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MTA Pledges To Step Up Mask Enforcement, Reminds Riders Of $50 Fine
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Sep 22, 2021
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Marc A. Hermann / MTA
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Sep 22, 2021
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The MTA will step up enforcement of the federal requirement that anyone on the subways, buses, or commuter rails wear a mask, promising to ticket riders who don’t comply.
The rule also applies to anyone waiting for a train at an indoor station, although outdoor platforms are exempted.
Still, since Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order last September allowing people to be fined $50 for failing to wear a mask, the MTA police have only issued 41 tickets.
“We fully expect people to comply going forward, but we’re putting people on fair notice that if you choose not to comply, you may get a summons,” MTA Chief Safety Officer Patrick Warren said Wednesday.
The NYPD wouldn’t comment whether it’s enforcing the law and, if so, how many tickets police officers have issued.
“Data is not tracked to that level of specificity,” an NYPD spokesperson wrote. “When it comes to the public, we continue to provide any rider with a mask if they need one.”
The NYPD have been frequently spotted not wearing masks in the transit system. Recently Police Commissioner Dermot Shea reminded officers to wear a mask or face discipline.
On Wednesday, the MTA announced the mask compliance rates were 94% on buses, 90% on the commuter railroads, and 87% on the subways, according to its own surveys. That’s a jump from 70% compliance on the subways in July.
The subways are also more crowded now than over the summer. The agency broke pandemic-era ridership records during the first week public school students returned to the classroom and city workers returned to the office. More than 3 million riders took the subway last Tuesday and Friday and this Monday, marking new ridership highs since 2020.
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Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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