MTA tells bus drivers to close rear doors to stop fare evasion

The agency claims that 1 in 3 bus riders doesn't pay [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [DONATE]( [WNYC Politics Brief] MTA tells bus drivers to stop opening rear doors as part of fare evasion crackdown Plus: A last-minute effort by the city to gain control of its red light and speeding enforcement cameras. The MTA might beef up its nights and weekends subway service to meet demand. And Open Streets are getting stoops. Sponsor Message[Ad: NYC Means Business. Click here to find options to help you shop your city.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [an MTA bus at a bus stop with the doors closed] DW Labs/Shutterstock The MTA is asking bus drivers not to open the rear doors when passengers are boarding. The new protocol, first reported by the [New York Post]( is part of a recent effort to crack down on widespread fare evasion on city buses, where the MTA says [one in three riders doesn't pay](. (The agency claims that that 12% of subway riders evade the fare.) "The policy is intended to continue to offer customers easy exits while deterring fare evasion by reducing the time that rear doors are open while no one is exiting on local bus routes," said MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan. In a memo sent to bus operators, the MTA notes the center and rear doors on buses should no longer automatically open when the bus stops, unless there’s an emergency. And the rear door should only open when riders need to exit. The one exception is on Select Bus Service buses, where the MTA says it encourages rear door boarding because riders pay at a machine at the bus stop, not exclusively at the front of the bus. Those buses also have OMNY installed at all doors, which allows riders to pay at any bus door entrance as well. The MTA has installed electronic OMNY fare readers at the back of all local buses, but it hasn’t activated them. An agency spokesperson said they haven’t decided when to begin using the rear door devices, but it is available at the front of all buses now. In all, the MTA says it loses $500 million a year to fare evasion, with $245 million in losses coming from the subway system and $205 million from buses. The agency estimates that there are $25 million in fares not collected on the commuter railroads and $50 million lost to fare evasion on the bridges and tunnels. Lieber, who recently announced [the creation of a blue ribbon panel]( to examine ways to reduce fare and toll evasion, also said last month that this issue is about more than just money. "Pervasive fare evasion is a threat to the spirit that makes New York not just a great city, but a great community," later [telling WNYC's Brian Lehrer]( that customers feel "like suckers" when they see other riders board trains or buses without paying. — [Reporting by Stephen Nessen]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsor Message [Ad: NYC Means Business. Click here to find options to help you shop your city.] --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- City makes a last minute push to gain control of its own speed cameras [DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez speaks in support of getting control of speed cameras] Catalina Gonella/Gothamist Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez this week urged lawmakers in Albany to give New York City full control of its red light and speed cameras as [traffic deaths]( hit numbers not seen in nearly a decade. The state currently allows the city to control the speed cameras that issue tickets in school zones, but they are not operational overnight or on weekends. "They should be running 24 hours, seven days a week, and the DOT should be in power to decide where we install those cameras," Rodriguez said. But State Sen. Andrew Gounardes of Brooklyn, who's been a leading advocate for expanding speed camera use, [told Streetsblog on Wednesday]( that it's unlikely "home rule" will be taken up before the end of the legislative session on June 2nd. Instead, he's pushing for a bill that would increase the number of speed cameras and the hours they're in operation without technically giving control of the program to the city. "I’m just being realistic," Gounardes said. "I have shifted my focus to pushing for expanding and renewing speed cameras." — [Reporting by Catalina Gonella]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Here's What Else Is Happening Mayor Eric Adams is defending the NYPD's arrest of a mango vendor on a subway platform. After street vendor advocates expressed outrage over the detention and strip-searching of longtime fruit vendor Maria Falcon last month, Mayor Adams on Monday backed up the police, saying that "next day it’s barbecuing on the subway system." He also suggested that vendors on subway platforms need to be stopped because they could be selling food that doesn't meet Department of Health standards. In Falcon's case, she does have a mobile food vendor license, though not for the cart she brings onto platforms. ( [AM New York]( MTA Chair Janno Lieber insisted yesterday that the hybrid work model isn't an existential threat to the city's recovery. While ridership numbers remain suppressed during peak commuting hours, the numbers are getting closer to pre-pandemic levels during weekends and off-hours, suggesting that tourism and leisure travel in and around Manhattan are bouncing back. In response, Lieber said the MTA might increase the number of trains it runs during nights and weekends. He also admitted that the MTA will need to get more funding from the state to make up for lost farebox revenue. ([Crain's]( A Long Island Rail Road track worker whose dad is a famed mobster is going to prison for an overtime scheme. Frank Pizzonia, a longtime LIRR employee and the son of Gambino capo Dominick "Skinny Dom" Pizzonia, has been sentenced to two months in prison for his role in a 2018 overtime scam. Though he brought in $223,000 in overtime pay, the sentence only reflects 150 hours' worth of wrongfully claimed overtime that prosecutors could prove. Pizzonia's prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. ([New York Post]( Open Streets are getting stoops. Later this month, the first two stoops designed by architect David Rockwell will be installed at a New York City Open Street — in this case, the blocked-off stretch of 34th Avenue in Queens. These free-standing staircases, which are made of steel and have room for storage underneath, cost $55,000 per pair. The Department of Transportation is splitting the cost with Rockwell's company. ([The New York Times]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- And Finally: I'd watch this sitcom [a video of a dog riding the subway]( [pqnic/Twitter]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [Ad: NYC Means Business. Click here to find options to help you shop your city.]( Sponsor Message Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. [DONATE]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [WNYC]( [WQXR]( [NJPR]( [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 All rights reserved. [Terms of Use.]( Want to change how you receive these emails? 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