Without token booth operators at most subway exits, it’s no wonder people are taking advantage of the system. The saying is, ‘If you see something, say something.’ And the MTA needs to have the eyes on the ground to see not only fare beating… but also more serious crimes, including robberies and assaults.

Undercover police officers have been riding buses the past few weeks on Staten Island to catch fare beaters. Today, transit workers joined Staten Island Councilwoman Debi Rose to say the initiative is working so well, it should be expanded to all five boroughs.

MTA Board Member Allen Cappelli has said fare evaders account for "tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars" in lost revenue every year. The fares, if collected, could limit service cuts and fare increases in the future. Supporters of the program are calling for a citywide crackdown on fare beaters. The MTA says it's working with the NYPD to come up with a comprehensive program. Do you support this effort?

How frequently do you see people entering the subway or boarding the bus without paying? Do you support an effort to use resources from the Police Department to catch fare beaters? Should transit workers instead have the authority to write tickets for fare evasion?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

I see people jumping turnstiles and otherwise entering the subway system for free when they're not entitled all the time. On buses I see it less often, and usually it's more of an honest mistake kind of situation -- people who are visiting the city and don't know they need coins or a fare card to board, or are short of change that morning. There ought to be more enforcement on the subways -- ever since they cut back the number of token booths and clerks, there are some stations where people enter without paying all of the time.

Bruce
Upper West Side

I would strongly suggest that a "racial impact statement" be prepared so that we will know exactly who this policy will impact. I am willing to bet that it will impact the same demographic that is being impacted by "Stop & Frisk", the poor people of color who overwhelmingly use public transportation. Now that NYPD is under attack for its racist policy of Stop & Frisk and minor marijuana arrest it is seeking new ways to provide the "deliverables" that its funders require. They have also proposed going after curfew violators---the same demographics from stop & frisk. NYPD will do anything to keep its "JOBS PROGRAM" thriving and the funding coming in.

Jazz

Yes - throw them in Jail! raise the fine to $500

Tom
Richmondtown

So all these buses where they don't have to pay the driver and having no token booths or clerks has caused a rise in fare evasion, what a shock. Considering the current economic state in the city people not paying their fare is going to become more common, as are the robberies that have also spiked in the last few years. The police should probably be present in the transit system in general, or is that the only place they are not stopping and frisking people? To save money they want to have a transit system devoid of any human workers, but the system is still used exclusively by people and everyone isn't honest. They can crackdown all they want and even if it saves them 10 million dollars, they will raise fares and cut service anyway, this boogeyman fare-beater ploy is just a distraction plain and simple.

The MTA has wasted so much money and mistreated the riders and the workers to the point people not paying their fare is the least of their worries. Taking mass transit in this city is not a joy-ride and they make is as terrible an experience as they can for riders. They want to talk about fare evasion and people selling Metro-card swipes, what about the frequency of times when the Metro-card machines are not working and people cannot even purchase a fare legally? It happens very often at certain stations in the Bronx and I wonder how much money they lose there? There is another story on your station today about the rats running wild in one station, maybe they can train them to stop fare jumpers since they are already in the stations in droves.

RL
The Bronx

I don’t believe anything these overpaid stuffed shirts say. So this means that this was the solution to not raise fares and tolls all along. Tell me something what happened to the double set of books that no one has ever seen? They have money coming in from every which way and still they just keep crying the blues.
[AND PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE OUR TAXES THAT WE PAY] [PLUS= NO THE TRANSIT WORKERS SHOULD NOT BE THE ONES TO WRITE OUT TICKETS]

THESE ARE THE APPOINTED EXPERTS THAT WE OVERPAY TO COME UP WITH THESE DECISIONS AND OF COURSE THEY STARTED WITH MANHATTAN 2 AND THAT BEING STATEN ISLAND.
THAT'S WHY I ALWAYS MENTION THAT THE OUTER BOROUGHS ARE NEVER CONSIDERED OR INCLUDED IN ANYTHING. WE ARE LAST IN LINE AND STILL IT'S AS THOUGH WE HAVE TO BEG FOR THINGS TO GET DONE IN OUR OUTER BOROUGHS.
THIS IS LIKE COMING TO BE PAST THE POINT OF NO RETURN. IT'S JUST SICKENING ALREADY.

I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR THEIR REASONING BEHIND ALL OF THIS. IN MY OPINION WE ALWAYS SEEM TO COME FULL CIRCLE AND IN THE MEANTIME NOTHING AND I MEAN NOTHING IS GETTING DONE. A GOOD EXAMPLE IS THE RAT SITUATION.

HEY BLOOMBERG KEEP TEARING UP OUR SIDEWALKS THAT WE WERE TOLD TO PAVE [OR ELSE] IN ORDER FOR YOU TO KEEP PLANTING TREES.

