NYC MTA Quietly Rolls Out AI Software To Track Subway Fare Evasion
From new high-tech customer service centers to R211 subway cars and everything in between, the NYC subway system has (finally) been getting with the times–and now they’re doing so in an even bigger way.
According to NBC and a recently released transit report, the MTA is now using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to track subway fare evasion.
The new surveillance software, created by the Spanish company AWAAIT, has already been rolled out to some of the city’s subway stations, with plans to introduce more by the end of this year, according to documents and government contracts obtained by NBC.
A report released by the MTA a few months back showed that fare evasion has officially reached crisis levels, with the MTA losing an estimated $690 million in unpaid fares and tolls in 2022. Though since having human checkers responsible for catching fare evasion across the city’s 472 stations would be too cost prohibitive, the MTA is now relying on AI to do the job.
The MTA also explained that another plus of the technology is that it’s able to operate 24/7, providing insightful information on what times fare evasion is at its highest.
The new technology has already been in use throughout seven subway stations since May, and it’s “slated to be expanded this year to approximately two dozen more stations, with more to follow,” says a report by the MTA.
NBC reports that MTA spokesperson Joana Flores said the AI system “doesn’t flag fare evaders to the police, but she declined to comment on whether that policy could change.”
Instead, it’s just being used as a “counting tool,” according to MTA communications director Tim Minton, to find out how many people are evading the fare and how.
Beyond the AI technology, the MTA is also proposing new glass door subway turnstiles and redesigned turnstile bars with plastic sleeves and metal fins along with the inability to turn the turnstile halfway and squeeze through it in the hopes that they’ll both aid in cracking down on subway fare evasion.
Implementing bars and fins to the turnstiles will cost the MTA roughly $2 million and take two years to update the remaining 3,500 turnstiles throughout the city’s 472 stations.
The full MTA report can be read here.
The post NYC MTA Quietly Rolls Out AI Software To Track Subway Fare Evasion appeared first on Secret NYC.