THE CITY OF NEW YORK

COMMUNITY BOARD SIX

Eric Adams
Borough President

Sayar Lonial
Chairperson

Craig Hammerman
District Manager

July 6, 2016

Ronnie Lowenstein
Director
Independent Budget Office
110 William Street, 14th floor
New York, NY 10038

Dear Ms. Lowenstein:

I am writing to request that the Independent Budget Office undertake an investigation into the
cost of prosecuting fare evaders, or turnstile jumpers. There can be no doubt that the protection
of public resources should always be a priority for our law enforcement agencies; however, there
are certain inefficiencies which suggest the need for closer examination to consider whether
existing enforcement strategies and punitive measures are the most effective approach,
particularly within a cost-benefit framework. The prosecution of fare evasion is just such an
example.
Having an accessible, reliable, low-cost (ideally free) public transit system is a great way to
entice a driver out of their personal vehicle and into a subway or bus, easing the congestion that
continues to spread and choke our Citys overtaxed street network. Unfortunately, access can be
a great challenge. There are still transit-starved communities for which geography is the biggest
obstacle. And while every New Yorker has been stuck on a subway at some point in their transit
experiences, our public transit system has become far more popular and reliable and continues to
show signs of improvement. In the majority of the City, where the public has direct access to the
subways, the cost of transit can still be a significant economic barrier especially within our
poorest communities.
A New Yorker employed in a full-time minimum wage job would be earning $360 a week in
gross income (probably somewhere around $300 after taxes), but still must pay a minimum of
$55 a week (just under 20% of their net income) to cover their transportation costs. Many
minimum wage workers are not employed full-time, which means an even higher percentage of
their take-home wages are needed to cover their transportation costs. Add in extra stops along the
way to bring children to daycare and/or school, and their proportionate cost of transportation
skyrockets. While most of our working poor are law-abiding citizens, the desperation caused by

250 Baltic Street Brooklyn, New York 11201-6401 www.BrooklynCB6.org

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extreme poverty can turn even the well-intended citizen into a law-breaker. No one should have
to choose between feeding their family and the cost of transportation.
What happens when someone is caught evading a fare? First, that person is arrested. The police
officers file their arrest reports, which has to be processed and reviewed. Sometimes the fare
evader is given a desk appearance ticket. Sometimes the fare evader is transported to the
precinct, processed, detained and fed for up to a day. The fare evader is given a court appearance
date. The District Attorney has to assign prosecutors to handle the case. In the majority of
instances the fare evader requires indigent criminal defense services, paid for with City-levied
funds. There is a presiding Judge, multiple court officers, and administrative and clerical staff
within the court system. The entire process ends up costing the tax-payers thousands times more
than the $2.75 value of the stolen service. The process may end up giving the fare evader a
criminal record that could cause job loss, eviction, homelessness and the need for additional City
services for themselves and their families. Adding insult to injury, at the end of the
prosecution the court hands a fare evader a free MetroCard for their ride home; having a
free MetroCard at the beginning of this process would have been one way to avoid the problem
altogether.
I am hopeful that your office could determine the actual cost of prosecuting a fare evader and
calculate the cost of putting a defendant through the system. I suspect that such a figure would
illustrate the point that the existing enforcement strategies and punitive measures are inefficient
from a cost-effective perspective, which strongly suggests the need for further consideration of
alternative ways to handle this low-level crime. It begs the question of whether the total amount
of money that we, the tax-payers, currently spend on prosecuting this particular crime would be
better spent by giving it back to the poor in the form of free, or heavily-subsidized, public transit
benefits. From a public policy perspective, when given the choice it would seem to be better and
wiser to use tax-levied money to invest in assisting the public rather than punishing them. It
would also be another way to reduce the sheer volume of cases in a criminal justice system that
continues to be bottom heavy in low-level crimes.
Every little bit helps and some little bits can make a big difference in someones life.
Thank you for your attention and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,

Craig R. Hammerman
District Manager

250 Baltic Street Brooklyn, New York 11201-6401 www.BrooklynCB6.org

t: (718) 643-3027 f: (718) 624-8410 e: info@BrooklynCB6.org