Maxxiee
Morris Park

FILE THIS UNDER BETTER IN THEORY INSTEAD OF REALITY.

THE FARE IS EVADED, POLICE AFFECT AN ARREST, SOON AFTER COURT COSTS GET ADDED.

FINES WILL BE DISCUSSED AND NEVER BE ACCOUNTED FOR.

BUS OPERATORS WRITING FARE EVASION TICKETS WOULD BE DANGEROUS FOR THE OPERATOR.

IF THE OFFENDER NEVER BOARDED THE SYSTEM, HOW MUCH WOULD THE SYSTEM LOSE?
IT IS HIGH TIME TO DISCUSS A FREE FARE FOR ALL.

PRISONS, SCHOOLS, CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS AND VARIOUS OTHER CITY SERVICES FUNCTION JUST FINE WITHOUT A FAREBOX.

FIVE BOROS COLLECT REVENUE AND GET THE PRIVILEGE OF SUPPORTING THE OTHER 57 COUNTIES EACH AND EVERY DAY.

IF THE OTHER COUNTIES DO WITH A LITTLE LESS, A FREE FARE CAN BE REALIZED WITH LITTLE HISTRIONICS,

THINK OF IT AS A REAL STIMULUS PACKAGE BY PUTTING MORE CASH INTO THE COMMUTERS POCKETS, SO THEY MAY SPEND FREELY ON CONSUMER ITEMS INSTEAD OF

A FAILED PRACTICE OF COLLECTING FARES.

JOE
BAY TERRACE

What a waste! So called "fare-beaters ", probably are doing it because they can't afford the fare. There are too many cops in the city since 9/11, and they're trying to find things for them to do. Sadly, they're targeting the poor, as they too often do. If the MTA wants to save money, they should cut executive salaries!

Barri
Jackson Heights

Since when does the NYPD give a $&#% what the people of NYC think about their racist, corrupt policies?!

Jeremy
Forest Hills

It's something that should have been started years ago. When I was working I took the Flatbush Ave bus down town. After it passed Church Ave. it was the routine of the waiting passengers to head for the rear door and not pay the fare. The job should be done by Police Officers. These fare beaters are an unruly disrespectful lot. If I Transit worker starts to write a ticket most likely he or she will be beaten by the fare beaters. Usually felons do not want to strike a Police Officer or Officers. So issuing the tickets should remain a Police matter. The money saved by having the fare beaters pay up will more than pay for the Police presence.

That's All folks!

Eddie
Brooklyn

its about time

I see people beating the fare all the time

young guys and children sneaking under turnstiles, crowding into the turnstiles and entering through the emergency exits

there should be more of this instead of stopping people and looking into their bags (cause they don't touch anything)

Jim
Upper West Side

I have seen little fare beating on the buses, but have to admit that since moving to SI, I don’t ride the bus very frequently. The last time I saw a fare beater was in Manhattan. A passenger got on the back door.

Monitoring is a good idea, but why the police? Why not MTA officers?

Joe
Port Richmond

I've seen people get on the rear door of the bus without paying.

Once I went to the front and notified the driver who did nothing.

The driver didn't even acknowledge me.

It it their policy not to confront the fair beater or are the drivers just apathetic?

Edward
Inwood

Why crake down on fare beating on the subway when illegal livery cab hails are ignored by the city? Cabs pay .50 cents from each taxi ride, which goes to the MTA.

While it is wrong to jump the turnstile or otherwise beat one's fare, times are hard! MetroCard prices continue to increase, but wages (and service) do not. Perhaps citizens who receive public benefits could get reduced-fare MetroCards? I try to help by making it a point to swipe anyone in who asks (if I am able to) because I pay for my MetroCard with pre-tax funds through payroll deduction. Still, we all miss the $2.00 fare!

Janelle
Washington Heights

As an employee of NYC TRANSIT.I have a first hand view of fare evasion on a daily basis.Underground is out of control.Since the installation of those movie theatre style bars people pour in by the thousands per day.When the clerk had control of the doors,they made sure your fare was paid then the door was opened.Now they send their kids or friend under the turnstile, open the door and we get the finger.Also on the elevated lines( f,Q) if the train is in the station and people are exiting,passengers entering the system just walk through the already open doors and enter the train without paying.My guesstimate is thousands of fare evaders per day.

Tony
Flatbush

The MTA is always crying poor they are one of the most mismanaged agencies in the city. People sometimes dont check their metro cards and just get on the bus and expect to get a free pass and with the economy in bad shape and mta getting rid of token clerks this just aggravates the problem. $104 for monthly is ridiculous for the average person. Have plain clothes officers to combat fare beaters but MTA falls short of the mark when it comes to clean stations trains and timely service worth the $2.25

I am all for undercover cops snatching fare beaters off the bus/trains. I buy an unlimited metrocard every month & put out $104 each month - it's not fair!

