|
|
| Enforcement of farebeating on MTA's SBS routes is getting results, numbers show (289656) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > BusChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Enforcement of farebeating on MTA's SBS routes is getting results, numbers show |
|
|
Posted by Gold_12th on Wed Jan 29 14:37:20 2014, in response to MTA's Eagle Team report update, posted by Gold_12th on Mon Jan 27 13:40:50 2014. The MTA is taking a swipe at bus farebeating — and getting results.Since 2008, a team of Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspectors has written approximately 83,000 tickets for farebeating to bus riders, each summons carrying a $100 fine, authorities said. Enforcement at first was limited to the MTA’s premier Select Bus Service routes, in which passengers purchase tickets on the sidewalk and don’t have to run their MetroCard through a machine to get onto the bus. But inspectors in the MTA’s so-called Eagle Team also began focusing attention last year on some problematic local bus routes too, officials said. According to data released by the MTA at a board meeting on Monday, there’s been a dramatic reduction in riders who are boarding buses without paying for the trip. On the newest SBS route — the B44 in Brooklyn — the estimated percentage of riders cheating the system dropped nearly 51%, according to a staff presentation. On the Bx41 in the Bronx, “theft of service” dropped by 74% since the SBS line was established. And on the Bx12, also in the Bronx, it has been reduced by 80% since the line's inception, according to the presentation. “The Eagle Team’s efforts have helped to stem the tide of the previously under-reported fare evasion problem,” MTA board member Allen Cappelli said. “We are beginning to send a message that we will not permit [people to] steal vital revenue that is needed for services for all New Yorkers.” The MTA has estimated that it loses approximately $50 million in potential revenue per year because of bus riders who don’t pay the fare. To speed up the boarding process, riders along SBS routes pay before boarding at curbside machines that dispense receipts as proof of purchase. The first of the six SBS routes was the Bx12, which was launched along Fordham Rd. in the Bronx in 2008. The last to go into service was the B44, which launched in November along Nostrand, Rogers and Bedford Aves. in Brooklyn. Vincent DeMarino, vice president of security for the MTA’s NYC Transit division, said Eagle Team inspectors spend weeks handing out instructional fliers to educate riders about the off-board payment system before they start writing tickets on an SBS route. “Our goal is not to bang people with summonses for not paying the fare,” DeMarino said. “Our goal is to get people to pay the fare.” http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/enforcement-spurs-drop-farebeating-select-bus-lines-article-1.1594692#ixzz2rok0UWfm |
|
|
|