to make it much harder to evade hopped fees.
The panel found that the MTA lost $500 million to fare evaders in 2021 and a loss of $690 million last year, an increase of 38%. Of this loss, the buses represent $315 million and the subways $285 million.
The main finding of the panel is that the fiscal losses caused by the evasion of tariffs and tolls are staggering.
“The problem is much bigger than everyone realizes,” said Rose Pierre-Louis, co-chair of the MTA Blue Ribbon Panel.
Meanwhile, Maldonado said the MTA risks fare evasion becoming permanently embedded in our community. In an effort to prevent this, the panel recommends that the MTA change the way passengers enter the subway system.
In addition to the taller glass doors, there will be an campaign to emphasize to passengers that the buses are no longer free as they were in the early part of the pandemic.
Rose said the campaign will have a clear message that passengers must pay.
Many travelers are sick and tired of watching the fee epidemic continue.
“These little petty crimes kill everyone,” Eleanor Winters, a traveler, told our sister network NBC 4 New York.
Meanwhile, the MTA recognized that the subway system won’t become high-tech overnight.
“Obviously, that kind of move on that scale is going to take a while,” MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said.
But how much will it cost to put these high-tech gates on all 462 stations? Lieber did not put an exact price on the upgrades, but said it would be in the billions of dollars.
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