Fare evasion takes us all for a ride

A report that state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli released last week confirms what we already knew: Fare evasion doesn’t just cost the MTA hundreds of millions of dollars — it costs you, the average New Yorker, a bundle, too.

Every time someone hops the turnstile, sneaks through the emergency gate, or squeezes through the back door of a crowded bus without paying the fare, you, the average New Yorker, get taken for a ride, along with the MTA.

For years, the prevailing attitude toward fare evasion, largely outside of the MTA, has been rather apathetic, especially when it comes to the MTA and local law enforcement moving to stop fare evaders. “So what if a few people don’t pay? Except for the MTA, it’s a victimless crime.”

That line of thinking has always been a fallacy, and DiNapoli’s report proves it.

According to the state comptroller, paid ridership and fare collections are still down from their levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. That’s even with ridership rising. Why? Because so many people are ignoring their responsibility to pay the fare.

What’s the result of this abdication? The MTA has to turn to the state government to secure new revenue streams to pay for its operating costs. Congestion pricing only covers capital costs; for everything else that keeps the trains running and buses moving, the MTA needs federal and state funding streams, such as an array of taxes and fees charged to businesses and people across the state.

In other words, when fare evaders don’t pay, you do indirectly. How is that fair?

DiNapoli’s report suggested that the MTA has become less dependent on fares and more dependent on finding alternative funding streams, like taxes and fees, to cover its operating costs. That need not be so, however, if New Yorkers did their part and paid the fares when they board subways and buses citywide.

We understand that economics are so tough in this city that some New Yorkers may not be able to afford the full cost of a subway or bus fare, which adds up to more than $100 per month just to commute to work.

This is why the city and MTA need to be more vocal about enrolling as many New Yorkers as they can in the discounted Fair Fares program which offers half-priced rides to qualified residents making up to 145% of the federal poverty level; hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers qualify for Fair Fares, and don’t even know it.

But along with expanding Fair Fares enrollment, the MTA and NYPD must continue to do their due diligence to crack down on fare evasion with greater enforcement at the turnstiles and new devices that make evasion darn near impossible.

New York, let’s pay the fare. You’re not sticking it to the MTA when you evade the fare; you’re sticking it to all of us!