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Civic disorder follow-up: The case of fare evasion

A reader has suggested that fare evasion is a good measure of the low-level disorder I wrote about yesterday. Maybe! And in New York City it's way up:

I'm of three minds on this. On the one hand, it's obviously a symptom of low-level lawbreaking, and it's not really pandemic related. Fare evasion did spike during the pandemic, but then it returned to precisely the trendline it was on beforehand. If the pandemic had never happened, fare evasion would probably still be way up.

On the other hand, fare evasion isn't really a sign of disorder. It doesn't hurt anyone, after all. It doesn't even directly annoy anyone or make the subway less safe.

On the third hand, the increase in fare evasion matches perfectly with the 2018 announcement by the city's DA that he would no longer prosecute fare evaders. This was not for woke reasons (poor people can't afford to pay, etc.), it was because it wasn't cost effective. Nonetheless it's an example of encouraging minor lawbreaking by simply giving up on enforcement.

The increase in fare evasion also (kinda) matches up with an increase in social media meme videos about how to evade fares. But I'm not sure if this confirms or contradicts the notion that fare evasion is a symptom of rising disorder.

So I'm afraid I don't have any strong conclusions to draw about this. I just thought I'd toss it out for everyone to gnaw on.

72 thoughts on “Civic disorder follow-up: The case of fare evasion

  1. rick_jones

    On the other hand, fare evasion isn't really a sign of disorder. It doesn't hurt anyone, after all. It doesn't even annoy anyone or make the subway less safe.

    The hell it doesn’t annoy anyone. Anyone paying the fare would be annoyed. Certainly I would be.

    1. Jasper_in_Boston

      Yeah, Kevin‘s a bit out to lunch on this one. It’s open criminal activity. Low level criminal activity to be sure, but nonetheless, it’s not hard to understand why this could make people feel uneasy.

        1. cheweydelt

          It’s not scary, it’s infuriating. I am so happy to live in a city with great public transportation. But I have seen the increase in fare jumping and have also seen the cutbacks in service that are part COVID but also part brazen lawbreaking.

        2. Jasper_in_Boston

          Sorry for the intemperate language, lol! I think it’s at least modestly frightening to some folks to see that people they’re riding the subway with are not law-abiding (or, more probably, that the relevant authorities can’t be bothered to or are incapable of enforcing the law). Subway fare evasion is far from the most serious crime in the world, obviously, but it’s disquieting, and frays the social contract, at least when it becomes commonplace.

        3. MF

          Individual fare evaders are not generally scary.

          Large groups of fare evaders are potentially menacing. You are suddenly close to or sometimes within a group of (usually) young, rowdy, minority youth who may be perfectly harmless or may decide to mug you or otherwise harrass you.

          At the higher level, the people who cause the most problems in the subway are almost certainly disproportionately fare evaders. Mentally ill people usually do not have the money to take the subway. There is a real issue that if you enforce fare evasion rules against such people you make it impossible for them to move around New York, but that is a separate issue from disorder.

          1. KinersKorner

            I don’t find it frightening but it does piss the shot of me. The should enforce it just for fairness sake. Jackasses always who think they can get away with anything.

        4. Atticus

          You said it doesnt annoy anyone. It very much annoys most law abiding people. And, I would argue it might make some people feel a little uneasy being around people blatantly breaking the law.

      1. James B. Shearer

        "... doing something objectively annoying. ..."

        It is objectively annoying both in itself and as a reminder that the people running things don't care.

        Also many of the joy riding jerks who make public transportation unpleasant and sometimes dangerous would not be there if they had to pay. Imposing a charge screens out undesirables.

      2. Austin

        People do get assaulted by fare jumpers. Either the jumping itself results in them colliding with regular fare paying people or they decide to steal their fare by cramming in with you through the gate. I’ve witnessed the former and had the latter happen to me. Both are assault. Both I reported to 911. Both were agreed upon by the officer that the events were assault. Nothing was done and nothing will be done (according to the cop that responded to my personal assault) until apparently the victims need hospital visits and morgues to be involved. Fare evasion needs to be taken seriously before it gets to that point, in my opinion.

      1. rick_jones

        I’m following the rules. I’m paying the fare, I’m paying the vehicle registration. I’m stopping for red lights. Etc etc.

        1. cistg

          It should only make you feel like a sucker if you were already inclined to skip the fare yourself but didn't for some reason (maybe you were nervous).

