The head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority wants the city’s district attorneys to aggressively prosecute serial fare-beaters — a practice the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has mostly declined to charge since 2018.
MTA board chair and CEO Janno Lieber on Friday called for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Bronx District Attorney Darcelle Clark to crack down on fare evaders with “theft of services” charges, which are class A misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail. The MTA has said that fare evasion cost the authority more than $600 million in 2023, and a frustrated Lieber said he wants people with a record of persistent fare-dodging to be held accountable as a deterrent.
“I would start with maximum recidivists, people who’ve gotten 25, 30 summonses and people who actually break MetroCard machines and try to let people in for a scam,” said Lieber, at a Friday Citizens Budget Commission event. Lieber encouraged the packed house of attendees to press their local district attorneys to prosecute fare evaders.
“When they hear that people care enough about the consequences, the way this is creating a sense of disorder and unfairness in the public space, that is worthy,” he added.
Fare evasion on the city’s buses in particular has become a stubborn challenge for the MTA.
Nearly half of all local bus riders skipped out on the $2.90 fare last summer — a staggering 49.4% — but after MTA teams began issuing a blitz of fare-evasion fines last year, that figure began to recede. Subway fare evasion is less frequent, and MTA figures show it amounts to 14% of straphangers over the same time.
Transit officials are gradually turning the tide with their ramped up ticketing. Between June and December, subway fare evasion dropped by 26% and bus fare beating reduced by 9.1%, according to MTA data.
