NYC Transit: Pact adds 500 officers to improve safety, combat fare evasion

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) yesterday announced an agreement to add 500 additional uniformed officers to the New York City Transit (NYCT) system to address transit-worker assaults and combat fare evasion.

Assaults on NYCT workers increased 15.2 percent between 2013 and 2017. Lost revenue from fare evasion rose to $225 million in 2018 from $105 million in 2015, according to a press release issued by Cuomo's office.

The new program includes other measures to deter fare evasion, including enhanced exit gates and additional monitors and cameras throughout the system, officials said.

As part of the plan, the New York County District Attorney's office will provide $40 million over four years to fund the personnel costs and to provide construction modifications and new video technology to target station locations.

Although historic reforms have been made and new funding streams added to the MTA this year, the agency is still plagued by public safety and fare evasion issues, Cuomo said.

"This new multi-pronged effort will improve safety on the system overall, protect workers from these incomprehensible assaults, and deter fare evasion by deploying 500 new uniformed officers on our subways and buses," he said.

The resources that MTA recovers from reducing fare evasion will go into improving subway and bus services, said MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Foye.

"Paying your subway or bus fare isn't optional, and evading it harms all our customers," Foye said. "We're taking critical steps to secure resources that the MTA needs to improve the system, while better protecting the men and women that keep New Yorkers moving.”

Once fully implemented, the Fare Enforcement Task Force — comprised of 200 NYPD officers, 300 MTA Police Department officers, MTA Bridge and Tunnel officers and 70 New York City Transit Eagle Team members — will be deployed to targeted locations with the highest levels of incidents of assault on MTA workers and the subway stations and bus routes with the highest ridership rates. The additional MTA personnel will receive training to support this effort prior to deployment.

In addition, the fare-evasion deterrence teams will provide additional safety protection to MTA employees. Funds will also support enhanced technology in the stations, as well as infrastructure hardening, and aid in the research of new station designs for track access.