Throughout the spring, the Daily News has seemingly slammed the MTA for its failure to crack down on fare-beaters along the Bronx’s Bx12 Select Bus Service route. With the MTA and New York City’s Department of Transportation set to introduce pre-boarding payment methods to various Select Bus Service routes throughout the city, bus riders and, more importantly, city politicians were up in arms over these developments. The mass screamed: How could the cash-strapped MTA be giving rides away with this new-fangled pre-boarding payment thing? Rabble rabble rabble.
What if, though, this supposed fare-beating problem is a myth that just isn’t true? In today’s Daily News, Pete Donohue presents the other side of the story. He profiles Transit’s Eagle Team of fare inspectors as they combat fare-beaters and check for proof-of-payment tickets in the Bronx, a job they will soon carry out in Manhattan as well. While Transit proclaims fare-beating to have declined from 13 percent in the early days of the Select Bus Service experiment to 10 percent, Eagle Team inspectors say they found just 3.7 percent of nearly 18000 riders without fare confirmation receipts. The team of enforcement officers either issues summonses or directs passengers to pay their fares.
With this article, then, the Daily News is seemingly attempting to put out a fire its original coverage started. Donohue makes it sound as though neither Transit nor the tabloid’s editors believe fare beating to be a major problem. As with any business, some revenue loss through fare-beating is bound to happen, but if those running this pilot believe the problem to be within acceptable parameters, the paper’s coverage shouldn’t give politicians who fail to understand even the most basic of transit issues another platform for outrage.
9 comments
Question: Do the fare inspectors have the power to detain? I was reading through the comments on the DN website and one person said they do not have police powers and that he/she would call 911 if the inspectors attempted to prevent he or she from walking away.
They issue tickets, which are answerable at the Transit Adjudication Bureau in Brooklyn. You can either pay a $100 fine or file an appeal (a) by mail or (b) request a hearing, in person, at the TAB. MTA/NYPD no longer criminally arrest people for fare evasion.
Are they standard criminal citations, like a traffic ticket? Can a bench warrant result if you rack them up?
To second Aaron’s question, how would it apply to people who purposely choose to carry no ID?
You would likely see a detainment in that instance, for the purpose of identification only. Once identification occurred, release would be the result, with the offender directed to TAB. And yes, Aaron, a bench warrant could issue for repeated failure to pay the civil fines, though I am not sure how frequently that happens.
Nice to see something sort-of transit-positive in the media for a change. Tomorrow, though, it’s back to the usual airing of the complaints of inconvenienced limo drivers and business owners who can’t find parking in front of their shops.
The “honor system” works if you do enough inspections to scare people into paying. I’ve spent many years living in Europe, particularly Vienna Austria, and sometimes I’d ride a month without getting checked. However, you never knew – sometimes I was checked three times in a week. With a $100 fine – as a long as there’s around a 1 in 45 chance there’ll be a ticket inspection it doesn’t pay to fare beat.
In my opinion not having to swipe on bus-entry will be the greatest speed improvement with BRT.
You’re underselling the German honor system. One of the ways it reduces fare beating is by offering very generous unlimited monthly discounts, including unlimited annual cards, which automatically deduct the fare from your bank account every month. This means that most riders don’t even have to swipe.
This was standard in Germany when I lived there 25 years ago (except the bit about tying a card to a bank account). Some day, we’ll catch up.