          If you were determined to pay the fare no matter what, because you are a decent person and member of society, then seeing someone skip the fare should just make you think "what an a**hole!".

  2. Chondrite23

    I suspect this is another case of the effect of social media making people angry. Between the online forums and the NextDoor goofiness it is really easy to be triggered by some news about someone misbehaving.

    The thing is, the thing you hear is emotionally loaded. Countering some emotional account of a scary guy robbing packages from your porch is hardly balanced by some numbers on a spreadsheet showing that crime overall is down.

    There is no money in reassuring people that life is good and mostly safe. You sell ads on local TV, you get hits on FB and NextDoor by pumping adrenaline into people. Especially if the miscreant is a person of color or a homeless person in a white neighborhood.

  3. Crissa

    How much of this is them having better counting? Did they only count stile jumps before? Were they just ignorant of some? Did they count slugs? How do they produce these numbers? Are they counting cops?

    Although... if their cameras are always broken, how do we know these numbers are at all good?

    1. cheweydelt

      Fare gates in many places are able to tell when someone jumps the gate. They produce an audible signal and a visual signal. This technology is not new.

  4. MikeTheMathGuy

    > "It doesn't hurt anyone, after all."

    Well, except that if the transit authority sets fares in order to break even, a 10% evasion rate results in everyone else paying 11% more for each fare. For a lot of people, that's real money over the course of the year. I would find that annoying, even if it doesn't result in "somebody getting in your face".

  5. cheweydelt

    In a broad sense, the idea that it doesn’t hurt anyone is flatly untrue. Many of us in dense urban areas rely on the public transportation system and are impacted by cutbacks in service due to lower revenue caused in part by fare evasion.

    Second, it is absolutely galling to watch fare evasion everyday. I pay my fucking metro fare and I’m a working class guy. When I see people jump the fare gates, it fucking pisses me off. I don’t care whether it’s rational or not, but I want every one of those people fined or arrested. Make their lives more miserable for threatening the stability of the public transportation system that is so vital to my city. Absolutely lock them up.

    I’m a long-time liberal, but I’m also a working-class liberal. It makes me so angry to see these people doing what they’re doing. My own commute has been threatened by the drop in revenue from these people. I did not see the levels of fare evasion that I’ve seen until the last few years. I’m glad that the Metro system has been taking some steps to reduce it by putting additional physical barriers in place, but it’s not enough. I want more cops stopping people and issuing them fines or arresting them.

    1. Jasper_in_Boston

      >>don’t care whether it’s rational or not, but I want every one of those people fined or arrested<<

      Wanting the law to be enforced isn’t the least bit irrational.

        1. Jasper_in_Boston

          until the cops decide to pull out their guns and start shooting...

          If preventing people from stealing transit services requires a wave of murder by the police, we really are too far gone to fix. But I don't think we are that far gone.

          1. Falconer

            Two people are in critical condition today after a chaotic police shooting inside a New York City subway station Sunday. It began after officers pursued a man who did not pay his fare - and a warning that the details of this incident are graphic. WNYC's Bahar Ostadan joins us now from Brooklyn. Can you just start by telling us what happened yesterday?

            1. Jasper_in_Boston

              I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

              Pretty obviously bad policing is bad policing. This absolutely does not mean laws shouldn't be enforced. And that's of course, assuming the incident in question was actually bad policing. Media reportage suggests the suspect was armed, and disobeyed multiple requests by police to hand over his weapon.

  6. dilbert dogbert

    This how you run a police dept like a business.
    When enforcement doesn't return a profit on an investment you end the enforcement.

    1. jdubs

      As there is literally zero public safety concern here.....yes.

      Like every other public investment or use of resource decision, this is the correct and only way to think about whether its a good use of resources.

      But this is actually the opposite of the typical 'run a police dept like a business' . Officers are being reassigned to public good duties instead of revenue maximization duties. Youre way off here.

  7. jte21

    In many European cities, there are no physical barriers to getting on the subway, but there are regular undercover patrols who bust "Schwarzfahrer" (the German term) and issue fines on the spot if they catch you without a valid ticket. I'm sure plenty of people still take their chances and ride without paying, but the enforcement is such that you're almost guaranteed to eventually get caught and the fine definitely makes it not worth it.

  8. jdubs

    This is certainly the smallest problem in the country. Its just an eyeroll.

    Literally everything else is a bigger deal than this. But people gotta complain about something.....

