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Report: Subway Fare Evaders May Have Upper Hand


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An analysis of subway fare enforcement statistics finds, in theory, jumping the turnstile might be the most affordable way to ride the rails.

According to the Daily News, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority estimated fare beaters entered the system without paying about 18.5 million times in 2009.

 

However, only 120,000 summonses were handed out that year.

 

That means a routine fare evader can expect to be fined $100 about once every six to 13 weeks.

 

After fines, that same fare-scammer could save about $60 over the cost of six weeks worth of weekly MetroCards.

 

Fare evasion cost the MTA $31 million last year.

 

The MTA says arrests for fare evasion are up 5.5 percent from last year.

 

Link: :tup:http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/143689/report--subway-fare-evaders-may-have-upper-hand

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LOL... I saw this report on NY1 this morning as I was jumping into the shower and I was chuckling to myself thinking that even if those people get busted they would still save a good $60.00 instead of actually paying the fare. Says something about the (MTA)'s attitude on farebeating.

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Charges have been going up? Yeah right... Lots of times i ride a bus, loads of people enter the back and who gets stopped? Even cops are NEXT to the bus and don't bother doing crap.. Maybe its time to stop opening the back door of a bus at crowded stations..?

 

For subway, pretty much this has become more of an issue with the removal of S/A at some entrances in stations..

 

Lot of people OPEN the EM gates which is a problem.. I think the (MTA) needs to find another way to keep people from opening the gates and letting people in for free.

 

 

Heres one for children as well (July 20, 2011):

 

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/143287/report--young-fare-evaders-costing-mta-millions

 

If the (MTA) was smart enough, there would charge a reduced fare for students and kids above 6 or something..

 

 

Time to install more HEETs! But then again, fare beaters still have the use of the emergency exit at stations.

 

That ill only help a little. People can still share heet gates of course. 2-3 or even 4 if it was kids.

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Just raise the fine for farebeaters and move on. They will learn to do the right thing if the fine was $500.

 

Raising the fine alone won't do much if no one is enforcing it, though I would certainly support raising it to $500. *Clinches right fist* (Thieving bastards :mad:) lol The problem is that the cops think that this is petty crime that they don't need to be bothered with and they're wrong about that. The (MTA) needs to do more because the message that they're sending is that it's okay to fare beat it's likely that you won't get stopped.

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Instead of the turnstile why not install a door. When you swipe the card the door can be pushed open, but it can't be open if you don't. You also can't jump a door, and your problems would be solved.

 

Are you kidding me? You can hold a door open for the next person... lol.

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Problem is some of these people dont have $500 either and now the state has to pay for those jailed for petty crime...

 

Which is why we should simply execute fare-beaters. It saves us a lot of time in the long-run.

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Are you kidding me? You can hold a door open for the next person... lol.

 

and if you have a whole bunch of people that need to go in then you have a whole string of farebeaters! :(

 

I remember being at Secacus Junction last year and they had these door-gate entrances (I don't know how to explain it). You would insert the ticket and it would open for about 5 seconds or so.

This is what the MTA should have, and have it as tall as the ceiling. That way there would be no way to have farebeaters.

 

Also, with the emergency exit door thing, they should also have a metrocard swipe machine for the door too, like they have at other stations such as Junction Blvd overpass on the (7).

 

I also don't understand why the (MTA) even made emergency exit doors in the first place. Even though in the (MTA) rules it states that those doors are for emergency exits only, I see people everyday opening those doors, even infront of cops & Booth agents. IMO, the (MTA) wasted their money on those emergency exit doors.

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I also don't understand why the (MTA) even made emergency exit doors in the first place. Even though in the (MTA) rules it states that those doors are for emergency exits only, I see people everyday opening those doors, even infront of cops & Booth agents. IMO, the (MTA) wasted their money on those emergency exit doors.

 

Simple. They made it for emergencies because you had situations where cops needed to get into the stations and down to the platforms and they couldn't because they didn't have Metrocards. There were a few incidents where people were attacked and basically the cops couldn't get to them.

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I also don't understand why the (MTA) even made emergency exit doors in the first place. Even though in the (MTA) rules it states that those doors are for emergency exits only, I see people everyday opening those doors, even infront of cops & Booth agents. IMO, the (MTA) wasted their money on those emergency exit doors.

