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That depends on my mood because I see in two different perception. If I swipe for them, I am giving free ride to these people by screwing MTA, and I totally don't have a problem of screwing MTA because they screw me with no mercy even when is obviously is their fault. If I don't swipe them, I just slow down people on utilizing subway cart as their living room couch.
I don't care about MTA because MTA doesn't care about me when I needed their assistance. I don't care about people who beg for swipe because they tend to do more harm than good to the system.
Therefore, there's no perfect solution for this problem.
You mean like when there are 3-4 cops waiting around to give tickets to fare beaters, so you think they are saving the MTA money by doing this, how much tax dollars are being spent on their salaries waiting around...
Now you're just making things up. I never mentioned cops or salaries at all, and you know this. If you want to have a theory, fine, have a theory, but don't put words in my mouth.
Now you're just making things up. I never mentioned cops or salaries at all, and you know this. If you want to have a theory, fine, have a theory, but don't put words in my mouth.
Not saying you said it, I'm saying rhetorically. Fare beaters, free swipes that's like pennies to the MTA, like if someone doesn't pay they loose a penny wooo..... The unlimited is a recent concept created by the MTA to give us the illusion that we are saving money since in reality the fare has risen so drastically that they make a killing already on each unlimited card.
Regardless of that and any other legality/illegailty - regardless of whether or not it's an unlimited, or a PPR - regardless of how it's sticking it to the MTA or not sticking it to the MTA...
I DO NOT as a rule give money to people on the street, in the subway, etc. While I understand that the shelter system and so on is not ideal, enough of my taxpayer money goes to help these folks, while I, as a middle class person, gets zero assistance if I should ever need it. Giving someone a swipe is the same damn thing as far as I'm concerned. The more people give them money on the train and give them swipes, the more this behavior will continue.
Call me a *****, whatever you'd like. It's probably all true. And won't change my mind.
Regardless of that and any other legality/illegailty - regardless of whether or not it's an unlimited, or a PPR - regardless of how it's sticking it to the MTA or not sticking it to the MTA...
I DO NOT as a rule give money to people on the street, in the subway, etc. While I understand that the shelter system and so on is not ideal, enough of my taxpayer money goes to help these folks, while I, as a middle class person, gets zero assistance if I should ever need it. Giving someone a swipe is the same damn thing as far as I'm concerned. The more people give them money on the train and give them swipes, the more this behavior will continue.
Call me a *****, whatever you'd like. It's probably all true. And won't change my mind.
I recalled reading this article but my recollection was that the article said the practice was legal. I just re-read it and that is not what it says at all! The "fare beggars" are (#1) begging, and (#2) impeding the flow of traffic, both of which are not legal. These fare beggars used to be arrested, and now what's changed is they are not arrested but instead given a ticket with a fine attached.
So everyone else above who was assuming the practice was legal was also wrong.
I also had time to re-think my opinion overall on this issue and I agree with Liz that this is begging and since I do not give to any other beggars on the train, I won't give to these beggars either. The only thing giving to beggars does is encourage their behavior and soon the trains and turnstiles will be full of this stuff.
That article also says "(The New York City Transit Authority says that, though it is deprived of a fare, it has no problem with people using unlimited MetroCards to swipe in strangers.)"
There's still nothing inherently illegal about asking for a swipe, per se--e.g., if a person stood on the sidewalk near the entrance, not impeding traffic, not on MTA property, and requested a swipe, that would not be illegal. The problem is these dumb collateral offenses.
"Begging" and "impeding traffic" especially are BS bases for an arrest and a huge waste of the PD's time, putting people in the system for no good reason. Don't the cops have any actual violent criminals to go after?
At my station, we have a toll booth with an agent inside. People still beg, plead, sell and hop the turn style
I ignore all of it.
Someone should do a study how much money the mta is loosing in revenue from people get swiped for free, hoping the turn style, sneaking on the bus etc etc...
I swipe people in. You never know the situation that the other person is in. My unlimited is paid for, so what's the difference?
There's no shortage of revenue at the MTA and reform will not happen for the foreseeable future barring a major disaster and a strong willed mayor with lots of support.
So by your logic, the thousands of people who are getting swiped in "for free" every day and therefore not paying fares are not causing a loss of income to the MTA. Yeah, right.
The MTA "loses" much more from labor inefficiency, procurement corruption, and ineffective management than they will ever lose from lost fares.
Furthermore, if you're all about lost fares, why don't we eliminate the senior citizen/disabled discount, student passes, and passes for MTA employees, NYPD, etc.
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