I saw a reference to this article and was stunned by the numbers given... that being that NYC public bus services is now seeing that some FIFTY PERCENT of bus riders are not paying their fares. That's beyond staggering. They talk about all they are going to do to combat this, as they are losing hundreds of millions of dollars PER YEAR due to these fare skippers. But in doing an online lookup I see similar articles from 2022, 2023, talking about actions being taken to try to address the ever-growing problem. Yet, here we are in 2024 and they are saying that literally HALF of the NYC bus riders are not paying their fares.

This is the kind of stuff that leads to people and places turning down the idea of public transit. The whole of society has to agree to take on the burden of cost and then you have this type of thing to happen where a huge portion of society says they'll just make you pay for the services they use.

MTA article on the issue


This rocket scientist argues why people not paying their fare is not a problem, and suggests who they could have pay the money instead of the people using the services.

how do they get away with it? Don't you have to pay to get on? I guess the bus has to keep moving? I haven't read the article, just a question that came to mind.

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I was reading the second article, that sounds like entitlement, that person expects the system to be paid for by government I suppose. Just crazy that people don't pay. I still don't understand how they get away with it, I guess some get tickets.

(09-06-2024, 06:54 AM)Replying to Milldawg

The articles are specifically about the bus system. There are other articles that talk about similar issues with their train system. I read one article talking about their having lost several hundred million dollars, solely due to people not paying their fares.

That second article... that guy writing that is looney. One of his suggestions is that they get federal funding to help pay the cost of the NYC bus system. Now, let that sink in. He is suggesting that somebody in, say, Iowa, be taxed to pay for the NYC bus system so that the people riding it don't have to pay for it. He also suggested that the state gas tax be used to pay for it. He actually complained that the gas tax is being used to pay for maintaining roads. He has all of these supposed arguments to justify why the people riding the buses should not be held liable to pay the cost, but that people who don't ride the buses SHOULD be held liable to pay the costs.

I can see why an unarmed bus driver would not enforce fares. Why would they want to potentially risk serious injury or die to an aggressive non-payer over a couple of dollars that isn't theirs anyway.

My idea would be to install automatic tasers if fare is not paid when entering the bus.

(09-06-2024, 07:08 AM)Replying to RockmartDawg

The articles are specifically about the bus system. There are other articles that talk about similar issues with their train system. I read one article talking about their having lost several hundred million dollars, solely due to people not paying their fares.

That second article... that guy writing that is looney. One of his suggestions is that they get federal funding to help pay the cost of the NYC bus system. Now, let that sink in. He is suggesting that somebody in, say, Iowa, be taxed to pay for the NYC bus system so that the people riding it don't have to pay for it. He also suggested that the state gas tax be used to pay for it. He actually complained that the gas tax is being used to pay for maintaining roads. He has all of these supposed arguments to justify why the people riding the buses should not be held liable to pay the cost, but that people who don't ride the buses SHOULD be held liable to pay the costs.
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yeah that second article was crazy.....incredible mentality

Sort of like Air Marshalls you could have them on some busses or not...make the penalty 3 months in jail or a 10K fine...it might make people think.