Metro-North Looks To The Platform To Help Stymie Fare Evaders

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — It isn't exactly a common occurrence, but ride a Metro-North train long enough and you will likely see a conductor otherwise engaged with a passenger who has no interest in either presenting or purchasing a ticket. A new, expanded pilot program will see some of these difficult conversations taking place on the platform, rather than occupying the conductor's time and sometimes even delaying departure from the station.

According to MTA Spokesperson Joana Flores, this less familiar method of collecting tickets is known as "gating," and the expansion has its roots in a 2023 blue-ribbon report on MTA fare and toll evasion — though the practice has been used occasionally for decades.

Flores said the newest "gating" pilot program is intended as much to educate riders about the importance of having tickets purchased and mobile tickets activated prior to boarding as it is to discourage potential scofflaws. Checking tickets and passes before boarding has the added benefit of dissuading passengers from not activating e-tickets once on the train to get a free ride.

During the gating exercises, passengers are expected to have their paper tickets ready, or e-tickets activated, to present to a railroad employee before boarding trains.

"Metro-North Railroad will be gating at one station per month," Flores told Patch. "The focus has been at Grand Central Terminal and Harlem-125 St, as suggested by the blue ribbon report, with intention of expanding to other stations, where feasible."

The MTA said that while the pilot program will experiment with expanding the use of gating at Metro-North stations, the railroad has a great deal of experience using the ticket collection method. Metro-North Railroad has been gating every home Yankee game since the station’s opening on May 8, 2009, and at Grand Central Terminal for Thanksgiving and New Year's for over 25 years.

The LIRR has been gating at Mets-Willets Point and Forest Hills for many events since around 2006 and 2013, respectively. The LIRR has since expanded to also include piloting the gating program at Penn Station and Elmont-UBS Arena, and now routinely gates at Elmont-UBS Arena for certain events.

The benefits of gating quickly become clear. The conductors’s ticket collection process is not bogged down when purchases and activations are done prior to boarding, which in turn allows them to move through the train to collect all the tickets quickly.

Another key aspect of the pilot program are media campaigns, including social media posts informing customers about activating tickets and discouraging fare evasion, especially to and from events.