MTA pulls bus fare enforcement teams after violent incidents; what the Council has done on fare costs

The MTA has taken its bus fare enforcement teams off the street while it investigates recent violent confrontations between agents and riders, amNY reported. MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber suspended the teams, known as EAGLE Teams, on Thursday, Oct. 22.

A week earlier, the MTA removed four team members from active service after surveillance video showed what appeared to be a violent struggle with a rider on a Brooklyn bus, amNY reported. The rider has said agents assaulted him even though he had paid with a paper transfer; the MTA's probe is ongoing. Lieber also disclosed a second, older confrontation. He asked MTA Security Chief Michael Kemper to review how the teams operate, and said they would not return until he is confident in their training and their reporting and investigation rules.

"We're not giving up on the battle against fare evasion," Lieber said Friday, according to amNY. The MTA estimates that more than 40% of bus riders do not pay the $3 fare. It reported losing $300 million in bus revenue to fare evasion in 2024; a Citizens Budget Commission report put the figure at $568 million. A riders' advocacy group told amNY the pause suggests the MTA's European-style model of civilian fare checks may not work here.

The MTA is a state authority, so the Council does not oversee these teams directly. But it does set city policy on the discount program for low-income riders.

What our records add

Fair Fares enrollment law passed 46-0. Int. 248, from Council Member Crystal Hudson with 18 sponsors, streamlines enrollment in Fair Fares, the city's half-price transit fare program for low-income New Yorkers. The Council passed it Sept. 24, with 46 yes votes, four absent and one excused. The record shows it took effect under the City Charter's rule on Saturday, Oct. 24, after the mayor did not sign or veto it.

Members have connected fare summonses to Fair Fares. At the General Welfare Committee's May 6 hearing, Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez asked whether the Department of Social Services had studied how many low-income people who got fare evasion summonses were eligible for Fair Fares but not enrolled. An official said the department does not have fare evasion data, but under an existing local law it mails Fair Fares information to people the NYPD cites for fare evasion. Sanchez asked for numbers.

Pending resolutions to the MTA. Res. 52, from Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, backs state legislation giving Fair Fares-eligible riders half-price fares on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North. It was heard May 6 and laid over. Res. 92, from Kamillah Hanks with 14 sponsors, asks the MTA to put OMNY vending machines in at least 30 high-traffic places in each borough. It has had no hearing since Jan. 29.

What's next

The MTA has not said when the teams might return. The Council's Transportation Committee meets Tuesday, Oct. 27, on Vision Zero (meeting); fare enforcement is not on the agenda.