My issue is this... In the mornings, the buses are PACKED & I can stand at a bus stop for at least 15 mins waiting to get on a bus through the FRONT DOOR. People don't move to the back - so am I supposed to constantly be late to work because others won't move to the back and I cant get in the front door. Why cant the MTA devise some type of portable Metrocard checkers for the police to check people's metrocards?

If you look at it... monthly unlimited card riders have in fact already paid their fare in advance, so they should not be penalized for going through the back door of a bus.

Shay
The Bronx

In The Bronx everyday I have trouble getting off the BX 3 and or BX 36 because a throng of people board the back without paying.

Patrick from Greenwich Village is a moron. On the one hand, he's condoning farebeaters, like they have some right to ride for free. Yet he wants to privatize buses. How is any private enterprise supposed to be able to operate if their customers pay no money? This guy clearly has no clue how economics works.

What a waste NY1. Some many important things happened things happened today. What is this "Bloomberg" style distraction about? If by some small chance fare beaters made a dent to TAs' revenue; how would you know it? Which set of books would you be looking at?

Stop this nonsense and get back to fighting for New Yorkers!

IVAN
Queens

I am for undercovers staking out subway stations and city buses for anyone who avoid paying their fares. I pay my 2.50 all the time so i can avoid paying a ticket. I take pictures of the subway lines and I usually see a small number of young kids farebeating in front of me and usually there are no cops around. I was at atlantic avenue yesterday and I seen a young girl crossing the turnstile and I was kinda mad that weren't any one to stop them I think they should b cops around so they can learn a lesson.

An mta bus operator can make over 100k per year who is stealing from who?

Ed

I feel the NYPD should utilize their auxiliary program to monitor the train and buses. Their intervention can alleviate the police officers to handle real crimes and still keep the city safe.

While there appear to be certain areas where fare beaters are common, I don't think it is as widespread a problem as the MTA is claiming it is.

Blaming their enormous deficit on fare beaters gets them off the hook once again for bad service, eliminated service and fare increases. I feel they are a corrupt organization. Smoke and mirrors.

This is a problem primarily in certain impoverished areas, mostsly with young people, but to use the NYPD for enforcement is rediculous. Crime is way up, read the papers. I want to see more cops everywhere- but not for this.

Another aspect of this is that so many people are out of work and they are sometimes taking desperate measures.

Marie
Bay Ridge

Staten island buses have no right to demand any more money from riders It's has thee least reliable, least frequent transportation of all five boroughs

If someone can't afford a metro card how are they supposed to afford a $100 fine for something so arbitrary

The fare needs to be more affordable! bottom line! Mta has be raising fares and cutting service in staten island for years it has to stop

When I do see people Skip the fare it's school children or poverty stricken people when regular working people don't pay their fare they've legitimately ran out of money on their card they shouldn't be ticketed.

This isn't making a dent in mta's revenue

Macy
Staten Island

Why are they always looking for after-the-fact solutions instead of preventing the problems. Fare beating on buses has been going on for years, so why haven’t they been building “new” replacement buses with a type of turnstile entry that’s not under the driver’s control. At minimum, there should be a camera on each bus that takes a face photo of each passenger boarding; once they step in, their picture is taken and can be electronically matched up to the fare box. There should also be a limit for overcrowded buses, once an internal sensor shows that the bus is overcrowded, no more passengers would be allowed to board until one gets off. Overcrowded buses could turn into horrendous tragedies if involved in an accident.

PS: If you can’t afford the fare, then walk or stay home—if you don’t have enough money to cover a cheap fare, then you certainly can’t be going shopping or someplace to spend money.

Walter
New Dorp

REWARD honest New Yorkers!

If they will "catch" farebeaters to turn them in, give them a FREE PASS for their next bus ride!!! I'll bet EVERYONE that's honest on the bus will get in on THIS one!!!

Kathy

Every single day I see people beat the fare. I believe that if the fare was lowered some people would still not pay. It is completly disrespectful not to pay the fare, I am not exactly rich and still pay, its just something you need to do. Some people actually do have the money and REFUSE to pay. I've seen people get into fights with bus drivers over a simple 2.25. I see people sneak in from the back door and disregard anything the bus driver will say to them, its disgusting. Maybe if people actally paid the fare it would be lowered, but no one thinks about the long term.

People who enter buses through the rear are subject to fines, arrest it depends on the # of offenses.

It will probably cost the city more money to go after fare beaters. The City of N.Y. should find ways to help more people to become employed and fare beaters will be able to pay their 'fair share...'

