The MTA is doubling down on its new glass fare gates, expanding them to 20 more subway stations across the city, touting a 35% reduction in fare evasion and projected savings of $100 million annually.<\/p>\n
The expansion will replace every set of turnstiles at the stations, rather than just one turnstile as had been the case for the first 20 gates installed under a pilot program launched last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pilot gates cut into fare evasion by an average of 35% and could recover $100 million a year in unpaid fares, officials said Wednesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen something works, we double down,\u201d Hochul said at a press conference at the MTA\u2019s Consolidated Revenue Facility in Queens. <\/p>\n
Gov. Kathy Hochul walked through the MTA\u2019s new gates which they set up at the MTA\u2019s Consolidated Revenue Facilityfacility in Queens. Susan Watts\/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul<\/p>\n
\u201cThese new fare gates have created a better riding experience for customers and made it harder for would-be fare evaders to enter the system without paying.\u201d<\/p>\n
The MTA loses roughly $350 million annually from fare beaters. <\/p>\n
The next round will include high-traffic stations including 14th Street-Union Square, Bedford Avenue,161st Street-Yankee Stadium and Flushing-Main Street, which already had pilot gates, but will now have every turnstile replaced with the new gates.<\/p>\n
The MTA\u2019s rosy projections follow months of scrutiny over whether the panels were working as advertised \u2014 and how much taxpayers will get back from a $1.1 billion investment to overhaul station entries at 150 stations.<\/p>\n
Videos were posted to social media of fare-beaters defeating the MTA\u2019s \u201cmodern\u201d fare gates after they were installed. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n
In March, the fare evasion reductions MTA touted were found to be based on just one week of data<\/a> and when MTA head Janno Lieber was asked how much revenue the gates would recover he \u201ctook the fifth.\u201d<\/p>\n When the gates first launched videos of commuters easily outmaneuvering<\/a> the glass panels went viral on social media.<\/p>\n A person crawls under the \u201cmodern\u201d gates installed at the Broadway-Lafayette subway station. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n A man with a cane was even able to defeat the gates at Broadway-Lafayette.<\/p>\n