MTA is waking up

Back in 2022, I was noticing how many bus riders in New York were simply boarding without paying the fare (link). These so-called "Select Buses" were designed to speed up boarding: riders were supposed to get a paper ticket from a machine on the sidewalk prior to boarding; and then they were allowed to board the bus from any door. It doesn't take a genius to realize that such a system would promote fare evasion. One can consider it a price to pay for improving efficiency. That wasn't the posture of the MTA. The MTA was in full-on denial mode. This is a direct quote from my 2022 post:The Vice reporter ... citing an earlier MTA study which concluded that all-door boarding reduced fare evasion... that study found that fare evasion was 10 times lower on Select bus routes than on regular bus routes!That study literally claimed the fare evasion rate on Select Buses was merely 2.2%. Here's the proof: Fast forward to 2026. The New York Times is saying: slightly more than half of passengers —…