The number of warnings and citations shows how the MBTA’s fare-checking program is being enforced, but not whether it has improved payment rates or revenue. MassLive, which reported the latest full-year totals, said the team had issued 200 formal written warnings and three citations since checks began in September 2025. The 16-member Fare Engagement team costs the T roughly $2.39 million a year.
Enforcement Counts Don’t Settle the Revenue Question
According to MassLive, the MBTA says fare checkers began conducting checks at subway stations and onboard vehicles on September 8, 2025. A first offense results in a written warning; only repeat violators face fines. Roughly 120 of the 200 warnings were issued in the program’s first eleven months, through late August 2026, and about 80 more in the following month. MassLive tied the increase to the agency ending its prior practice of letting riders pay at a fare box without paperwork. Three repeat offenders were cited in that later stretch, bringing the total citations since the program began to three.
Other outlets have published somewhat different snapshots of the same effort. Streetsblog Massachusetts reported that fare checkers had issued only 117 warnings as of Aug. 12, 2026, and zero fines over the team’s first year, while WHDH put the figure at 152 written warnings in the last year with no rider fined.
Why So Few Citations
The MBTA’s own fare-evasion policy explains part of the gap: a first offense within a three-year period results only in a formal written warning, with citations reserved for repeat violations. Fines then run $50 for a first, second or third citation and $100 for a fourth or subsequent one, under the agency’s posted policy. Riders can appeal or request a hearing within 60 days of a citation, and the MBTA says fines may be waived or reduced for financial hardship.
Streetsblog’s reporting notes that the T itself cautions that “quantifying fare evasion is highly complex, and quantifying the effect of fare engagement personnel on fare evasion is even more so.” That complexity shows up in the agency’s own data: an MBTA report published in July, per the same outlet, found that fare checkers appeared to modestly improve contactless payment rates at Green Line street-level stops, and that “fare engagement” rates ticked up slightly across all four rapid-transit lines after checkers appeared at gated stations — though the changes were described as small.
Revenue and Payment Changes Are Difficult to Attribute
The MBTA’s fare revenue has varied across the years cited in public reporting: NBC Boston reported about $671 million collected in fiscal 2019, while officials forecast about $403 million for fiscal 2025. The latter is a projection, not a final result, and the figures do not show how much the fare-checking team contributed. They also do not establish a change in ridership over that period…