Measuring & Controlling Subway Fare Evasion: Improving NYCT s Safety and Security

Transcription

1 Measuring & Controlling Subway Fare Evasion: Improving NYCT s Safety and Security Alla Reddy, Jacqueline Kuhls, and Alex Lu Operations Planning Office of Management & Budget New York City Transit Authority Presented at the 90 th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board Washington D.C. (2011) T R A N S I T Photo: NYC Transit DRAW Notice: Opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official New New York York City City Transit Transit policy or position of Metropolitan Transportation Authority or MTA New York TRB City Transit. Paper # Slide 1

2 Background Photo: NYC Transit DRAW Fare evasion measured by station agents since early 1990s Reduced from 6.9% to supposedly about 0.2% because of: New AFC system Graffiti control Police patrols Civil penalties General crime reduction Renewed concerns: Booth destaffing program Fare increases Panic bars on exit gates New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 2

3 Fare Collection Hardware Photos: NYC Transit DRAW Booth (Full Time & Part Time) HEETs HXT (Not surveyed) Painted HXT (Not surveyed) New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 3

4 Fare Tariff & Defining Evasion Official methods: Children under 44 Must crawl under turnstile Not allowed alone Passengers with bulk items, school field trips Request agent assistance Enter through gate Block or half-fare tickets Surrender paper ticket Enter through special entry turnstile Unofficially: Riders open gates for paid passengers with bulk items Children squeeze through high-wheels with paid adults Flash passes, uniforms, contractors go through gates New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 4

5 Under Turnstile Fare Evasion Methods Bump Photos: NYC Transit PID Camera Footage Over Backcock New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 5

6 Deliberate Gate Fare Evasion Methods Photos: NYC Transit PID Camera Footage Opportunistic 1 2 Backcocks, then use panic bar to open gate Gate Left Open Catches gate to enter after others exit Questionable Opens unlocked gate to enter, or gate ajar 1 2 Police opens gate for stroller, bystander enters New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 6

7 Observation Methodology Evasions Questionable Legal Entries Traditional Turnstile Under (over 44 ) Jump Backcock Bump (a) Low TS (b) HEET Gate (Panic Bar) Opportunistic Deliberate Gate Left Open Tracked School Group Police/Fire/Court: (a) Badge (b) Uniform Flash Pass Open Gate with Key: (a) TA key (b) Emergency key Other Not Tracked Selling Swipes MetroCard passback Normal Turnstile Entry Normal HEET Entry Child under 44, with fare-paying adult Paper Ticket Bulk Item Discreet observations in half-hour periods divided into six-minute blocks; stratified sample (income and throughput); capture unusual activity only. Entries recorded in one of 19 categories. New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 7

8 Data Collection Forms New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 8

9 Subway Fare Evasion Trends Systemwide: 1.3% By time period: Peak periods: ~0.9% more evasions per hour but lower rates per passenger Midday and nights: 1.3%~1.9% high evasion rates but not many evaders School hour: almost 3.0% highest evasions per psgr By system entry rate: Busy stations: ~0.5% low per-passenger rates high per-hour rates (8.0 /hr) Quiet stations: up to 5.5% high per-passenger rates low per-hour rates (<1.0 /hr) Fare Evasion Rate (per Psgr) 3.5% 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% Hour of Day Fare Evasion Rate (per Psgr) 6.0% 5.0% 4.0% 3.0% 2.0% 1.0% 0.0% Quiet stations Weekday Evasion by Hour (0.01~0.02) 0.04 (0.03~0.04) Ev asion per Psgr Entries per Hour Sample size = 124,069 entries Weekday Evasion by System Entries* 0.06 (0.05~0.07) 0.09 (0.08~0.10) 0.12 (0.11~0.13) Ev asion per Psgr Ev asion per Hour 0.16 (0.14~0.18) 0.21 (0.19~0.22) 0.26 (0.23~0.27) Avg & Range, System Entries per Hour (Thousands) 0.31 (0.28~0.33) * Ex cludes afternoon school discharge hour (15:00-15:59) 0.39 (0.34~0.42) 0.48 (0.43~0.52) 0.61 (0.53~0.69) 0.84 (0.70~1.00) 1.66 (1.01~5.56) Sample size = 170,615 entries 1, Busy stations System Entry Rate (Psgr/Hour) Fare Evasion Rate (per Hour) New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 9

10 Evasion Trends: Income & Season By median income Higher evasions observed in stations where adjacent census tract median income < $30k No effect when income > $30k Fare Evasion Rate (per Psgr) 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% Weekday Evasion by Median Income 6~18 18~24 24~28 28~32 32~36 36~42 42~48 48~62 62~70 70~86 86~176 Station Median Income Range ($ Thousands) * Ex cludes afternoon school discharge hour (15:00-15:59) Ev asion per Psgr Ev asion per Hour Sample size = 167,817 entries Fare Evasion Rate (per Hour) Seasonality Evasion is more prevalent during warm summer months Summer = ~1.7% Winter = ~0.9% Consistent with literature on general crime trends Seasonal ridership impacts (trip purpose) Fare Evasion Rate (per Psgr) 2.0% Ev asion per Psgr 1.8% Ev asion per Hour 1.6% 1.4% 1.2% 1.0% 0.8% 0.6% 0.4% 0.2% 0.0% 09/04~09/06 09/05~09/07 09/06~09/08 09/07~09/09 09/08~09/10 09/09~09/11 Reporting Period (Rolling Average) Seasonality of Fare Evasion 09/10~09/12 09/11~10/01 09/12~10/02 10/01~10/03 10/02~10/04 10/03~10/05 10/04~10/06 10/05~10/07 10/06~10/ Fare Evasion Rate (per Hour) Sample size = 37,269 entries per period New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 10

11 Combating Fare Evasion Photo: NYC Transit DRAW Properly locking service access gates at all times Improve communication of child height restrictions Fare control configuration and staff presence don t seem to have much effect Gate evasion rates: 0.9% unstaffed, 1.0% staffed High-wheel evasion rates: 1.2% unstaffed, 1.0% staffed Tackling organized fare abuse operations (swipers) Vending machine vandalism costs repair expenses Swiping impacts revenue Work with NYPD Transit Bureau and community courts Use video evidence if available New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 11

12 Fare Enforcement Issues Legal framework New York s rules were well established by the 1980s Important clarifications: arrest versus summons undercover enforcement permissible? arresting powers dispute/appeals process Expected fines versus fares New York s fine = $100 progressive? street economics Surge enforcement Video recording cameras Shared use for anti-terrorism New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 12

13 Public Relations New York City Transit Reprinted with permission 2010 New York Daily News. TRB Paper # Slide 13

14 Conclusions & Future Work Multi-pronged approach is required to manage evasion AFC security & audit features Legal enforcement framework Data collection & analysis to identify hot spots Task-force based approach Comprehensive press strategy Information sharing is key Crime of opportunity Controls are necessary Future work Measurable benefits of fare enforcement Evader-criminal correlation Countermeasure effectiveness Socio-demographic patterns Photo: NYC Transit DRAW New York City Transit TRB Paper # Slide 14

15 Acknowledgements Ben Lonner, Kishor Sharma, Justin Serina MTA Audit Services Raymond Diaz, Edward O Brien, Jim Donovan NYPD Transit Bureau NYCT Colleagues in System Data & Research Automated Fare Collection Office of Management & Budget TRB AP030 Committee s Anonymous Reviewers Photo: Amanda Marsh Notice: Opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official New New York York City City Transit Transit policy or position of Metropolitan Transportation Authority or MTA New York TRB City Transit. Paper # Slide 15