Metro Rail goes digital, but for some, the free ride is about to end

But beware: If you’re accustomed to illegally riding the rails in outlying areas of the city without paying, the free ride is officially over.

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority on Wednesday, for the first time since the light rail system was opened nearly 40 years ago, will activate new fare gates for all areas except the above-ground “free fare zone” downtown.

Previously, riders were required to buy tickets for the underground portions but essentially operated on the honor system. There were no gates preventing people from riding without a ticket, though the transit agency sent ticket inspectors to spot-check train passengers on a random basis.

Those inspectors – their old jobs now obsolete – will be repurposed as “transit ambassadors” who help straphangers navigate the new digital payment system, which has been dubbed “MetGo.”

“What they are doing is making sure you have the right fare on your MetGo card to be able to get in and out of the system,” said James Morrell, director of public transit for the NFTA.

The MetGo payment system will also for the first time allow transit riders on trains and buses to use credit cards to load payments onto their smartphones.

“It’s very similar to a reloadable gift card and the (E-ZPass) that you have in your car,” Morrell said. “As you go through, it will suck money off your card and then once you don’t have any more, it will say, ‘Hey, you don’t have any more.’ ”

The new gates will also prevent riders who board Metro Rail downtown – where payment is not required – and who disembark at below-ground stations requiring payment from leaving without paying.

The agency has been slowly rolling out the new gates for months, but they have not required payment until now. The MetGo system also has…