MTA suspending bus fare enforcement teams after altercations emerge

 The MTA is temporarily shutting down its bus fare enforcement teams after a Brooklyn school dean was roughed up by agents who suspected he hadn’t paid, MTA Chair Janno Lieber announced at a news conference Thursday, adding that a second incident had also come to his attention.

The MTA will review safety protocols while the so-called EAGLE teams are taken off the street. Lieber shared few details about the second incident, but said it raised similar questions about whether the agents involved had shared timely, accurate information about the altercation with supervisors.

“I was not happy that leadership of the MTA and even New York City Transit didn’t even hear about that episode until more than a week afterwards. It now appears that there is another episode where that failure to timely report is even more extreme. The incident that's come to attention is now several months old and it didn’t come up,” Lieber said.

“I’m not willing to keep our teams active in the field until I know that all protocols are being followed with respect to both the customer interactions, how they’re conducted, but also with respect to the reporting and investigation of incidents … As a result I’m ordering an immediate safety stand-down until these investigations conclude,” he added.

Lieber has previously said the EAGLE teams, who scan bus tickets and issue fines to fare-beaters, are critical to reducing rampant fare evasion on buses. MTA statistics show as much as half of bus riders skip the fare.

But a video of a confrontation between EAGLE agents and Mott Bridges Academy dean Kyle Taylor prompted questions about the conduct of the teams enforcing $3 rides.

Video showed agents pinned Taylor against a bus and slammed him to the ground after they asked if he paid his fare on a B14 bus in Brownsville. He sustained injuries to his back, neck, shoulder, arm and elbow.

The MTA suspended the agents involved while it began investigating the incident. Taylor maintains he did pay for the fare after transferring from a different bus, where he received a transfer ticket.

An EAGLE officer filed official paperwork reporting that Taylor “fell out of the bus” and refused medical attention, an account contradicted by the video footage.

Taylor’s lawyer Benjamin Pinczewski called for a complete dissolution of the unit. “ It disproportionately subjects people of color to this kind of treatment, and it's unacceptable,” Pinczewski said.

“We’re going to take a break, and take another look and we’ll be back when we’ve completed that,” Lieber added.

Jeremy Edwards, a spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, praised the move.

“No New Yorker should fear for their safety because they cannot afford the fare. We welcome the MTA’s decision to suspend fare enforcement while it investigates reports of excessive force by members of its fare collection teams. Our transit system should make life easier, not harder,” Edwards said.

https://gothamist.com/news/mta-suspending-bus-fare-enforcement-teams-after-altercations-emerge