If everybody paid to ride the subway, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority may not have to raise fares.
New York City Transit says 19-million people hop turnstiles or enter through emergency exits each year, far more than the previous estimate of about five million a year.
If all of those 19 million cheats paid a regular cash fare, the MTA would collect $43 million.
The number of people beating the fare has not necessarily increased.
“Fare evasion is an age-old problem in subway systems around the world that is expensive for the MTA and for our riders, who end up paying more when fellow New Yorkers choose to break the law,” said a New York City Transit Authority spokesperson. “It has existed regardless of station staffing levels, which is why we continue to work with the NYPD on cost effective strategies such as targeting high-incidence locations and placing cameras in key areas.”
The TA used to rely on monthly observations of token booth clerks to come up with a fare beating estimate. But it now uses randomly-placed traffic checkers. Instead of turning in farebeaters, they quietly keep track to see how many there are.
(Source: http://www.ny1.com/)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
They should try to sell this story to someone else that less then 1% will make or brake it.
19 million out of 2 billion riders anualy
http://www.mta.info/nyct/facts/ffintro.htm