        1. Jasper_in_Boston

          This is a correct and common usage.

          "Literally" means "actually" or "not engaging in hyperbole."

          You actually think tens of millions in lost revenue to transit services is a smaller concern than "everything else?"

          That seems wrong.

          1. jdubs

            Literally has two definitions and both are used commonly.

            Always kind of funny, literally, when the valiant word police trip and stumble over their own two feet.

            1. Jasper_in_Boston

              Always kind of funny, literally, when the valiant word police trip and stumble over their own two feet.

              It wasn't word policing. It's called "sarcasm." It's always kind of funny, literally, when soi-disant usage experts can't detect it.

              But in any event you haven't answered my question. But I'm literally curious. So I'll ask it again! You believe millions of lost revenue to transit services is a smaller concern than "everything else?"

              That seems wrong.

              As I've acknowledged multiple times on this thread, fare invasion is indeed from the most serious problem we face. But I don't think it's so trivial that we shouldn't even bother to enforce it. Transit systems are under a lot of financial pressure! And yes, the specter of widespread criminal activity can (and probably does, in places like NYC or SF), contribute to feeling that things are disorderly.

    1. Austin

      You wouldn’t feel this way if it was you that was shoved out of the way so someone else could cram through the open faregate with you on your fare. (Has happened to me personally.)

      Or if it was you kicked in the shoulder as someone was leaping over the faregate next to you. (Have personally witnessed this happen to others.)

      Unless you’re ok with people just randomly assaulting other people, you shouldn’t be ok with fare theft. I agree that people shouldn’t have their lives destroyed by prison for stealing things worth less than $10 as most fares are. But I also don’t think it’s not a crime worth taking seriously when people injure others to steal things worth less than $10, as fare thieves are doing.

      1. Jasper_in_Boston

        +1

        One of the undercurrents that's disturbing is that it is normally liberals and progressives who valorize civilization, order, good government and high quality public services. It is the right that typically disdains these values in nihilist fashion. So it's disappointing to see the former dismissing the importance of basic enforcement of rules.

        1. jdubs

          Lol. This is your problem, its not political tribe drama. Get down off your high horse, put away your desire for tribe drama and get over yourself.

          Its just not a big deal, thats all. I paid for public transit nearly every day of my working life.

          1. Jasper_in_Boston

            Its just not a big deal, thats all.

            Fare evasion is not an existential crisis. But it's not so trivial that it shouldn't be policed. Nor is basic enforcement of societal rules a trivial matter. As a liberal, I like a modicum of order and law-enforcement. If turnstyle jumping is truly widespread, it contributes to an atmosphere of chaos and lack of respect to the rules. I've already stated that, like Kevin I'm skeptical we've seen an "epidemic" of disorder. But it does appear we're seeing an epidemic of fare evasion.

            https://new.mta.info/blue-ribbon-report-fare-toll-evasion

            The law is worth enforcing. That, apparently, is where we differ.

      2. jdubs

        Fare skipping and assault are obviously 2 different things. Lets not be stupid here.

        But you make my point for me. Its such a non serious matter that you had to change the issue to something else.

  9. stevebikes

    "It doesn't hurt anyone, after all. It doesn't even directly annoy anyone or make the subway less safe."

    Kevin, the way fare evasion works on the MBTA is that someone rushes up behind you and shoves you through as the gate opens. It's quite disturbing!

  10. cephalopod

    In the NY subway system, you can see the fare evaders jump the turnstile, which will be annoying to many (lack of fairness, concern about fare increases, etc).

    Where I am it is much harder for riders to ID the fare evaders. It's largely on an honor system for trains.

    But, there are a significant number of fare evaders who aren't just going from point A to point B. Some of them are filling their days, and they often behave obnoxiously on transit. Having transit staff randomly check fares helps cut down on that annoying fraction. All it takes is one guy vaping or playing music loudly to ruin the ride for a couple dozen others. The groups of people loudly yelling at each other are even worse.

  11. JohnH

    I do worry about the drop in revenue from fair evasion. The governor's appeasing upstate voters who will never drive down here in NYC by reducing income from congestion pricing isn't helping.

    More generally, fair jumpers may increase the overall sense that subways are out of control, contributing to the public impression of crime in the subway that isn't a problem at all. Once you leave the station, first comes the long speech from someone needing money. Then he exits and the mariachi band comes on. Then the woman with child in tow (or delegating entirely to her child) repeating ad nauseum "chocolatE." And so on until you get off. All minor annoyances to be sure, and no doubt the first man's misery is real. But so is there.

