The MTA Bus Driver Who Won’t Tell You to Pay

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'Why would they put us in a situation where we could get literally assaulted? We don’t know who’s coming on, who has weapons. I’m not enforcing a fare that can lead to me being hurt.'

Photo: Alba Vigaray/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock City officials have a lot of ideas about fare evasion, both why it happens and how to fix it . A recurring thread in all of it is the idea that MTA workers should be actively getting people to pay up. According to a memorandum sent by the MTA’s chief transportation officer in May, if a passenger doesn’t pay, a bus driver — the official title is bus operator — must “politely state the fare.

The transit authority, they try to present this notion that we’re the reason why, or part of the reason why, there’s such low fare collection. This memo went out asking us to politely state the fare. Why would they put us in a situation where we could get literally assaulted? We don’t know who’s coming on, who has weapons. I’m not enforcing a fare that can lead to me being hurt. People evade fares; it’s a daily occurrence. There’s always something. I don’t say a word. We’re drivers.

I had a situation a few weeks ago where someone wanted to board the bus in between stops, and the policy is that we just point to the next stop. She didn’t like that. This person stood in front of the bus. I call for radio assistance. They say, “Maybe they’ll walk away eventually.” So I wait. God forbid if this person was armed. Thankfully, my patience worked. She eventually walked off to the side. I’m not the first person to experience something like that.

 

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