Gothamist
The free ride is about to be over on New York City’s buses, MTA Chair Janno Lieber declared on Tuesday.
Speaking at the New York Law School, the transit chief said next month’s retirement of the MetroCard will enable the agency to ramp up its crackdown on fare evaders. He said requiring all riders to use the digital tap-to-pay OMNY system makes it easier to check whether someone paid to ride.
“Once tap-and-ride is fully implemented, we're going to move to European-style fare payment enforcement, where you'll have fare agents, not cops, who can go up to people and say, ‘Can you show me your phone or your OMNY card and I can validate that you paid?’” Lieber said.
Lieber said the enforcement will be targeted at the MTA’s select bus service routes. More than half the riders on those lines
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