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MTA Targets Swiping Scofflaws With Extended MetroCard Blackouts
By
Garth Johnston
Published May 7, 2012
Modified May 7, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published May 7, 2012
Modified May 7, 2012
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The MTA is really working to stop MetroCard swipe sellers. As the News' Pete Donohue reports today, the Authority has gone so far as to begin a "secret pilot program" designed to make life harder for the swiping scofflaws. There are downsides to progress though.
As you've probably experienced at one point or another, swipe sellers are those guys who'll purposely clog MetroCard vending machines and then sell swipes, for the regular $2.25 price, to folks looking for a ride. But as the sellers have unlimited cards, they walk away with a solid profit. The "secret pilot" program makes their job that much harder by tweaking the blackout period in which you can't reuse a MetroCard. Normally you can swipe a card again after 18 minutes, but under the pilot program if you try and do so in one of the 28 stations "where MetroCard records indicate high rates of fraud" you'll have to wait anywhere from 36 minutes to an hour. Or just jump the turnstile.
"We know the police are out there doing everything they can to address this problem," MTA spokesman Charles Seaton said of the pilot program. "We think we can do some things internally to make this kind of fraud less financially attractive."
On the one hand, this seems like a pretty simple way to try and prevent a pretty prevalent form of fraud. On the other hand, as Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign points out, there are times when this could be a problem. Like if you've entered a station and suddenly realized you left your keys in your office and have to go back. When you are trying to get home from a day of work the last thing you want to do is wait while your MetroCard "recharges."
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metrocard fraud
MTA
swiping scofflaw
Garth Johnston
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