  12. JohnH

    I do worry about the drop in revenue from fair evasion. The governor's appeasing upstate voters who will never drive down here in NYC by reducing income from congestion pricing isn't helping.

    More generally, fair jumpers may increase the overall sense that subways are out of control, contributing to the public impression of crime in the subway that isn't a problem at all. Once you leave the station, first comes the long speech from someone needing money. Then he exits and the mariachi band comes on. Then the woman with child in tow (or delegating entirely to her child) repeating ad nauseum "chocolatE." And so on until you get off. All minor annoyances to be sure, and no doubt the first man's misery is real. But so is the impression. .

  13. JohnH

    Of course there's also fare evasion on buses, a more complicated story. It's also yet another story about the NY Times. It reported this fall that fare evasion is around, if I remember right, two of three riders.

    My impression is that they just wanted a scoop confirming the obvious, although I've been watching ever since, and the number is exaggerated. Fare evasion isn't huge, I found, on ordinary bus lines where it would mean walking right past the driver. It's more of a problem on "select bus" routes that ask MetroCard users (soon to be phased out) to pay using sidewalk machines to speed entry. (Users of the new OMNY system are still asked to tap their credit cards on readers inside the bus). I found a lot of payers, which makes sense for the concentration of select bus routes in certain demographics, rising after school, kids for whom fare evasion is a rite of passage under group pressure.

    But whatever the numbers,the fun part is the Times. Just two days later, the mayor announced a crackdown on fare evasion. (Gee, I wonder why.) And the Times ran a piece repeating that uncritically and watching a woman get ticketed. Did the reporter wander about the city until he found a ticket? Surely the city knew where it was sending transit police and invited reporters. It was, in affect, a staged event. And then I never saw an arrest again. (There had been tickets issued in the past at Second Avenue in Kips Bay.)

    But, just as with the awful state of the economy or withdrawal from war (not), gotta flatter your contacts, or you'll never fill our paper of record with gee whiz stories.

  14. politicalfootball

    It's bizarre to say that an increase public misbehavior would lead people to vote for Trump. If such a thing exists, Trump is either a symptom or a cause. He embodies the idea of public misbehavior.

    1. Jasper_in_Boston

      The municipal governments of NYC, SF, LA, Philadelphia, Boston etc are dominated by Democrats. So, while it may not be completely rational on their part, it doesn't strike me as surprising that disgruntled city residents may have taken out their ire on the top of the ticket.

  15. politicalfootball

    I think it's ridiculous to equate fare-jumping with ... whatever we're trying to equate it with here. But yeah, in DC, there is zero doubt in my mind that fare-jumping has increased. It's interesting. I imagine people learned how easy it was during the pandemic and continued the practice afterward.

    The DC metro has announced steps to combat it, and has installed more secure gates. And from observation, I think that has done a lot to cut down on it.

    1. HokieAnnie

      DC metro for years had bad fare gate designs. Just adding the plexglass panels to prevent easy jumping over was a no brainer.

      OTOH I think if the cost of enforcing fares and rounding up evaders is higher than the lost revenue, we should be rethinking how we fund the system, it's a loud and clear signal that taxation of various means should fund it and save the $$$ wasted on being subway cop for fares. I'm really coming to the conclusion that buses in DC should be free if there's not a cost effective means of enforcing fares.

      1. James B. Shearer

        "...I'm really coming to the conclusion that buses in DC should be free if there's not a cost effective means of enforcing fares."

        Then you get obnoxious groups joy riding and driving away the decent customers.

  16. Atticus

    It’s funny how so many commenters here agree it’s infuriating and unfair that some people jump fares. After all, we follow the rules (the “social contract”, as another commenter put it) and pay the fare while others don’t have to even though they are being provided the same service. I totally agree. Yet many of these same commenters are incapable of understanding the resentment some people have when student loans are canceled for some but others have paid them back.

    1. HokieAnnie

      I resent the fact that we saddled the kids with these loans in the first place. College was affordable when I went and suddenly the boomers stopped subsidizing state colleges and universities in the early 1990s right after I graduated. I resent folks getting angry that kids given a raw deal are getting angry at the attempt to level off that unfairness.

