Bus riders who don’t pay their fare are costing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority more than originally thought. Sources tell NY1 people who don’t pay for bus rides cost the agency about $50 million every year.
That’s far more than the $14 million the MTA previously estimated.
City Councilwoman Debi Rose says fare beating takes its toll on the transit system.
“This has, you know, an effect on the MTA’s budget which has a deficit and we recognize that if people were paying the fare that we would be able to maybe plug some of the deficit we’re seeing in the MTA budget,” Rose said.
In a story first reported by NY1, the NYPD has been putting undercover officers on Staten Island buses to arrest people who don’t pay.
Police say since the beginning of the year, more than 76 bus fare beaters have been arrested on Staten Island.
Only a handful of people had been arrested for fare beating in the borough over the last 10 years.
(Source: NY1)
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4 Responses
How does one get on a bus without paying? Wouldn’t the driver notice?
Through the back door. The driver can’t do anything other than yell at the fare beater. Chances are he won’t even do that.
Although it’s probably not considered fare beating, very often the driver is simply “mochel” the fare. Usually when I’m with my kids and I ask who has to pay, which goes by height, he just waves everybody in with “it’s okay” without really looking. Same if somebody is short on change, or it seemed to me but I’m not sure so I may be wrong on this one — if he’s friendly with somebody.
Problem is, it’s not his money to be mochel.
On the flip side many people don’t fully deplete their cards – the discounts and changing fares make it almost impossible to buy an “even fare amount”, while malfunctions or transfer issues sometimes cause people to pay twice.
2 things.
a- I doubt that people snuck onto a bus 25 million times last year, with only 76 arrests.
b- Money not made is not money lost. Odds are that the people sneaking onto busses wouldn’t have paid anyways. The bus’s costs do not go up whether there’s 10, 20 or 30 riders.