New York Subway to roll-out modern ticket gates after trial cuts fare evasion by 35%

USA: New York MTA is to begin a programme to roll out modern ticket gates at Subway stations after a pilot project at 20 stations with gates from three manufacturers saw fare evasion drop by an average of 35%. MTA began installing the current tri-wheel turnstiles in the early 1990s. These are not accessible for people with wheelchairs, pushchairs or luggage, and so emergency exit gates with wider clearance were provided. However, MTA says these attracted opportunistic fare evaders who chose not to pay when they saw others entering through an open gate.

In 2024 MTA received more than a dozen responses to a request for information for the supply of more modern fare gates. Cubic, STraffic and Conduent were selected for a pilot project, and provided gates at no cost to the MTA for a chance to demonstrate that they could work on the network. Some stations received a fully new gate line, while others received only a new wide-aisle access gate.

In autumn 2025 MTA began evaluating the impact on fare evasion, accessibility, customer experience, throughput, maintenance and data and detection accuracy. Since the pilot began, 29 million entries and 34 million exits have been recorded, and 40% to 50% of daily riders have used the new gates at least once. MTA made adjustments based on performance and user feedback, which have been used to determine the final designs.

‘The pilot phase allowed us to customise designs to fit our system’, said MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer.

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