(The Center Square) — New York City is deploying NYPD officers to help crack down on fare evaders on Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses, who are fleecing the city’s taxpayers out of more than $300 million a year.
The MTA announced this week that its EAGLE fare enforcement unit will begin patrolling undisclosed bus routes along with NYPD officers, who have been empowered to issue summons to fare scofflaws ranging from $50 to $100, and even make arrests.
Mayor Eric Adams said authorities plan to get tough on MTA fare invaders, who he claims are contributing to the city’s estimated $900 million in projected budget deficits in the next four years.
“What folks don’t realize is that when you have that large number of people not paying the fare, then it increases the fare for those who are,” Adams told a radio station earlier this week. “We are now putting in place an initiative where we are going to crack down on this.”
He said the crackdown will send a message “that you will pay your fare on the bus, you will pay your fare on the subway, because it is not fair to those New Yorkers who are doing it.”
Nearly 47% of bus riders evaded the fare during the first three months of 2024, according to the latest MTA estimates. The agency says free bus rides cost $300 million last year, which adds to the MTA’s worsening financial picture. MTA bus drivers are not allowed to enforce the fare due to concerns about their safety, the agency says.
A state commission that looked at the issue found the MTA lost $500 million to fare evaders in 2021 and another $690 million last year, a 38% increase. Fare evaders on buses accounted for $315 million, while $285 million was lost on the subway system, according to the panel.
The transit agency faces a potential $2.6 billion budget deficit in 2025 and is seeking more state funding to help reduce its projected shortfalls.
Fares and tolls account for a significant proportion of the MTA’s annual budget revenue, or roughly $7 billion a year. The agency says every dollar lost to evasion “impairs the MTA’s financial stability, threatens reliable transit for all New Yorkers, and increases the need for alternative revenue sources, including through larger fare and toll hikes.”
“Fare and toll evasion is a sensitive issue that raises difficult questions about social cohesion, inequality, and appropriate use of enforcement,” the MTA said in a recent statement. “But the situation in New York has reached a crisis level, and avoiding the topic is no longer a viable option.”
The Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog group, has compared the financial losses in 2023 from fare evaders to the amount of funding “that would be raised through two rounds of fare hikes.” The group has called on state and local authorities to do more to crack down on evaders.
“Simply put, sufficient fare revenue is essential to operate and maintain the high-quality, reliable, and affordable transit systems New Yorkers and the region rely on,” the commission said in a recent report. “More effective fare compliance is important to ensure adequate revenues. The alternative — charging paying riders and drivers more — would be unfair.”