The MTA will scale up an initiative to install modern fare gates at every entrance of 20 stations by the end of the year, officials at the transit agency said Wednesday.
New gates have been installed in sections of some stations already as part of the MTA’s push to reduce fare evasion and improve accessibility for people with disabilities. During a board meeting on Wednesday, officials said they were bringing the modern gates to all entrances of certain stations around the subway system.
The new gates have already been installed at specific entrances at 20 stations throughout the subway system, including Atlantic Av-Barclays Center, Roosevelt Av-Jackson Heights and E 180th St. in the Bronx. MTA officials said some of those stations could be among the 20 stations receiving new fare gates at every entrance.
All three designs feature tall glass doors that are harder to climb under or jump over. The doors swing open and camera systems at the top of the gate can detect if someone is evading the fare.
“Our fare array is really the front door to our subway system … And just like your own front door, we want it to be number one, secure, two, welcoming and three, easy to use for everyone,” Cathy Li, deputy chief of staff of the MTA’s construction arm, said at the meeting.
The last time the MTA completely revamped its fare gates was in the 1990s, when the turnstiles currently used in most of the system were installed. The MTA is now making a $1.1 billion investment to install new fare gates at 150 of its 472 stations. The 20 stations receiving a full set of fare gates at the end of the year will be included in that total.
According to the MTA’s five-year construction plan that earmarked funding for the new gates, the transit agency will select which stations get the technology based on ridership, fare evasion levels, accessibility needs and whether the station is considered a “major transit hub.”
“We are learning from the pilots and making adjustments,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber said. “The due diligence on the selection and deployment of these three models were extensive.”
Lieber also there’s a possibility that the MTA selects more than one winner to purchase fare gates from.
According to the MTA, 31% of daily subway riders have used the new fare gates at the 20 stations that have some of the new fare gates, about 12 million total taps into the system.
