The report estimates that 400,000 riders enter the subway system every day without paying. — Bloomberg
NEW YORK: New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYC MTA), the biggest mass-transit provider in the United States, lost US$690mil (RM3.12bil) last year due to fare evasion, according to a new report.
The operator of New York City’s subways, buses and commuter rail lines as well as seven bridges and two vehicle tunnels is losing revenue as it works to restore ridership and farebox collections to pre-pandemic levels.
Weekday subway ridership is about 70% of 2019 usage and the report estimates that 400,000 riders enter the subway system every day without paying.
“Fare evasion is at crisis levels across the transit system, and the problem is much bigger than everyone thinks,” Rosemonde Pierre-Louis, co-chair of a special panel that authored the report and executive director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University, told reporters at Grand Central Terminal where the MTA released the report.
“Turning the tide on these sobering numbers is mission critical.”
About 13.5% of subway riders failed to pay in the last quarter of 2022, up from 3% to 6% before the pandemic, according to the report.
Of the estimated US$690mil (RM3.12bil) annual loss, buses accounted for the largest share with US$315mil (RM1.4bil), subway evasion cost US$285mil (RM1.28bil), about US$46mil (RM208mil) was due to drivers avoiding tolls and commuter rail evasion totalled US$44mil (RM199mil), the report said.The panel’s goal is to cut fare and toll evasion losses by half within three years across the MTA’s system. It’s not just mass-transit, the MTA is focusing on going after vehicles with obscured or fake license plates.
“In the last six months, we have impounded dozens and dozens of super-luxury automobiles owned by people who owe New Yorkers in excess of US$50,000 or US$100,000 (RM227,000 or RM454,000),” Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chief executive officer, told reporters. — Bloomberg
