Photo Courtesy of Kevin Coughlin/Office of the Governor
MTA Chairman Pat Foye (from l.), Gov. Cuomo, and Manhattan DA Cy Vance discuss their new agreement on Monday.
By Forum Staff
In an effort to stem the tide of assaults on transit workers and combat the growing problem of fare evasion, the State will dispatch 500 additional uniformed officers to the city subway and bus systems, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday after an agreement was reached with Mayor Bill de Blasio, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Police Commissioner Jim O’Neill, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Pat Foye.
The pact calls for the Manhattan DA’s Office to provide $40 million over four years to support the MTA’s anti-fare evasion actions by covering associated costs of the personnel and providing construction modifications to target station locations. The funds will go towards training and equipment for members of anti-fare evasion teams, including MTA PD, Bridge and Tunnel officers, and NYPD. In addition to working on anti-fare evasion actions, the fare deterrence teams will provide worker safety protections to MTA employees. The funds will also support enhanced technology in the stations, as well as infrastructure hardening, and aid in the research of new station designs for track access.
According to the administration, from 2013 and 2017, assaults reported by New York City Transit workers have increased by 15.2 percent, and lost revenue from fare evasion jumped to $225 million in 2018 from $105 million in 2015. New data released Monday indicate that the upward trend is continuing with year-to-date totals reaching $243 million in the 12-month period ending in March 2019.
According to the State, the MTA fare evasion problem coupled with the growing reports of assaults on MTA workers has led to concern among many riders who believe there is a greater need for police presence in the subway and transit system. In 2018 there were 101 assaults against transit workers qualifying as felonies and misdemeanors. There were also 26 cases in which workers were threatened and 2,318 incidents of harassment against transit workers, ranging from verbal abuse to contact without injury. Once fully implemented, the Fare Enforcement Task Force—comprised of 200 NYPD officers, 300 MTA Police Department officers and Bridge & Tunnel Officers, and 70 City Transit EAGLE Team members—will be deployed to targeted locations with the highest levels of incidents of assault on MTA workers and the subway stations and bus routes with the highest ridership rates. The additional MTA personnel will receive training to support this effort prior to deployment.
“This year we succeeded in making historic reforms to the MTA and provided significant new funding streams that will overhaul the system,” Cuomo said. “But the MTA is still plagued by problems of public safety, attacks against transit workers and persistent fare evasion—issues that have only worsened in recent years. This new multi-pronged effort will improve safety on the system overall, protect workers from these incomprehensible assaults, and deter fare evasion by deploying 500 new uniformed officers on our subways and buses.”
Fare evasion is illegal and may subject the evader to arrest, although the majority of offenders are issued a transit adjudications bureau summons or criminal court summons, the governor noted.
