New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering paying up to $1 million to psychologists to analyze the motivations of fare jumpers, saying “traditional approaches” such as increased policing have “had only limited success” in reversing record losses caused by fare jumpers.
Of the roughly 5 million people who ride New York City’s subways and buses each day, about 900,000 don’t pay their fares, according to the MTA, 13.6% of subway riders jump turnstiles or sneak onto platforms through emergency exits, and nearly half of bus riders don’t pay their fares.
Transit thieves may think they’re only missing a small amount, but they’re still expected to lose a total of $700 million this year.
“We have to win, or the system will die,” MTA CEO Jano Lieber said at a recent board meeting.
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The suspect in the subway stabbing was filmed jumping a turnstile at the City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge station in New York City. (NYPD/File)
In a request for proposals on its website, the MTA said it was looking for candidates with “a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including but not limited to behavioral economics, behavioral science, organizational behavior, sociology, psychology and anthropology” and “research and practical experience in behavior change.”
The MTA is willing to pay between $500,000 and $1 million for the six-month contract.
“Previous efforts to address this issue have focused on punitive enforcement to combat the rise in fare non-payment, with physical barriers, fare checks, fines, and messaging emphasizing the potential consequences of not paying a fare being the most commonly used tactics,” the agency wrote. “However, these costly and sometimes controversial methods have had limited success in reversing the growing trend of non-paying passengers.”
After analysing non-paying passengers and grouping them based on their motivations and socio-economic background, the transport department hopes that its newly hired staff will come up with “advanced” solutions to the problem of high fares.
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In August last year, a person was seen jumping over a subway ticket barrier. (Eric McGregor/Getty Images)
“Going beyond enforcement to change public behavior on traffic can pay off,” the agency wrote.
“In Colombia, traffic deaths have been cut in half by mimes stationed at intersections to chastise violating drivers and pedestrians,” the MTA wrote, citing The New York Times. “A similar program has been adopted in Bolivia, where costumed zebras dance at crosswalks to calm traffic.”
Paul Mauro, a former NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor, said the proposal “seems like a parody.”
“Are we going to pay $1 million for a six-month study that shows people are paying less because they can afford the fare? The MTA has turned into a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit, and unfortunately it’s just as funny,” Mauro told Fox News Digital.
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On March 11, 2024, the New York Police Department and National Guard randomly searched passengers’ bags in subway stations. (Matthew McDermott, Fox News Digital)
“Fare racketeering on the subway was the basis of broken windows policing, and it worked,” Mauro continued. “Unless we go back to that approach, no matter how many National Guard troops the governor enlists, it’s going to be hard to keep up the pressure on subway crime.” [Kathy] Hoffl unfolds.
Hundreds of National Guard troops were called in earlier this spring to assist with baggage screening in the city’s subway system as part of a five-point plan to improve subway safety following a series of high-profile crimes on the subway, including a teenage girl who was assaulted after an argument and a 64-year-old man who was kicked onto the subway tracks. Traffic crimes increased 13.1% in March compared to the same month in 2023, according to NYPD data.
Police’s “broken windows” theory holds that minor crimes like vandalism, public intoxication and fare evasion create an atmosphere that fosters more serious crime and disorder. Cracking down fare jumpers and other petty criminals was a key part of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s crime-reduction strategy in the 1990s.
“Fare collection on the subway is the basis of broken window policing, and it worked.”
The theory is, Fox 5 New York The NYPD’s Traffic Response Team was also on hand to target traffic offenders who repeatedly commit crimes on public transportation without paying fares. Police recovered a diamond watch and a MacBook stolen from a man they arrested for fare-free riding on the subway.
An NYPD spokesperson told Fox News Digital that fare evasion arrests have increased 88.5% so far this year, with officers issuing 53,000 citations, and that 16 firearms have been seized from fare evaders arrested this year in the process, the spokesperson said.
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A New York City police officer patrols a subway station on March 11, 2024. (Matthew McDermott, Fox News Digital)
“Fare evasion is directly related to crime and the public’s perception of safety within the subway system,” an NYPD spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “While not everyone who evades fares is a criminal, we see nearly all criminals engaging in fare evasion time and time again. Plus, it’s unfair to fare-paying passengers.”
As for the MTA’s potential new approach, a spokesperson said it would be “welcome.”[s] Complementary strategies [their] We will work hard and encourage riders to enter the system legally.”
MTA spokeswoman Kayla Schultz said the agency is “moving forward with a comprehensive approach to combating fare evasion recommended by the 2023 Blue Ribbon Commission, including efforts to emphasize the importance of paying your fare and make it easier for customers to pay their fares.”
“Fare evasion is directly related to crime and the public’s perception of safety within the subway system.”
Criminal and police psychologist Dr. Kathryn Kuhlman told Fox News Digital that while the MTA’s new strategy may seem “kind of silly” at first glance, other subway systems around the world have conducted similar studies and collected valuable data.
a Melbourne, Australia, Research A 2015 study categorized non-payers into four types: “accidental evaders” who misread signs or make other mistakes, “through no fault” evaders who don’t pay because they’re financially disadvantaged, “calculating risk takers” who don’t pay whenever they have the chance, and “habitual evaders” who pride themselves on not paying tolls.
A study conducted by Professor Graham Currie, director of the Public Transport Research Group, and Alexa Delbosque from Monash University estimated that fare evasion costs Melbourne $80 million a year, with the last two categories accounting for around 68% of that.
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On March 11, 2024, the New York City Police Department and National Guard conducted random baggage searches on the New York City Subway. (Matthew McDermott, Fox News Digital)
The Victorian public transport agency launched a marketing campaign highlighting the problem of “repeat offenders” and increased ticket checks by undercover police, who make it harder for fare evaders to be spotted, which led to a drop in fare evasion rates from 12 percent to 5 percent, according to a study.
“When psychologists study and try to understand fare-nonpaying behavior, they’re not trying to treat the person or make them feel better about not paying their fare, they’re trying to find a solution,” Kuhlman said. “We study serial killers, rapists, shoplifters, any kind of criminal behavior, we study the root causes. If you look closely, this is the same thing.”
She noted that the MTA’s annual budget is projected to be $19.379 billion, and the $1 million is a small cut from that, to be split among a large research team, adding, “It’s impossible for one person to collect that much data on such a large transit system in six months without a team.”
“We have to win or the system will disappear.”
Analyzing ridership of the world’s largest subway system is no small task: Researchers need to assemble a sample size that matches the socioeconomic, racial, cultural and administrative breakdown of the city.
Surveying commuters who are in a hurry will also be a challenge, Kuhlman said.
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“When using public transport, everyone is always in a hurry. [The researchers will need to be] “We need to be very specific about the data we need so people can respond,” she said.
“This is a tiny amount in terms of the losses,” Kuhlman said. “I know the reaction is, ‘How can a psychiatrist tell people to be happy?’ But no, there’s more to it than that.”
