MTA tests new ways to block subway turnstile jumpers, ‘back cockers’ and more

MTA tests new ways to block subway turnstile jumpers, ‘back cockers’ and more The MTA is testing out new modifications to turnstiles at the Brooklyn Bridge station in an effort to curb fare evasion. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA) The MTA is testing out new modifications to turnstiles at the Brooklyn Bridge station in an effort to curb fare evasion.

The MTA is trying a new way to foil fare flouters — sleeves to extend turnstile arms. The sleeves are the latest arrow in a quiver of turnstile modifications meant to keep evaders at bay while the MTA continues to seek a source for a more modern fare-control system. “These sleeves are intended to keep folks with a long gait from being able to get over the turnstile,” NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow told the Daily News Wednesday. The new turnstile extensions — costing the agency $1,500 per machine — will be tried out for two weeks at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station of the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 lines, where the transit boss said his teams could best monitor their effectiveness. The MTA estimates it loses around $285 million a year to fare evasion in the subway system — due both to turnstile jumping and to scofflaws entering thorough the emergency fire exit gates. A fare beater goes over subway turnstiles  New-tech fare gates are intended to solve both problems at once — replacing rotating arms with wide plexiglass doors, keeping jumpers at bay and removing the need for a large exit gate for riders in wheelchairs. But transit officials can’t say when the new gates are coming, or when a contract for them might be awarded. In the meantime, Crichlow said, the job is to fortify the turnstiles the MTA currently has. “It’s really a multipronged approach,” he said. In addition to the turnstile sleeves installed at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station, the MTA has also installed tall fins along the turnstiles’ chassis, meant to keep would-be fare beaters from being able to vault over the machines’ arms. The MTA has installed tall fins along a turnstile’s chassis in some subway stations, meant to keep would-be fare evaders from being able to vault over the machine’s arms.

The MTA has installed tall fins along turnstiles’ chassis in some subway stations, meant to prevent would-be fare evaders from being able to vault over the machines’ arms. Unarmed guards have been positioned at some stations by the emergency exit gates, as well. Crichlow said the MTA has also made strides in fixing the gear lash, which allowed turnstiles to be pulled backward to allow entry, a process known colloquially as “back-cocking.” About 75% of the system’s roughly 3,500 turnstiles have been fixed, on schedule for the agency’s plan to roll out the repair systemwide by the summer. Crichlow says the approach seems to be working. MTA figures released last month showed a drop in subway fare evasion for the fourth quarter of 2024, with 10.4% of rides unpaid, down from 13.1% in the third quarter