MTA giving extra free ride to NYC students in hopes of curbing record-breaking farebeating

The MTA is expanding its free metrocard program for city schoolkids — in a bid to combat record-breaking levels of farebeating, officials said Thursday.

New York City students will be able to ride the subway without charge up to four times per day — at any time and even when school is out, starting next month.

Previously, students received three free rides per day, and they could only use the cards from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on schooldays.

“When it comes down to students, they’re doing it (evading fares) out of necessity or they are trying to get to school, they’re trying to pick up their niece and nephew or their sibling, and they just don’t have the money to do so,” Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference with MTA boss Janno Lieber.

“We are attempting to make it easier for these young people to not have a record because they’re trying to carry out a an activity that they must do,” he said.

The initiative was part of a recommendation made by a panel convened by the MTA last year to study the transit system’s “crisis level” of fare evasion.

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Fare evasion cost the MTA an eye-watering $690 million last year, though it’s not clear how many of those skipping the swipe were students.

The panel reported that fare evasion spikes from 3 to 4 p.m., coinciding with school dismissal time, and isn’t as prevalent during the morning rush-hour.

Some students told a focus group organized by the panel they resort to jumping the turnstile because they don’t get enough free rides to attend internships or other extracurricular activities.

Transit Tech student Malik Inniss, 17, said he needs more daily swipes to get to and from football games and internships.

“When it comes to traveling in the city, I have to transfer from the bus to the train, back to the train then the bus. Only having an ability to use the card three times is not enough — that one extra time would get me that last trip to get home,” Inniss said, speaking at Adams’ Thursday’s press conference.

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But the same panel also found that some kids jump the turnstile just for the thrill of it.

“Students talked openly about how evading after school with a group of friends can feel fun and risk-free — ‘anonymous and powerful,’ as one student put it,” reads the report.

Some students also falsely report losing their free metrocards — after selling them to adults, according to the report.

In one 2023 incident reviewed by the panel, a 41-year-old man was stopped for using a student subway card and was found to have a knife, a baton and an open warrant for assault.

While the panel recommended giving students smartphone-based OMNY accounts to keep the kids from losing or selling the cards, Lieber said the MTA won’t be able to offer that option yet.

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Adams estimated the new program would help save students up to $1,000 per month during the summer and $80 per month during the school year in subway fares.

“When you are a student you have to use your MetroCard or your OMNY card to pick up your siblings. You have to use your OMNY card to go to an appointment somewhere, a medical appointment, or go to the library in your community,” he said.

“Every dollar you use to tap is a dollar that won’t be tapped out of your pockets,” he quipped.

The cards will be distributed at New York City schools at the start of the school year.

The city and state together budgeted $75.5 million to cover the program — even though the panel in 2023 estimated the program will cost the MTA twice that at around $150 million.

Lieber said the MTA and New York City Public Schools would be pairing the expanded free rides with a campaign to promote card usage among students, with the department chipping in $50.5 million to cover the expansion.

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