The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is exploring all possibilities to make it very difficult in the coming years for passengers to jump through the turnstiles of the New York City Subway to avoid paying fares.
In 2022 alone, people who “skipped” the payment meant a loss of 300 million for this transportation system.
In this sense, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the request for offers from supplier companies to replace the current system with safer, more accessible and modern doors.
To this end, an invitation to prequalify companies that offer real barriers for evaders was initiated.
This project will follow the upgrade of the entire range of modern entry gates such as those installed at Sutphin Blvd Airport Station-Archer Av-JFK and Atlantic Ave-Barclays.
The lessons learned from these two accesses will refine the design and specifications necessary for the entire system.
Additionally, these new designs replaced both turnstiles and emergency exit doors, helping to stop abusive passengers.
The wide aisle design of the new checkout doors allows customers with strollers, wheelchairs and luggage to seamlessly enter the system and replace emergency exit doors, which have been identified as an easy route for evaders. .
MTA President and CEO Janno Lieber recalled that a series of measures have been taken against fare evasion, including the installation of prototype wide-aisle fare gates at two stations.
“The future installation of an entire gate system will help us take things to the next level, so we can make sure that every person who enters the system pays their fare,” Lieber noted.
For his part, the president of New York City Public Transportation, Richard Davey, said that millions of dollars continue to be lost due to fare evasion, which could be used for a faster and more efficient transportation system.
“Customers tell us that fare evasion is a key factor in their lack of satisfaction, and I understand: Everyone should pay their fair share to ride public transportation. Modernized passage doors are the natural starting point for the metro to address this problem. While there is no general solution, new designs can reduce the number of non-paying users,” he noted.
At school exits
The magnitude of evasion is very high, recent analyzes reveal, but it does not only occur at Subway stations, but also on buses, trains to Long Island, and bridge tolls.
Psychologists have documented for a report published by the MTA, what is called a “public behavior phenomenon,” which boils down to the fact that when people see others getting away with bad behavior, the more likely they are to misbehave.
“That is why a passenger, with the MetroCard in hand and ready to pay, will instead join a line of people avoiding the emergency exit door,” it is specified.
The data show that fare evasion increases around school dismissal times, because a student usually opens the emergency door to his classmates and large groups pass by.
According to the most common testimonies shared by the transportation agency, about the interaction of the police with the students, is that “their parents tell them that they don’t have to pay, because almost no one does.” Others warn that by avoiding paying for their trip they feel “powerful and anonymous.”
More police fining
Likewise, although these types of violations continue to increase, the number of arrests for fare evasion has also increased this year by 210%. A 104% increase in citations is also confirmed, thanks to improved patrolling of trains and stations.
Among the MTA projects, it is also planned to review the application of current laws and generally increase passenger safety through “precision police surveillance,” based on the installation of new technological tools.
Basically, it is hoped that the new teams can help criminal justice, to limit fare evaders as much as possible, who are also a threat to public safety, because in some cases they enter the system to commit serious crimes.
The safety program also puts a firm spotlight on the disproportionate impact of fare evasion law enforcement on New Yorkers of color.
The comprehensive security project refers to “a new commitment to a more equitable distribution of law enforcement efforts to reduce this trend more precisely.”
The application of civil laws is proposed for the majority of evaders. For whom it is
do not represent a problem for public safety, we must begin
with formal, documented warnings on first violation, followed by citations
and fines for subsequent violations. To this end, new devices will be available to track repeat violations.
In the strategy to reduce the millions in losses in the largest transportation system in the country, when an evader is captured, an attempt will be made to classify them very well as a beginner, a repeat offender, a serious criminal or as an evasion facilitator, to properly apply the law. .
“I can not pay”
The board that analyzed future policies to address this drain of money into the MTA coffers also identified the existence of “economically stressed” evaders, that is, those who have to choose between paying the fare and covering other needs.
Given this scenario, it is proposed to expand the Fair Fares plan, the municipal program that subsidizes the costs of Subway and buses by 50% for very low-income New Yorkers.
Among the recommendations is to “increase eligibility for Fair Rates from 100% of the federal poverty level to 200%, which will allow another half a million New Yorkers to access the program.”
More fines for Latinos:
- 40% of those fined for “skipping” payments are Hispanic.
- 8,983 fines were issued in 2021, exactly 3,457 were received by Hispanics, 2,731 by African Americans and 1,559 by whites.
- In Queens, predictably, the proportion of Latinos in trouble for fare evasion was 50% of the total 1,457 penalties.
- The Grand Central, Herald Square, Penn Station and 14 Street stations in Manhattan top the list of turnstiles, where NYPD officers detected the highest number of people throughout the city who slipped in to avoid paying for the MetroCard.
- In Queens, the 82 Street Jackson Heights, Corona Plaza, and Flushing Main St stations lead the points with the most penalties.
- For its part, in the Bronx the most observed was Kingsbridge Road. And in Brooklyn, Atlantic Avenue.