A Brooklyn subway station is a hotspot for fare evasion as the MTA continues its fight to stop the money-losing scourge throughout the city.
Commuters tipped off amNewYork to rampant fare evasion at the Metropolitan Avenue/Lorimer Street station in Williamsburg, home to the G and L trains. During our visit to the station on a quiet afternoon on July 21, a reporter witnessed no fewer than four people hopping the turnstiles within 30 minutes.
Two fare evaders even jumped over the turnstile at the station’s Union Street and Metropolitan Avenue entrance, where there was a station agent on duty not far away.
One man looked both ways, braced himself and then smoothly jumped the arm of the turnstile before politely asking other commuters, “Want me to open the door for you?”
They did not accept the offer.
“This happens all the time. It’s citywide,” the agent said while describing how many commuters get a free ride.
Free rides via fare evasion disgusts commuter
Roz Haddock, who lives in the area, said people often use the emergency door to evade the fare at the Williamsburg hub.
“I can count on one hand how many people pay,” Haddock said. “I’m disgusted with what goes on with mass transit.”
The Metropolitan Avenue/Lorimer Street station is amNewYork’s latest look into the city’s fare evasion issue.
The Metropolitan Avenue G train station falls under the purview of NYPD Transit District 30, while the Lorimer Street stop on the L line is within the confines of NYPD Transit District 33.
According to the NYPD, Transit District 30 reported 185 fare evasion arrests and 1,846 fare evasion summonses in the first quarter of 2025; Transit District 33, meanwhile, saw 579 arrests and 2,677 summonses for fare evasion during the same period. Station-by-station statistics were not immediately available.
During visits this year to the 42nd Street-Grand Central Terminal and Woodside’s 61st Street station where the 7 train stops, many commuters were seen dodging the $2.90 fare using various techniques, including crawling underneath or jumping over the turnstile, squeezing into it two at a time and sneaking in through the emergency doors.
City, fare evasion remains a major problem that costs the MTA around $800 million a year. But the agency has not sat idly by and let the illegal activity continue without a fight. Officials have taken aggressive action to stop the behavior, including surging additional police officers into the system in recent years.
One way they have done that is by deploying unarmed gate guards at select stations throughout the city. Fare beating has even dropped by 36% at stations with guards, the agency told amNewYork.
Some station turnstiles have been redesigned with sleeves and barriers to make jumping them more difficult. At these stations, the agency reported a 60% drop in turnstile hopping.
Enforcement is ramping up, too. According to the MTA, the NYPD made over 6,500 arrests related to fare evasion this year through May, which is an 85% increase from the same period in 2024.
Meanwhile, amNewYork’s visit to Lorimer Street came on the same day the MTA celebrated the best summer week since 2019, as four million subway riders rode the trains three days in a row from July 15 to 17.
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