The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has revealed plans to tackle fare evasion on city buses starting next month, following reported losses of $315 million in the previous year.
Traditionally assigned to select bus service (SBS) routes, unarmed fare enforcement officers were deployed last week for the first time to manage local bus services, with enforcement action commencing in September.
On SBS routes, passengers swipe their MetroCards prior to boarding and must present their receipts to the enforcement officer. However, on regular service buses, riders swipe their cards at the front of the bus, and in some instances, passengers do not pay at all.
The MTA reportedly lost nearly half of its estimated $700 million due to non-payment in 2022, with bus fare evasion being the primary issue.
MTA chairman Janno Lieber expressed his concern, stating that these lost funds could be utilized to improve transit services. He emphasized the unfairness to the millions of riders who pay their fares correctly.
Lieber said, “This is the first time that we’ve really gone all out on all the different types of MTA buses to start bringing fare evasion enforcement, for real. Everybody has to feel like they’re playing by the same rules for our public space to work…We need to act now, and we need to act quickly because fare evasion on buses has really gone crazy.”
Initial enforcement efforts will concentrate on routes covering the Fulton Street Mall, Kips Bay, and the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. For the next six weeks, agents will issue warnings and disseminate information regarding New York City’s reduced fare options for low-income individuals before commencing with ticketing in mid-September.
Earlier this year, an MTA report indicated that fare evasion cost the agency $691 million in 2022, $315 million of which resulted from passengers not paying the fare on New York City’s buses.
In addition to the crackdown on buses, MTA also announced plans to make subway turnstiles more difficult to breach and is preparing to unveil designs for a revamped entry barrier system featuring technologically advanced gates that are more challenging to jump over.
