This solution is a train wreck!
A flood of turnstile jumpers skipped the fare at a Manhattan subway station Friday ” despite newly installed spikes the MTA apparently hopes will curb the rampant problem.
A deluge of fare-evaders ” a total of 10 in under three hours ” were spotted by The Post slipping past the sharp metal barriers at the 59th Street/Lexington Avenue station.
At least five of those scofflaws vaulted the turnstiles over the course of just one hour. And more were seen pulling the fast-one on social media.
It came despite off-and-on police presence at the station.
I dont think this is going to stop them, one brutally honest police officer told The Post there Friday. They are going to jump anyway.
The pointy panels, installed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Tuesday, appear to be the transit giants latest attempt to curb a problem thats estimated to cost them hundreds of million of dollars annually.
The panels feature dull triangle-shaped spikes in the spot fare evaders generally grab to hoist their legs over the turnstile ” which would seemingly make it hurt for people attempting to skip the toll using that technique.
But many riders seen by The Post Friday continued hopping over the entrance in the exact same manner they always have ” often gripping the spiked barrier with their bare hands.
Some even wore gloves, while others simply bared their weight against the side of the panel, below the spikes. Others stepped over the turnstile or ducked under it to slip through without paying.
A spokesperson for the MTA did not respond to The Posts inquiry Friday about how much the spikes cost or if the agency has plans to install them at any other subway stations.
The Post first sent the MTA the same inquiry Wednesday, and had still not gotten a response as of Friday afternoon.
Fare evasion cost the MTA roughly $700 million in 2022 ” including $315 million in bus fares, $285 million in subway fares, $46 million in bridge and tunnel tolls and $44 million in railroad fares.
The agencys chairman and CEO Janno Lieber has estimated losses due to fare evasion spiked to as much as $800 million in 2024.
The transit giant has been trying for years to recover the lost revenue.
The MTA installed a pricey new gate designed to block fare evaders in 2023 ” but the $700,000 electronic panel doors were widely mocked after they were shown being defeated on TikTok with a simple hack.
In December, the agency said it planned to dump $1 million into a study about the psychology of fare beaters, which critics called a massive waste.
Gov. Kathy Hochul now plans to invest in modern fare gates at more than 20 stations across the system in 2025, and at 20 more stations in 2026.
But as a solution, the spikes dont cut it, commuters said.
Its a joke, one rider said Friday.
Why should it stop them? said Jim Edwards, 67, construction worker from Flushing. Its a simplistic response to a complex problem.
The pointy panels also dont address a hack used on old gates of pulling on the turnstiles enough to slip through sideways, or of riders who pay for one swipe but slip through with two people.
On Thursday, a Post photographer captured a fare beater easily vaulting over the metal gate at the station ” which services the N, R, W, 4, 5 and 6 lines ” less than 36 hours after the spikes were installed.
It comes as drivers into Manhattan below 60th Street are now getting charged a $9 toll to fund improvements to the subways.
The MTA also greenlit a fare hike to $3 per swipe, 10 cents above the current $2.90 per swipe, last December as it spent nearly $1.3 billion on 435 new subway cars.
City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams criticized the new MTA project after he was spotted by The Post at the station Friday.
I do wonder what would happen if this money were spent on improving service or accessibility, or expanding access to Fair Fares to make commuting more affordable, he said.
The spikes are a visual”and even more, a feckless reminder of how byproducts of poverty are more often criminalized before addressed.”
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