The MTA lost roughly $1 billion to fare and toll evasion in 2024 — much higher than the already astronomical sum estimated by the transit agency itself, according to a bombshell new watchdog study.
The perpetually cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority is also on track to lose $900 million this year from turnstile jumpers, bus fare scofflaws and toll dodgers, the Citizens Budget Commission’s analysis released Thursday found.
“We still need to ensure that all riders pay their fair share and frankly improving fare evasion improve the public’s confidence in the MTA and the system,” said CBC President Andrew Rein.
While arguably failing to contain the costly rampant problem, MTA officials this year alone have hit New Yorkers with a wallet-draining $9 congestion pricing toll to drive into lower Manhattan and are considering increasing subway and bus fares to $3.
And splashy MTA efforts to stop fare jumpers — from spikes, tall modern fare gates, locking emergency gates, private security guards and a $1 million study on the freeloaders’ psychology — have largely flopped.
Tackling fare evasion is key to closing the MTA’s yawning $800 million structural operating budget gap, the study argues.
But the MTA, as it contends with an accounting nightmare, could also be underestimating the massive hit from fare and toll evasion.
The transit agency’s official estimates of fare evasion losses are often lower than the CBC’s, the nonprofit think tank’s study notes.
“The MTA’s estimate, often reported as $700 to $800 million, is lower because it assumes a larger share of individuals who evade the fare would not have paid anyway than CBC’s,” according to the study.
The MTA’s fare evasion counts don’t include riders who transit officials believe won’t pay, such as students with OMNY cards or young children who may ride for free, the study states.
The analysis found that last year the MTA lost $568 million in unpaid bus fares, $350 million in subway fares, at least $46 million in commuter rail tickets and at least $51 million in tolls.
The total $918 million loss was triple the $305 million that the MTA saw slip away in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic, according to the study.
“Every minute during 2024, 330 subway fares and 710 bus fares were evaded,” the analysis states, noting it would be impossible for the MTA and NYPD to enforce every dodged fare.
The sobering study did offer a glimmer of good news, finding stepped-up law enforcement efforts led to steady decline in fare and toll losses starting in late 2024, even as ridership increased.
But Rein said the reduction shouldn’t distract from the staggering losses.
“From one perspective it’s good to see that reduction, from the other perspective we’re still seeing $900 million in losses, which is equivalent to three rounds of fare increases. And frankly these numbers are three times what they were before the pandemic,” he said.
The civic group recommended the MTA accelerate the rollout of new faregates, proof-of-payment measures on buses, work with city to assess the cost-effectiveness of deploying police officers to enforce fare payment and consider expanding the Fair Fares Program.
“Fare evasion is not victimless,” Rein said. “When people evade fares it really puts more of the burden on everybody else, everyone else who is paying the fare, the toll.”
MTA officials didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
— Additional reporting by Vaughn Golden
The post MTA lost $1B to fare and toll evasion last year, bombshell watchdog analysis finds appeared first on New York Post.
