Copyright AM New York
Fare evasion decreased at major subway hubs throughout the city this year, marking a significant decline from 2024, MTA Police brass reported on Wednesday. The state-run agency enjoyed a 40% decrease in MTA police-captured fare evasion incidents year-on-year at Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal, MTA Police (MTAPD) Chief Thomas Taffe said during a monthly agency board meeting on Wednesday. Taffe credits, in part, strategic and focused enforcement with reducing fare evasion and other quality-of-life crimes in the subways and on commuter rails. “We actually chart every single station from A to F, as if it were graded,” the chief, who joined the department earlier this year, said. “If it’s an A station, we visit there. But if it’s an F, we put a lot of resources into that station.” The department— which is separate from the NYPD — increased its own fare evasion enforcement by 13% at stations patrolled by its officers. Taffe said the department achieved this with fewer officers, as well as a $5 million reduction in overtime costs. “We had a really big push in 2023 to really enforce the rules when it comes to fare evasion. Prior to that, MTA officers were in the subways, but they weren’t really enforcing the rules. We found they weren’t trained very well in the subways yet. We trained them to write TAB (Transit Adjudication Bureau) summonses.” TAB summonses do not go to criminal court. After re-training, the department deployed motivated officers to the subways, issued more summonses, and did so with less overtime. However, fare evasion remains a persistent problem in NYC. The agency loses nearly a billion dollars in fares and tolls annually. In addition to increased enforcement, the MTA has implemented other strategies to curb the issue, including the deployment of unarmed gate guards at many stations and turnstile enhancements to help deter fare evasion. “The MTA is making steady progress and winning the fight against fare evasion,” Laura Cala-Rauch, a spokesperson for the MTA, told amNewYork recently. “It’s down 29% from last year, and as new innovations take hold in the system, from tap and ride technology to new fare gates, it will drop even more. Meanwhile, Taffe also reported that quality-of-life complaints at MTA hub stations where agency police patrol saw a 58% year-over-year reduction in complaints. These hub stations include Grand Central, Penn Station, Atlantic Avenue and Sutphin Blvd.-Archer Ave-JFK Airport.
