MTA defends new fare gates in subways despite people 'piggybacking' through | NBC New York

There is a new high-tech fare gate pilot program taking place at four subway stations and our cameras caught a number of people "piggybacking" through the gates, but the MTA says it's all part of the pilot program and seeing how people use it.

[zlugrsg]

That buzzer gate is not going to do shit

[cdchannel]

It's even easier for multiple people to go through than the old ones.

[Marco-ujbp]

It's already obvious that the new fare gates DO NOT curb fare evasion. If they did, why do there need to be 3 uniformed police officers standing around watching the gates? Officers should be patrolling the platforms and train carts for the people openly smoking, assaulting/pushing people, etc.

[hullygullys]

It is difficult for me not to believe this is deliberate mismanagement at this point.

[amamuffin]

This isn’t about evasion at all. It’s about a contractor buddy charging hundreds of millions to install these things. This is how they make money. The fare evasion is just a front /facade

[dr.woozie]

The MTA will do everything but improve the subway system itself… 😂

[catsmom]

These type of gates are very common in European undergrounds and they don't seem to have this problem. The issue is really the dishonesty of the riders.

[ryangalvatron]

It's as if these were designed to make fare evasion a lot easier.

[NeverDieSolus]

MTA isnt too bright if they thought this was stoppin fare evading

[amdl]

The pushing is a safety issue. It gives room for people especially elderly, injured, and disabled to fall or twist their ankle. It also gives room for pickpocketing

[johnshen]

In other countries like Japan and Taiwan, you have to swipe to get into the gate and swipe to get out of the gate. If you did not swipe in, you would not be able to swipe out and the alarm goes off. The ticketing agents are watching all gates. That's how they catch you for fare evasion.

[JohnSmith-vfvl]

So a green light and a buzzer sound is gonna make people not go through?

[gerardlo]

Worked several construction sites for the MTA and the amount of wasted money is unbelievable. And they don't care because it's not their money. Think about it if somebody just kept giving you money everyday would you care about conserving any of it? Mismanagement across the board.

[stevep]

This senior advisor needs to be fired immediately

[signupstuff]

A buzzer for piggy backing is useless unless there's someone there to enforce. It's like the gates we have now. There's a buzzer that goes off. Does it stop anyone?

[blueraptor]

Meanwhile in Japan they don’t even have doors at ticket gates and ppl still pay the fare 😂

[kennethtimm]

The MTA doesn't care. It's not their money, and they just figure they'll charge the public to make up the difference for their bloated pensions through raising taxes or congestion pricing.

[frankiecrocker]

Chief accessibility officer saying "we're learning. . .", is the most damning statement of incompetence you can hear from someone who is probably making a high six figure salary, if not more. You don't spend $750 million dollars for a frickin learning experience. These gates should never had passed the eye test, common sense tells you that they're ineffective at preventing fare evasion. The MTA is more concerned about how other countries are doing it instead of them using logic for what works best here.
Correction, the gates cost roughly $700, 000 installed at the Suptin Blvd station.

[williamscoufaras]

I knew this was gonna be a problem and not work. In Boston, they have very similar fare control gates and fare evasion for the MBTA has also been a BIG problem lately. This is exactly what happens there. So what if more people with luggage are paying? Their goal originally was to eliminate it and clearly that’s not happening. What a waste of money.

[Hitori]

I mean, this is more than just the MTA's issue, it's about a culture and society issue. There's this pervasive idea that as long as people don't get caught, they can do whatever they want and exploit everything and others to maximize their own gain. It's a lack of moral foundation that gives them pause when considering whether they should be doing something or not.

The MTA system, and how they're handling upgrading everything, may be lacking, but so are the people who evade paying their fare just because they believe they can.