Imagine you, a 14-year-old freshman, in the train station after school. Desperate to catch the train home, you swipe your MetroCard and then see the screen saying you don’t have any rides left on your card. Now, without enough money to pay for additional fares nor additional rides on your student MetroCard, you hop over the turnstile. All of a sudden, a police officer stops you and asks you either to pay or get charged with a fine. Although you are currently imagining it, this indeed is the sad reality for thousands of students using the MTA.  

The MTA has constantly fined students for trying to get home from school and extracurricular programs. Statistics show that in 2018, the fare evasion summonses by quarter 4 was 730 and 15 arrests. In 2019, the number skyrocketed to 2,710 summonses and 45 arrests. Despite the magnification in summonses and arrests over turnstile jumping, the MTA is still planning on increasing the fares from $2.75 to $3.00 when everyone is going back to school in September. Students who already cannot afford the $2.75 fare will be left to keep responding in ways such as turnstile jumping. 

Students have been voicing their dissent for a long time. A group of about 70 NYC high school and college students had to go to the steps of the DOE building to protest and chant “COPS OUT” and “Free the people.” They did so because they felt many students were being traumatized by their encounters with police officers when using the train to simply get home, to school, and to extracurricular programs. The students included a list of demands, one specifically stating “make the MTA for New Yorkers, not the rich.” It should not be a reality that students have to protest for more fares on their student MetroCards.

New York City high schoolers who live in the outer boroughs (e.g. some parts of Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens) are the ones who are most affected by this issue because they are already disadvantaged. It is especially burdensome for students in low-income neighborhoods to attend their academic programs after school and during weekends if they don’t have enough rides on their MetroCards or can’t use them at all. Student MetroCards only give students three rides and do not provide any on weekends. Some students have to take multiple trains and buses to get to their schools and programs and don’t have any rides left to return home. Students are then left to have to pay out of their own pockets to get to their programs, and if they don’t have the money, they are forced to jump over the train stalls. 

Subjecting high schoolers to policing for not paying train fares is very unreasonable. High schoolers’ main focus should be going to and from school and/ or extracurricular activities, not being arrested or handed a $100 fine especially when they couldn’t pay $2.75 for another fare. Arrests leave a record on and can ruin students' dreams for higher education. As a result, many high schoolers become discouraged in going to extracurricular activities outside of school.

It is wrong for NYC students to be charged up to $100 for turnstile hopping, something they have to do in order to get home or to an extracurricular because of the lack of rides provided on their student MetroCards. However, there is a solution. If students were given more fares on their student MetroCards, these arrests and excessive fines could be avoided. Please sign this petition in order to allow us to be one step closer to ensuring fair transportation for NYC students. Thank you!