MRA Industries

To: The NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority

From: Mateo Hyatsu, C.E.O

Raynor Quiah, C.F.O

Ahmad Arif, Director

Subject: Fare evasion prevention

Date: October 20, 2020

The purpose of this memo is to discuss fare evasion by people in NYC transit system which is devastating for it. It loses a significant amount of revenue due to it. The memo will also introduce possible prevention methods. The MTA continually increases the amount of money that a traveler must pay in order to use public transportation, which ultimately leads to more people evading the fare. This memo will also demonstrate ways in which the state of New York can ultimately prevent the evasion of fare without spending insanely large amounts of money (relative to the situation).

Summary:

It is quite normal for the transportation system to be manipulated and exploited. The train stations in the state of New York barely offer any protection regarding the ability to stop a person from entering a station even though he/she has not paid the fare. In NYC, people will find 100 ways to get past the turnstile before paying for the ride. It is an extremely prevalent issue which has not been properly prevented. The lack of proper prevention has cost the MTA millions of dollars in losses. This led to improper funding in station renovations and employments. It has also come around to impact the riders by gradually increasing the fare over the years. We’d like to talk about the current situation of the transit system and prevention methods.

Discussion:

Most turnstiles in stations are just a metal bar which moves forward when the card is swiped. The issue with that is people can jump over or go under it with ease. With NYC being so crowed and having millions of people using the transit system, people can easily sneak past the gates by using each other as cover. There have been several different attempts to utilize a different form of a turnstile in order to keep people from jumping over or avoiding the barrier. An example of this revolves around the idea of gating. A gating device in subway stations is a device that automatically opens when a Metro card is swiped. The gate is shaped so that it prevents people from jumping over and climbing under while allowing for easy access to people that are disabled and use wheelchairs or other items to assist their walking (Petrie 11).

We’d also like to talk about taking an intelligent approach to public safety. Surveillance offers transportation agencies new options to utilize video & data integration to promote for public security. Intelligent displays with video camera integration are an ideal asset where facial features need to be captured for identification but where a conventional camera might not be ideal or possible (Teleste Corp).  Also, we think there should be sensors at the end of each turnstile which can detect movement. If one person were to evade the fare, the sensor would pick it up and sound an alarm. This would notify the proper authorities and the evader can be held responsible. This idea sounds expensive but may prove to be beneficial in the long term. People wonder why Japanese railroads are so well maintained. It is due to their good use of technology and ethics regarding following the transit system rules.

As a result of the gating innovation not providing a short-term solution to the problem at hand, it would be more efficient for the MTA to introduce the full body turnstiles that are already in many train stations. The full body turnstiles eliminate the risk of anybody hopping the turnstile and is pretty cost effective. Additionally, since that type of turnstile is already available in certain train stations, it would optimize the amount of money that the transportation can save while getting more money from people utilizing the transportation. Although fare evasion has been unstoppable no matter what the methods taken, we think using video and data integration and sensory alarms will mitigate the issue a lot more. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages. They may be expensive to put in every station, but if we start by utilizing them in crowed stations such as in Manhattan, we can slowly generate revenue to eventually cover the whole transit system.

Recommendation

We would like to discuss in depth with you, about the technologies we can use to prevent fare evasion or at least mitigate it. Our company can be contacted at (892-876-0197). We would also like to provide you with more information.

In order to prevent fare evasion, you must work on the following things:

● Reducing fare price (or increasing it less often)

● Get rid of turnstiles that people can hop

● Implement the full body turnstile in every station

● Provide an MTA worker or police officer by each emergency exit

● Add sensory alarms and facial recognition cameras.

Works Cited

Petrie, Joe. “Make Sure Riders Pay Their Fare Share.” StackPath, Mass Transit, 7 Mar. 2014, www.masstransitmag.com/home/article/11303444/innovative-ways-to-stop-mass-transit-fare-evasion.

Teleste Corporation. “REDUCING FARE EVASION WITH VIDEO & DATA INTEGRATION,” Teleste Video Security and Information Solutions,