Transit officials said units known as EAGLE teams will be deployed to local bus routes across the five boroughs.
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2023.MTA officials said on Thursday that a strict fare evasion crackdown is coming to the city’s buses — and warned riders across the five boroughs they’d be hit with tickets if they don’t pay.
The agency will also be sending NYPD officers to 20 bus hubs around the city to help support enforcement by the EAGLE teams, officials said. “This is the first time that we've really gone all out on all the different types of MTA buses to start bringing fare evasion enforcement, for real,” said MTA Chair Janno Lieber. “Everybody has to feel like they're playing by the same rules for our public space to work…We need to act now, and we need to act quickly, because fare evasion on buses has really gone crazy.
Officials said the campaign's primary goal is to help people sign up for the city’s Fair Fares program, which provides half-priced MetroCards to low-income New Yorkers. The City Council earlier this yearfunding for the program in a move that allows roughly 50,000 more New Yorkers to qualify for the discount.
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