The MTA lost nearly $700 million to fare evasion last year and should replace subway turnstiles with glass doors, an agency panel said in a long-awaited report.
The panel estimates that on any given day, 400,000 subway passengers do not pay the fare — about 13.5% of all riders. The numbers are even larger on buses, where about 37% of riders are estimated to skip the fare. The report quotes various unnamed subway riders who told the panel’s investigators that seeing others skip the fare was “demoralizing” and made them “feel like a chump.
Subways were a bit trickier, and less precise: to measure the phenomenon, the MTA deploys “checkers” randomly to stations across the system about 2,400 times per year to observe unpaid entries, compare their numbers to data collected on paid fares, and use that to estimate a system-wide rate. Elsewhere in the system, fare payment data is counted against unpaid entries tallied by automated sensors like on buses, but those are only in a few stations so far.
Still, Lieber declined to commit to pushing the NYPD to “back off” on issuing summonses and arrests, which have To fix that, the panel recommends a host of measures beyond enforcement. Among them, there’s doubling the income thresholds for New Yorkers to qualify for Fair Fares, which the City Council has proposed for this year’s budget; expanding free rides for students to five rides per day, any day of the week; and improving signage and audio notifications warning of the penalties for fare-hopping.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Expensive Taste: Center City Beer Garden to Offer $700 Burger🍔💸 Philadelphia restaurant DBG is offering a 'Gold Standard Burger' that costs $700 and is packed with luxurious foods from caviar to lobster meat.
Read more »
MTA unveils new designs for subway turnstiles, reports $690M in fare and toll evasionAfter reporting an estimated $690 million last year to fare and toll evasion, the MTA is planning the first major redesign of subway turnstiles in modern history.
Read more »
MTA unveils new turnstile designs to 'stop the bleed' from fare evasionTop officials at the MTA demonstrated three high-tech subway turnstile designs that are more difficult to evade.
Read more »
3 MTA bus drivers attacked in less than a week in NYC“These attacks show how dangerous transit jobs can be and highlight the risks we face every single day,” TWU Local 100 said in a statement. “The MTA should recognize this.”
Read more »
MTA Hero Louis Ostrowski keeps Metro-North running smoothly as radio maintainerLouis even designed and built a new controller that delivers real-time changes and announcements to people attending Yankee games.
Read more »
Teenager struck by MTA bus in Queens, in serious but stable condition | amNewYorkAn MTA bus struck a teenager in Astoria, Queens on Wednesday afternoon leaving the victim with serious injuries, MTA sources confirmed.
Read more »