Don’t send a gate to do a cop’s job.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber admitted Wednesday that the $700,000 gates installed at a station in Queens to prevent turnstile jumping weren’t the answer to fare-beating, but maintained that some version of the gates might at least help: “We’re going to continue to experiment,” and “it’s being adjusted to deal with some of its shortcomings.”
In fact, Lieber knows technical solutions won’t be enough.
He’s just doing what he can because fare-beating is a plague not only on MTA finances (to the tune of $690 million a year and rising) but on straphanger safety and the entire viability of the subway.
But this was a fiasco.
When the MTA installed the gates in December at the Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue station, the agency touted the design as more secure since the tall, swinging doors are harder to jump over.
Oops: Within weeks came a viral video showing you can simply wave your hand over a motion sensor on the opposite side of the gates, which opens the doors with little fuss — and no need to jump.