The fare is up and so are arrests for fare evasion. Transit police arrested 1,510 people for jumping the fare in December and 2,205 just last month. Both numbers are higher than in December and January of last year.
“There is usually a slight uptick anytime there is a fare increase,” said MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz of turnstile-jumpers, referring to the $104 30-day MetroCard and the $29 7-day card that took effect in December.
The MTA is trying to curtail fare evasion by targeting high-incidence locations.
This winter has also been one of the toughest in more than a decade for the subways, as trains were delayed or canceled due to snow.
“In my 35 years, this is up there with four bad winters: ’78-’79, 1980, ’95-’96 was an exceptionally bad winter and this winter,” said Transit President Tom Prendergast. “This has been by far one of the most impactful winters we’ve had.”
Blame dirty stations on snow, too. Cleaning crews must shovel snow in storms, so, “When you have storm after storm, there’s a backlog, like the garbage build-up in the street,” said Prendergast.
