its a terrible problem — much, much worse since covid free ride days — like i said and for example, no one in staten pays
Why the MTA’s bus drivers don’t enforce the fare
By Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Aug 9, 2024
The MTA is struggling to get New Yorkers to pay to ride the bus, in no small part because drivers don’t enforce the fare.
But for decades, that was a key part of a bus driver’s job.
“When I was a kid, the bus wouldn’t run if you stood there and said, ‘I’m not paying.’ [Either] the bus driver wasn’t going to run the bus or you would have to get off,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber said during last week’s MTA board meeting, recalling growing up on the Upper West Side in the 1970s.
But in 2008, Brooklyn bus driver Edwin Thomas was stabbed to death after telling a passenger he needed to pay to ride. And the union representing bus drivers subsequently succeeded in implementing a softer approach toward fare beaters.
“I will not let my operators get involved in fare disputes because that’s not our job,” said J.P. Patafio, head of buses at Transport Workers Union Local 100. “Our job is to drive the bus safely from point A to point B, and getting into arguments about the fare has historically led to an increase in assaults.”
Lieber last week said “too many [bus drivers] have been subject to violence,” and that asking them to enforce the fare would put them in danger.
New York City Transit’s rule book shows fare collection is part of a bus driver’s duties. But Patafio said in practice drivers are only asked to state the cost of the fare, and make a record every time someone doesn’t pay.
Meanwhile, MTA stats show fare beating has spiked dramatically – particularly since the pandemic.
more:
https://gothamist.com/news/why-the-m...force-the-fare
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