    2. Codyak5050

      There's a difference between someone breaking the rules to evade paying a fare, and someone having loans forgiven because the government cancelled the balance. The latter has gone through some level of bureaucratic process and is approved by a legitimate authority. The other is just cheating.

      The student loan example is more akin to getting angry because you bought a new TV two weeks before it went on sale, and now other people get it at a discount. It's a sheer function of timing, and I'm not gonna begrudge someone getting a good deal that I missed out on.

    3. jdubs

      This is a really bad comparison. The students werent breaking any rules. Do people get upset if the transit authority determines a rider was overcharged and provides a partial refund?

      But we get that confused resentment of others is your core feature. We get it. You resent lots of other people.

  17. Kalimac

    I would like to dispute the proposition that fare evasion doesn't hurt anyone.

    Until the new secure BART fare gates were installed, fare evasion was so common in San Francisco that it was a regular thing for me to be registering my fare card at the gate and be almost knocked over by someone leaping over the same gate from the other direction.

    At least they usually said "Sorry!" as they ran off.

  18. Chip Daniels

    I wonder how many of the people who find it "infuriating", themselves break the speed limit, or roll through stop signs.
    And how many here find it "*infuriating" that wage theft is essentially unpunished even though it really inflicts harm?

    This isn't a charge of hypocrisy, but I'm asking us all to examine how we think about rule-breaking and to acknowledge that there is a lot of irrationality to how we feel about it.

    That our views on when its ok to break the rules are complex and have a lot to do with who is breaking the rule, and under what circumstances. That there are unspoken social norms around when it is ok to break a rule and when it isn't.

    1. Jasper_in_Boston

      I wonder how many of the people who find it "infuriating", themselves break the speed limit, or roll through stop signs.

      So you're saying traffic laws also shouldn't be enforced?

      I'm personally not "infuriated" about either fare evasion or lack of perfect adherence to driving rules. But I favor enforcement of both. That's the part where there seems to be some disagreement on this thread.

  19. Austin

    “It doesn't hurt anyone, after all. It doesn't even directly annoy anyone or make the subway less safe.”

    This is a lie and evidence that Kevin never never rides transit. I see people leaping over the faregates all the time… and occasionally startling little old ladies or tourists. Once I even saw a guy leap over the gates and accidentally kick someone in the arm while doing so. That’s assault but it went uncharged because the thief ran away. And I personally have been pushed out of the way so someone could involuntarily come through with me on my fare. Again, that’s assault but the guy just blew past me and boarded a train and vanished.

    1. jdubs

      Clearly, fare skipping and assault are two different actions. There can be overlap, but they are not the same.

      Just like tax fraud and child trafficking can have overlap. But we shouldnt pretend that your opinion on tax enforcement automatically indicates your opinion on child trafficking. 2 different things.

  20. jeffreycmcmahon

    "This was not for woke reasons (poor people can't afford to pay, etc.)"

    Mr. Drum should seriously omit the word "woke" from his writing vocabulary for the indefinite future. He's using it as a right-wing cliche, when it should only every be used as a mockery of a right-wing cliche.

  21. NeilWilson

    I know I am late to posting so few people will read this but stopping fare evasion, especially in New York City subways, is about the easiest way to reduce crime.

    Virtually every criminal in New York uses the subway. A large number of them evade the fare. Stop them, frisk them, search for outstanding warrants. You won't get much pushback from the public because they KNOW, and many saw, the people break the law by evading the fare.

    It annoyed me so much to watch people stroll through the gate or jumped the turnstile without paying .

  22. Jasper_in_Boston

    I know I am late to posting so few people will read this but stopping fare evasion, especially in New York City subways, is about the easiest way to reduce crime.

    Excellent point. Again, it's not the worst crime on the planet, but it is nonetheless criminal activity. Plainly, persons willing to engage in this petty crime are more likely than the general public to have engaged in other, more serious crimes. If a dude with an outstanding warrant for aggravated assault is too stupid to pay the fare, we should feel guilty about going after him?

    And it's also a good way to get more revenue. In 2022 fare evasion in NYC cost the MTA more than $700 million! A hundred million here and a hundred million there: pretty soon we're talking about real money.

    https://new.mta.info/blue-ribbon-report-fare-toll-evasion

  23. gdanning

    There needs to be some effort to adjust for the fact that the population of subway riders is somewhat different now than pre-COVID. Ridership is only 70% of what it was pre-COVID, and a lot of those missing riders are office workers who were very unlikely to be fare jumpers.

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