 

Here's the thing with that: during normal operation the doors' only function is to let farebeaters in. But if there's a fire or a brawl or a medical emergency or God forbid a terror attack inside one of the stations you now have a fast way to get as many people out of harm's way as quickly as possible. If something like that does happen, you try getting a bunch of panicking people out of the station through a battery of HEETs. Ten to one you'll get at least one person seriously injured, either from trampling when the crowd hits the HEETs or getting crushed when they start trying to fit three and four people in a HEET slot to speed things up. In the event of an emergency, even if you do get two or three EMTs or firefighters with full gear through with special MetroCards you'll lose up to a minute easy. A minute can make the difference between life and death or permanent disability if someone has a heart attack or stroke, or if somebody starts brandishing a knife or a gun the extra few seconds could very easily determine whether the cop gets to him before he gets to his first victim. Order before farebeating, I can agree with. Train fares over lives, I can't.

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Raising the fine alone won't do much if no one is enforcing it, though I would certainly support raising it to $500. *Clinches right fist* (Thieving bastards :mad:) lol The problem is that the cops think that this is petty crime that they don't need to be bothered with and they're wrong about that. The (MTA) needs to do more because the message that they're sending is that it's okay to fare beat it's likely that you won't get stopped.

 

Not really. A cop whos trying to fill a quota loves to find people walking through subway cars and fare beating. The problem is that 1. Cops arent really in the system where the fare beaters are most prevalent, and 2. IIRC the (MTA) doesn't get the money from those fines so they're still losing money (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

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Not really. A cop whos trying to fill a quota loves to find people walking through subway cars and fare beating. The problem is that 1. Cops arent really in the system where the fare beaters are most prevalent, and 2. IIRC the (MTA) doesn't get the money from those fines so they're still losing money (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

Not really what?? I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with... :confused:

As for cops being in the system, it's funny how cops were much more active under the Giuliani administration, randomly checking trains and buses and I can recall when B/Os had no problem calling transit cops for the fare beaters as well. Under Bloomberg however, cops have gone soft on the situation which is completely preposterous. :mad: :tdown:

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Not really what?? I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with... :confused:

As for cops being in the system, it's funny how cops were much more active under the Giuliani administration, randomly checking trains and buses and I can recall when B/Os had no problem calling transit cops for the fare beaters as well. Under Bloomberg however, cops have gone soft on the situation which is completely preposterous. :mad: :tdown:

 

There are still plenty of B/Os who call the cops on farebeaters.

 

Like I said, it's not the actual farebeating that annoys me but when it's slowing down my commute, that's when I get mad.

 

I don't see why any farebeater would be stupid enough to stay after the cops were called. And yet somehow, both times I remember, the cops were called and they refused to move.

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There are still plenty of B/Os who call the cops on farebeaters.

 

Like I said, it's not the actual farebeating that annoys me but when it's slowing down my commute, that's when I get mad.

 

I don't see why any farebeater would be stupid enough to stay after the cops were called. And yet somehow, both times I remember, the cops were called and they refused to move.

 

Yeah, that's when they become really emboldened and those are the types that really need to be dealt with because by then they've gotten so used to fare beating that they're not even phased if the cops show up.

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emergency exit doors... heh, I wonder if the MTA is even hip to that farebeating hustle.... it's been going on, on the SB (2)(5) @ Church av for years.... and god knows where else in the system that's goin on at....

 

 

Like I said, it's not the actual farebeating that annoys me but when it's slowing down my commute, that's when I get mad.

 

It's not the actual shooter that hurts me, but the bullet going through my body....

 

God damn it, I'm blaming the bullet !!!!!

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emergency exit doors... heh, I wonder if the MTA is even hip to that farebeating hustle.... it's been going on, on the SB (2)(5) @ Church av for years.... and god knows where else in the system that's goin on at....

 

I see it quite a bit at Columbus Circle too. One person opens it and then the others just walk right through the Emergency gate.

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I see it quite a bit at Columbus Circle too. One person opens it and then the others just walk right through the Emergency gate.

 

Sorry to spill the beans for the folks that are doin it, but.... what goes on w/ what I brought up @ Church, is actually worse.... there's premeditation involved....

 

Full knowing 2's & 5's in the early evening hours get bombarded w/ pax disembarking at church av, you will see a good crowd of ppl. actually loitering, waiting for some passenger(s) to use the emergency exit doors to leave the station, b/c the 3 HEET's aren't enough (or someone might have a stroller, heavy package, or w/e)....

 

Good chance these are folks not even seeking service towards the junction, but instead, back towards the other direction.... they're willing to ride back 3 stations, just to beat the fare.

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