By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-13 22:22:54 | Updated at 2024-12-24 12:53:49
1 week ago
They’re bending over backwards to waste cash on turnstile jumping.
The MTA is planning to spend up to $1 million grant money on a study that they hope will help them understand the mindset of the average fare evader, The Post has learned.
The pricy research – which comes as the authority is crying poverty and pushing for a detested congestion pricing plan — is being blasted by critics as a huge waste that will only tell them what anyone with common sense already knows about scofflaws.
“They cry poverty when they’re forcing New Yorkers to pay ridiculous tolls to drive into Manhattan, yet somehow they manage to find enough money to pay for these inane studies,” City Council Member Joann Ariola (R-Queens) told The Post.
“Somebody please make it make sense.”
According to a contract proposal posted onto the MTA website Dec 6, the transit agency is hoping the research will give them enough insight into the “historically high” practice of fare evasion that they will make a dent in a crime that costs them some $800 million annually.
The behavioral study could cost between $500,000 and $1 million in money that they are getting from the feds.
The agency said in the proposal that they had already done some of their own research into people who skip the $2.90 fare — and have already categorized them as either “opportunists,” “rebels,” “idealists,” “youth,” “unintentional” or “low-income”
They said they had found “rebels,” idealists,” and the more obvious “low income” brackets are most likely not to pay.
The “Rebels” — usually middle to high school students — do it because they “think its cool and edgy not to pay,” the agency found.
The “idealists” who can be of any age don’t feel “obligated to pay” because of their beliefs.
But for others described as “low income” — its as simple as they “struggle to pay.”
The agency came up with these observations at no additional cost to tax payers — and did not explain why they now need to pay up to $1 million to look into the fairly obvious archetypes in more detail.
The spending during a time when the MTA says it is struggling to pay to update signals, had critics calling the move by the Janno Lieber-helmed organization “wasteful” and “idiotic.”
The MTA is spending $1M to get into the minds of fare beaters
WHAT
Noting that it lost $600 million to fare evasion in 2022, a historic high, the MTA wants to pay a researcher up to $1 million to study the phenomenon:
- Research the “distinct motivations” of fare evaders.
- Develop at least three “behavioral interventions” to try to get the fare evaders to stop.
- Come up with a plan to implement those interventions and how much it would cost.
- Deploy the plan. Though this is labeled “Optional.”
WHY
The MTA claims “A new social perspective on fare evasion emerged in the wake of COVID-19: not paying the fare is simply not as ‘bad’ as it once was.”
It claims that “punitive enforcement” has not been working. But it neglects to point out that since COVID, most fare evaders are now not prosecuted because of justice “reforms.” So punishment and penalties aren’t happening.
WHO
The MTA says it has already identified six “personas” of fare evaders. They are:
Youth
Children and students who are uneducated about the importance of paying the fare.
Frequency: Rare
Unintentional
Occasional fare evaders who believe they have “external excuses” to not pay the fare.”
Frequency: Rare
Opportunists
People who would evade fare when there is a convenient situation.
Frequency: Occasional
Rebels
Youth who think it is cool and edgy to not pay the fare. Usually middle to high school students.
Frequency: Often
Idealists
People with ideologies that believe that are not obliged to pay fare.
Frequency: Often
Low-income
People who struggle to pay the fare.
Frequency: Often
WHAT!?
“Going beyond enforcement to change civic behavior related to transportation gets results,” the MTA claims.
“In Colombia, mimes stationed at traffic intersections to reprimand errant drivers and pedestrians halved the number of traffic fatalities. A similar program in Bolivia uses dancing costumed zebras for traffic calming at crosswalks.” The mimes are also used in Venezuela.
The MTA also claims nudging people to be good can be better than punishing people for doing bad.
“Research in Santiago recommends that campaigns ‘transform the feelings of irritation, outrage, and deceit . . . into feelings of appreciation, satisfaction, and fairness.’
“It’s amazing no one in King Leibers’ inner circle pulls him aside and says, ‘Boss, isn’t this f***ing stupid?'” Council member Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told The Post.
Robert Holden (D-Queens) quipped “the Miserable Transit Authority strikes again.”
“Wasting taxpayer dollars on ridiculous studies instead of fixing the obvious. The MTA has no business playing armchair psychologist when it can’t even run its system efficiently or maintain a safe and clean environment.”
Ariola also pointed to the MTA’s “hypocrisy” citing the controversial congestion pricing proposal — that will next year charge drivers entering Midtown Manhattan a $9 toll which is set to increase to $12 by 2028.
The MTA did not confirm whether the grant money had to be used for a specific reason or why it wasn’t being used for other projects.
Defending the unconventional proposal, the MTA also pointed to other countries who’ve had success using bizarre behavioral interventions.
In Bolivia “dancing costumed zebras” are being used for “traffic calming” while traffic fatalities have reduced in Columbia because of mimes at intersections, the proposal claims.
Whether we’ll be seeing “dancing zebras” or “mimes” as a result of the study remains to be seen.
Recent MTA data shows that about 13% of subway riders skip out on the fare up from close to 3% in 2018, while Select Bus Service have a jaw dropping 55% of fare evaders while local buses are slightly lower at 48%.
“This needs to change,” John McCarthy, the agency’s chief of policy and external relations told The Post.
“If we are going to hire a behavioral consultant, it will be to help change the behavior of a criminal justice system that has determined that fare evasion should have no consequences.”
The study is the latest effort from the agency to stop the crime in its tracks.
In October the MTA deployed unarmed “enforcers” at bus stops and officers patrol the transit system daily.
The number of summonses issued for fare evasion over the first 10 months of this year jumped 13.5% from the same period of 2023 to 120,883, according to the NYPD.
Arrests for “theft of service” or fare evasion meanwhile more than doubled through October to 8,792, since the same time last year.
