The PATH system has deployed a robotic warning in an effort to deter fare beaters – but the measure locks some riders out, forcing them to hop the turnstile.
The Port Authority, which runs PATH, is cracking down on a long-standing flaw in its accessible turnstiles, which allowed people who touched the fare gate to open it without paying.
Now, whenever a would-be fare evader gets close to more than 20 gates in New York and New Jersey without paying, a robotic voice on the turnstile shouts, “Pay first.”
If you try entering a second time, the mechanical voice barks, “Violation, you didn’t pay.” A strip of red lights appear on the turnstile.
But it can take minutes for the lights to go off and the turnstile to reset. Meanwhile, riders are locked out of the gate. The Port Authority confirmed some riders get so frustrated they just jump the gate.
On a recent visit to the World Trade Center PATH station, Port Authority guards had to manually reset the fare gate.
“One of the challenges is the age of the equipment. And that’s what causes it to take a long time to reset,” said Rebecca Cassidy, PATH’s assistant director. Many of the turnstiles are more than 20 years old.
PATH doesn’t have an accurate count for how many people skip the fare every year or how much money it loses. The agency estimated the losses are in the millions, and that 90% of fare evasion in the system occurs at the accessible fare gates.
The PATH system is far smaller than the MTA’s, which regularly has more than 4 million riders a day. PATH average daily ridership is somewhere between 185,000 to 200,000. That’s down from 280,000 to 300,000 before the pandemic, according to the Port Authority.
PATH officials said they hoped to roll out a new tap-to-pay fare payment system next year, similar to the MTA’s OMNY. The Port Authority, which also runs the AirTrain at JFK Airport, worked with the MTA to install OMNY readers on that system.
“It will have the same capabilities as OMNY does, but…
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