Denise
Harlem

It's upsetting because it's hard living in the city and paying rent and On top of that paying $104 a month. Lower the fair that's the answer.

The reason there are no cops to give tickets is because they are all in times square protecting the tourists. Go to any neighborhood and there are fewer cops patroling. Look at the precinct collar pins on the cops in times square if you want to know where the cops are from.

Bloomberg does not know what he is doing. Running the city is out of his league. He should step aside while he can still save face. He is already going down as the "shcool" mayor.

Lorraine
Brooklyn

I'll cry for the MTA's losses when they reimburse me for the hundreds of dollars their no armed bandit aka the metro card machines took from me. Or how about it's partner in crime the card swipe turnstile. With every "swipe again", the MTA is helping itself to your money. Or how about this. Get off the train and board the bus. But the bus fare box denies your free transfer thus making you pay another fare. I'm just one of millions of New Yorkers that this happens to daily. The MTA has no sympathy here.

Norm
Upper East side

I wonder if this development is related to the recent pressure on the NYPD to stop their aggressive "stop and frisk" policies?

After all, what on earth would our NYPD officers do all day if they could no longer stand around subway stations, just waiting for the opportunity to write out tickets for victimless crimes?

Kat
Upper East Side

John here's the irony. Monthly metrocard is 104 while fine is 100. For all the strapped new yorkers. Its a good way to save 4 bucks a month!

I don't think its a good idea because the fare is to high and with the economy a lot of people are laid of,f and have no job..... and 2 way ticket is already half
of your hourly pay.

The question, is this is a way to make the MTA make more money or to make the NYPD officer get more paid cuz from my experience they rather give you a ticket then just a warning because there are a sertian amount of ticket they need to fulfill ,and making an arrest for 2.50$ of a person who couldn't afford it.i don't think it's fair and I think this is just creating more hate toward the NYPD and making youth having a bad opinion of the NYPD and the law.

i don't see it often and it's not because other can pay the fare that everyone can .

Give them a simple ticket en let them go or just educate them.

David
Upper East Side

I work for MTA as a bus operator in Staten Island. Every single day, only 20% of passengers pay their full fare. The rest pay nothing at all or anywhere from .15 cents to a dollar. An easy fix would be to put cops on buses. Cops won't have enough ticket books to carry to ticket all the fare beaters.

Jim
Nana

When people can not pay for $2.25 for the subway, how can they pay for $100 fare?
It's not a good thing when our government have spent billions on wars, but don't do enough to address the needs in our own country.

Li
Upper East Side

It's ridiculous that this act is being criminalized. It's unfortunate that this is really targeting the middle to lower class people who are struggling In these hard times. The MTA is supposed to serve as public transportation, but the reality of costs has made it unaffordable for a minimum wage worker to afford travel. This is a sick scheme to continue to profit off of working class New Yorkers. It's sad that our system has hit such an all time low that this is how they are considering this regulation some form of justice.

I’ll bet that bus operator whose call was dropped would tell you that drivers are instructed not to challenge fare beaters because some of them are armed and violent. Remember that driver who confronted a fare-beater who had the effrontery to march up to the front of the bus and demand a transfer? He was stabbed to death.

Jayne
Manhattan

Arresting people for fare beating is just another way to give young people criminal records. Also, many of the callers forget when they were young. I’m sure that many of them have beat fares themselves at least once, now they are calling to arrest people for it. The police have more important things to worry about, like terrorists.

Eddie
Brooklyn

The MTA has come a long way from tokens to having devices telling us when the next train is on its way. If they believe raising ticketing prices will do the agency good in the long run and avoid a possible fare hike- then so be it. I don't think bus drivers are afraid of asking to pay their fare, because I have witnessed it numerous times while on the bx3, m79, and the bx12 bus even has transit police pull out of the bus if they have no ticket.

Stephanie H.

I'm appalled at all the messages against arresting and monitoring fare beating!!!!! And race has nothing to do with it. I think the bus driver should just turn off the engine take a bus out of service when someone doesn't pay. Problem solved.

Gerald

I think the idea should expanded throughout the entire city as well. I work in the Bronx but live in Queens. I know for a fact that many people, young and older will jump turnstiles, and sometimes use the back entrance of the bus to beat paying a fare. This is especially prevalent during the school years when many students are going to school. Repeat offenders should be penalized more heavily which would send a clear message to the public that fare-beating will not be tolerated; Many token booth operators, and bus drivers know which routes this is most prevalent on but once again, having enough police officers to do this would also be another factor; For example in my area in Queens, the 114th precinct has only 150 police officers to an area that has grown very large over the years. Astoria is now flooded with cafes, clubs and the like and on any given Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night there are increasing incidents of drug use, fights and accidents.

Another area to be looked at is food on public transportation which includes trains and buses.

Lee
From Astoria