As I pointed out here, the most recent data out of New York City shows that only half of people riding the bus are paying the fare. It's not the sexiest of stories out there but it is a big deal because it potentially has serious implications for the city moving forward. 

In 2022 alone, the city estimates that it lost $315 million because of fare evasion on the buses, and that was before the rate of fare evasion reached its current record high. Monday the MTA posted a statement explaining why it was important to pay the fare [emphasis added]:

Paying the fare make your bus system possible. The MTA uses your fares to hire more bus operators and mechanics, expand and modernize our fleet, and improve frequency and reliability. When you pay your fares, you are helping us deliver better service to the over two million New Yorkers who rely on buses every single day. 

Without your fare, we have less money to spend, and service could deteriorate. Your fares keep all of us moving.

In other words, the system isn't sustainable unless people pay. So starting today, the city is rolling out a big effort to get more people to pay by having MTA enforcement agents and NYPD officers at some bus stations.

An NYPD spokesperson said top NYPD and MTA officials met on Tuesday to map out areas where bus riders are least likely to pay the fare. The MTA plans to deploy unarmed guards who are part of the agency’s “EAGLE” fare enforcement unit onto those buses, the spokesperson said. Those guards will be directed to look out for riders who skip the fare and escort them off the bus at stops staffed by NYPD officers, who could issue a summons ranging from $50 to $100 and, in some cases, make an arrest...

NYPD officials told Gothamist the new crackdown would continue until the agencies saw more riders pay their fare, and said the department will reassign police officers to staff the new initiative.

Bus drivers know very well that the current system isn't working but they explicitly trained not to insist anyone pay the fare because on a few occasions drivers have been attacked and even killed after requiring passengers to pay.

MTA bus driver Curtis Carrington, 43, who has been driving for nine years, told The Post that fare-beating was so common, it was comical — and scoffed at the idea that drivers should be the ones responsible for enforcement...

“I see it all the time — every day,” Carrington said. “Out of a busload of people — let’s say 10 people got on, maybe two paid.

“I just look the other way — we’re taught not to fight the fare,” Carrington added. “We’ve got people that have gotten assaulted and stabbed because of them fighting the fare.”

As with everything these days, there is a racial angle to this story. Those who oppose cracking down on fare evasion note that the people cited and arrested are mostly black or Hispanic.

Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director for Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group, said cracking down on fare evaders doesn’t reduce crime or solve the MTA’s budget woes.

“Policing fare evasion is not the way to solve the MTA's revenue problems,” Pearlstein said. “It’s primarily an issue of poverty.”

The vast majority of New Yorkers ticketed and arrested for fare evasion this year – 82% and 92% respectively – were not white, according to NYPD data. That’s a pattern that’s stayed consistent since 2017, when the NYPD first started publicly reporting fare evasion arrest data.

Usually when these sort of figures are brought up the point is to insinuate that punishment is disproportionate. The often unspoken argument goes like this: If 44% of New York City is white then 44% of fare evasion citations and arrests should be given out to white people or else the enforcement is inherently racist. 

In reality, fare evasion is probably connected to income. Since minorities are likely to have a lower household net worth in NYC, it seems likely that minority riders are more likely to evade fares. If so, the number of citations and arrests are probably reflecting that difference rather than some racist intent on the part of the NYPD officers writing the citations or making the arrests. In any case, this latest push will result in disproportionate numbers of citations and that could lead to some backlash.

The only alternative to getting people to pay these bus fares is to raise taxes to cover the cost. As mentioned above, we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars per year. How many people in NYC want to see those kinds of tax tax increases happen?