MTA notches tiny drop in fare-beating — but a huge amount of riders still aren’t paying

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority revealed Monday it notched a tiny drop in fare-beating – but could still lose around $700 million to toll evaders even as it spearheaded a host of schemes to slow it.

Fare evasion across the Big Apple’s subway system decreased modestly to 9.8% through the first quarter of this year compared to the 13.6% of turnstile jumpers during the same span in 2024 despite the MTA installing new spikes and flaps at subway entrances in hopes of forcing straphangers to pay the $2.90 fee.

And the minor decrease comes as the MTA is still gearing up to implement modern fare gates at 20 subway stations across the city later this year as part of its 2025-2029 capital budget that includes $1 billion for the new gates.

Many law breakers no longer have to cough up dough even when they are caught in the act — due to a new state law that gives time offenders a pass.

The crackdown on fare evaders on city buses was even less notable – though MTA leaders seemed pleased with the minimal progress.

About 44% of patrons didn’t pay to use city buses through the first quarter of this year, which is a slight improvement from the 47.8% fare beating over the same time-frame last year, according to the latest data available from the MTA.

Bernard Jackson, the New York City chief operating officer, credited workers that are part of the EAGLE team, which have been used to crack down on fare evasion on buses.

“I think we need to give the team a round of applause for all the efforts that are involved in that. Obviously, farebox recovery is very important to us as an agency,” he told MTA board members Monday.

“We are implementing several key initiatives like the expansion of the EAGLE teams on our buses, the introduction of the student OMNY program and improved messaging throughout the entire system. 

“We could definitely assign cause and effect to any one of these initiatives but we are happy to see that something is working.”

Demetrius Crichlow, the president of NYCT, replied, “Certainly fantastic work by the teams. When you see ridership increase like that it’s pretty exciting.”

The MTA lost around $700 million on toll beating last year, according to the MTA’s annual report on fare evasion issued at the end of last year.

The transit authority isn’t making as much money on fare evasion summonses through the first half of this year, the Transit Adjudication Bureau told the MTA’s finance committee.

A New York state law that started in January allows first-time fare evaders to get off with just a warning instead of the $100 fine that used to be leveled against offenders. 

About 85% of fare evasion offenses resulted in a warning so far this year, officials said. 

Roughly $6 million in summonses has been pocketed so far this year – but a six-month average from 2024 and 2023 showed the agency grabbed more than $8 million in fines, according to data crunched by The Post.