Source: Noam Galai / Getty
Not too long ago the MTA announced that they were planning on cracking down on fare evaders who hop on public transportation without paying for their ride and now bus drivers have been instructed to stop opening the rear doors which allow people to get on without paying a cent.
According to the New York Post, the MTA is instructing bus drivers to keep rear doors closed whenever allowing passengers to board the bus as many New Yorkers creep through the back to avoid paying the $2.75 it costs to get on the bus.
“Effective immediately, to deter fare evasion,” agency drivers cannot “use the rear door toggle switch to open the rear/center automatically, unless it is necessary due to an emergency situation,” says a May 6 memo sent to all MTA bus operators.
The new directive will ideally force potential fare beaters to enter through the front doors of the bus — and be confronted by the driver if they don’t pay.
We expect many bus drivers to get beat up if they confront non-paying New Yorkers. Just sayin.’
This will be especially tricky since bus riders who exit the back will potentially allow fare beaters to just hop on anyway. J.P. Patafio, vice president for Transport Workers Local 100’s Brooklyn bus division knows this all too well and called the memo “Silly” because of it saying “If somebody is coming through the back door, it’s usually because there’s a lot of people getting off the bus,” he said. “The bus driver’s job is already very difficult, and we already know that enforcing fares leads to assault and fights on the bus.”
Exactly!
To make matters more complicated, the new initiative will only be for certain parts of the city as the rear doors will continue to open automatically on specific bus routes in New York City. Y’all already know how this story is going to go. Them back doors ain’t going to automatically open up in the hoods of NYC. Just sayin.’
Still, if bus drivers are going to be enforcing these new rules we hope they at least get a baton or something to protect themselves because it’s going to be chaotic out there if they do.
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