Not Worth the Risk: Why US Cities Should Rethink Transit Fare Policing

The authors of the article want readers to believe that the police saw the offender enter the subway without paying the subway fare and the police simply shot the offender. A careful reading of the article highlights the following points by the authors: $2.90 isn’t worth killing a person. Subway fare enforcement is a racist police crime-fighting strategy. Subway fare enforcement, doesn’t make sense economically. Transportation discrimination.

$2.90 isn’t worth killing a person.

True, killing a person for not paying a $2.90 subway fare is wrong. It is sad and tragic. However, what happened in the event discussed in the article (Article: “Not Worth the Risk: Why US Cities Should Rethink Transit Fare Policing”, See the news article HERE) is the police confronted the offender for entering the subway system without paying the fare and he pulled a knife on the officers. Brandishing a knife towards the police makes the offender a violent person. The offender posed a risk of deadly force to police and the persons on the subway. Through the offender’s actions he escalated his criminality from fare evasion, to resisting arrest, to menacing, attempted serious assault, or attempted murder. The police must react to a man with a knife on a subway car full of people. Keep in mind the offender could have simply co-operated with the police where the worst result would have been the offender released on an appearance ticket.

Subway fare enforcement is a racist police crime-fighting strategy.

The police crime-fighting strategy that was critized in the article and is always under attack by liberals is Broken Windows Policing. It’s ironic that Broken Windows Policing is labeled as a racist police strategy when, in the 1982 article by Wilson and Kelling, the authors explicitly acknowledge there is a risk of biased or racist actions by police when enforcing Broken Windows Policing.

“The concern about equity is more serious. We might agree that certain behavior makes one person more undesirable than another, but how do we ensure that age or skin color or national origin or harmless mannerisms will not also become the basis for distinguishing the undesirable from the desirable? How do we ensure, in short, that the police do not become the agents of neighborhood bigotry?
We can offer no wholly satisfactory answer to this important question. We are not confident that there is a satisfactory answer, except to hope that by their selection, training, and supervision, the police will be inculcated with a clear sense of the outer limit of their discretionary authority That limit, roughly, is this — the police exist to help regulate behavior, not to maintain the racial or ethnic purity of a neighborhood.”

**SEE Page 35 in Kelling, G. L., & Wilson, J. Q. (1982). Broken windows. Atlantic monthly, 249(3), 29-38.  (https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/archives/1982/03/249-3/132638105.pdf)

Enforcing subway fare evasion can keep out the type of person that has nefarious intentions. Many times persons stopped for subway fare evasion are wanted on warrants, were carrying weapons or contraband, (see Maple, J., & Mitchell, C. (1999). The crime fighter: putting the bad guys out of business and Bratton, W. J., & Knobler, P. (1998). Turnaround: how America’s top cop reversed the crime epidemic) or enter the subway system to commit a crime. When police apply Broken Windows Policing they don’t ignore other violations and crime. Police presence in the subway system and enforcement civil and physical incivilities (Broken Windows violations) the police are enforcing the most visible violations/crimes, respond to concerns of subway riders, and support the “Good Users” on the subway.

Subway fare enforcement, doesn’t make sense economically.

The cost of fare evasion may surprise the reader. Subway fare evasion diminishes the Quality of Life on the subway for ridership. There are also economic costs.

“Losses to the MTA’s operating budget are staggering, with nearly $700 million in revenue not collected in 2022 alone. This includes $315 million lost in bus fares, $285 million in subway fares, $46 million in bridge and tunnel tolls, and $44 million in railroad fares.
Fares and tolls account for a significant proportion of the MTA’s annual budget revenue — almost $7 billion a year. But every dollar lost to evasion impairs the MTA’s financial stability, threatens reliable transit for all New Yorkers, and increases the need for alternative revenue sources, including through larger fare and toll hikes.”
See: https://new.mta.info/blue-ribbon-report-fare-toll-evasion

It is rare to witness serious crime. Much of what drives fear are signs of social and physical disorder. If physical and social disorder along with minor violations of the law are left unchecked, more Good Users will refrain from using the subway system. These circumstances cause further decline of the subway system towards disorder, crime, and chaos.

Transportation discrimination.

The authors end their article claiming that there should be an end to ridership fees. That people should be provided with free transportation and should be able to ride the subway free of police harassment.
There are about an “Annual paid subway ridership was about 1 billion in 2022. Daily ridership fluctuates, but is currently running in the range of 3.4 million on weekdays” (See page 42 https://new.mta.info/blue-ribbon-report-fare-toll-evasion). There are about 4,000 officers assigned to NYPD Transit, probably some amount less than 4,000 are assigned to patrol the subway system. The police officers assigned to the NYC subway system are reassuring to the ridership. The only persons that are unhappy to see the police in the subway are the criminals.