MTA Said: More than 1 in 10 NYC Subway Riders Skipped Paying Fares Over the Summer

 By Yehudit Garmaise

  Maybe they don’t want to touch the turnstiles? The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), just reported that the number of subway riders who skipped the turnstiles between July and September of 2020 was more than double what it was during the same period of 2019. 

   While fewer than 5.7% of the 5.5 million people who rode the subway every day during the summer of 2019 skipped out on paying, this summer that figure soared to 13.6%. 

    The ride-stealers, this summer, MTA said, cost the already cash-strapped agency $38 million in lost income. 

    “Fare evasion is a multi-million dollar annual problem that deprives the transit system of critical resources and is unfair to the vast majority of customers who pay their fair share," said MTA spokeswoman Abbey Collins.

    The spike in turnstile-skipping was “exacerbated by the loss of employment with the service industry employees and police reform efforts,” the MTA said.

Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit