Transit officials on Wednesday blamed fare evaders on buses for worsening the agency's already bleak financial picture.
More than 2 million people ride the MTA’s buses every weekday — but nearly half of them don’t bother to pay, transit officials said on Wednesday.during the first three months of 2024, according to MTA estimates. The agency’s leaders warned free rides on buses cost the MTA $300 million last year, and say the growing problem is worsening the MTA’s bleak financial picture.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber said it was too early to lay out what those new methods would entail. He noted bus operators are not allowed to enforce the fare because of a policy put in place following the 2008 murder of Edwin Thomas, a Brooklyn bus driver who was stabbed by a rider who did not want to pay to ride.
MTA officials have for decades griped about fare evaders raiding the agency’s coffers. Before the pandemic, in 2019, they estimated 25% of bus riders skipped the fare. Lieber said it’s worsened since then, and partially blamed the trend on the MTA’s temporary move in 2020 to eliminate fares on all of its buses while making riders board through the back door as part of an effort to keep bus drivers safe from COVID-19.
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