This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.<\/p>\n
Sign up<\/a> to get the full version, which includes answers to reader questions, trivia, service changes and more, in your inbox every Thursday.<\/p>\n Mayor Zohran Mamdani rode into City Hall this year on a promise to make buses \u201cfast and free.\u201d But MTA Chair Janno Lieber, who controls the city\u2019s transit system, is expanding a program that slows some buses down in order to ensure everyone on board paid the $3 fare.<\/p>\n The agency\u2019s fare enforcement \u201cEAGLE\u201d teams are ramping up an initiative where they halt buses for about five to 10 minutes while they scan riders\u2019 phones or OMNY cards to check if they paid. Those who get busted can face a fine.<\/p>\n Lieber has called this stop-and-check practice \u201cEuropean-style\u201d fare enforcement. He\u2019s said it will be the main way to enforce fares on buses<\/a> once MetroCard and coin payments are phased out on buses later this year.<\/p>\n More than 40% of bus riders skip the fare,<\/a> costing the agency upwards of $300 million annually, according to an MTA estimate released last year.<\/p>\n The enforcement highlights a long-simmering tension between the mayor\u2019s office and the state-run MTA. During a NY1 appearance days before November\u2019s general election, Lieber poured cold water on Mamdani\u2019s free bus plan<\/a>, saying he didn\u2019t want the MTA to be \u201cgiving a ton of money to people who are riding the M104 on the Upper West Side where I grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n Halting buses also threatens to undermine the mayor\u2019s push to speed up service<\/a> across the city. Fare-paying riders like 30-year old Derrick Holmes aren\u2019t fans of the crackdown, either. He said he was on the B44 in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens earlier this month when enforcement officers stopped the bus to check if everyone paid.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just felt like a weird kind of security theater. \u2026 It just took up everyone\u2019s time,\u201d said Holmes. \u201cWhat’s the point of public transit? It’s to get people places quickly and reliably. But when MTA is forced to prioritize fare enforcement it’s almost self-defeating. If the bus is standing still for five minutes to make sure everyone paid \u2014 it’s like, what were we paying to do?\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani spokesperson Jeremy Edwards said the administration continues to push for free buses, and said it\u2019s not fair to punish people who can\u2019t afford to ride.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that some people are unable to afford bus fare highlights the affordability crisis in our city,\u201d Edwards wrote in a statement. \u201cWhether you are trying to get to work or drop your child off at daycare, you shouldn’t have to choose between paying for the bus or paying your bills, which is why the mayor remains committed to making our buses free and our transit system more affordable for all New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n MTA representatives did not respond to requests for comment. But NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said during an MTA board meeting last month that \u201cpaying customers have long said that they find it incredibly frustrating when they see other people who do not pay the fare.\u201d<\/p>\n Some New Yorkers said they\u2019ve remained confused about the status of free buses since Mamdani\u2019s election win last year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just feels very like it’s aggressive, and it also feels really crazy,\u201d said Jesse Crozier, a B44 select bus rider who said their commute was disrupted for 15 minutes earlier this month when EAGLE team officers checked if everyone paid.<\/p>\n \u201cMamdani’s free buses program is trying to get off the ground, and now we have enhanced enforcement of fare evasion,\u201d said Crozier, 41.<\/p>\n MTA rules allow people to get off with a warning the first time they\u2019re caught beating the fare. But a second offense can come with a $100 ticket, which Crozier noted only makes paying the next fare more difficult.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s like, if you can’t pay the fare, how are you supposed to pay $100?\u201d they said.<\/p>\n NYC transportation news this week<\/p>\n Crumbling bridges. Two century-old bridges above the Newkirk Plaza B and Q station in Brooklyn have grown so corroded that city officials have begun questioning their structural integrity. Their sorry state highlights a growing challenge: Much of the city\u2019s infrastructure has outlived its useful life, but repairing it threatens to be highly disruptive for daily commutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n LIRR strike update. Gov. Kathy Hochul warned Long Island commuters yesterday to prepare to work from home next week<\/a> if Long Island Rail Road workers walk off the job, which could happen as soon as Saturday.<\/p>\n Falling debris. On two separate occasions over the past week, chunks of debris fell onto the crowded roadway<\/a> that connects the George Washington Bridge and the Cross Bronx Expressway.<\/p>\n World Cup transit price cuts. The governors of New York and New Jersey announced that round-trip shuttle bus fares for getting to soccer matches at MetLife Stadium<\/a> are dropping to $20 each, from $80 originally, while NJ Transit rail fares are dropping to $98 each, down from $105 most recently and $150 before that.<\/p>\n NBA Finals transit nightmares. If the Knicks make it to Game 5 or 6 of the NBA Finals, one of those games could take place at Madison Square Garden at roughly the same time as a World Cup match at MetLife, creating a major challenge for New Jersey-based fans trying to get into Manhattan<\/a>.<\/p>\n A more fragrant NJ Transit. The transit agency said it\u2019s switching to a lavender-scented cleaning solution<\/a> for its stations.<\/p>\n Curious Commuter<\/p>\n Have a question for us? Use this form<\/a> to submit yours and we may answer it in a future newsletter!<\/p>\n Question from Brian in Brooklyn<\/p>\n What makes the World Cup different from other sold out shows at MetLife? The stadium has a set capacity so I\u2019m confused about why the logistics are different from concerts or football.<\/p>\n Answer<\/p>\n The biggest difference between this summer\u2019s World Cup matches and a Giants game or Beyonce concert is FIFA\u2019s involvement. New Jersey officials said the organization mandated strict security measures for fans getting in and out of MetLife Stadium, including a requirement for those riding NJ Transit trains or shuttle buses to prove they have game tickets before boarding. The extra security comes with extra costs, which NJ Transit leaders passed along to attendees in the form of what are now $95 train tickets<\/a>. Garden State officials have repeatedly said they want to avoid a repeat of the 2014 Super Bowl in the Meadowlands, when thousands of fans were stranded near the arena as NJ Transit trains struggled to take them home. NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri has said he will only sell 40,000 train tickets to each game<\/a> \u2014 enough to cover about half the attendees \u2014 in order to avoid a repeat of that fiasco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-233224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}