MTA’s Lieber reiterates opposition to Mamdani's push for free buses after violent incident
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MTA Chair Janno Lieber is brushing aside the Mamdani administration’s claim that a violent incident earlier this month where MTA inspectors tackled a suspected fare evader shows the need to eliminate bus fares.
An “unfortunate physical conflict” between a rider and MTA fare inspectors “doesn’t mean you get rid of fare payment,” Lieber, who's also the state-run agency's CEO, said at a press conference at Bryant Park on Thursday.
“Honestly, you know, traffic agents and customers who get parking tickets get into fights sometimes,” Lieber said. “We don’t say that we’re not gonna have parking tickets when that happens.”
Kyle Taylor, an employee at a Brooklyn public school, said he was stopped by the MTA’s EAGLE fare enforcement unit on Oct. 6 while attempting to exit a B14 bus. When the officers demanded to see proof he had paid for his fare, Taylor said, he explained that he had used a paper transfer ticket.
One of the officers told police that Taylor “fell out of the bus,” according to a summary of the NYPD complaint.
But video of the incident captured by a surveillance camera near the Rockaway and Pitkin Avenue stop shows the four enforcement officers slamming Taylor against a bus shelter and wrestling him to the ground.
Lieber said he had watched the video, and that “there were aspects of it that were concerning.” He said the agency has taken the four EAGLE agents “out of service pending the investigation.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who ran on the promise of making city buses “fast and free,” had a different take, saying the incident was further evidence that the administration’s plan is the right one.
“These types of interactions would not happen in the first place if bus fare was eliminated, which is why the Mayor remains committed to making our buses free and our transit system more affordable for all New Yorkers,” Jeremy Edwards, the mayor's deputy press secretary, said in a statement. “No New Yorker should be concerned for their safety over three bucks.”
Lieber, who reports to Gov. Kathy Hochul, has repeatedly spoken out against the mayor’s plan.
"We’re working really well with the mayor’s office on making the bus system faster and better," Lieber said at a news conference on Thursday. "It's not a secret that we at the MTA and our board, that does set the tariff, the fare, that we are not pushing for free bus(es)."
The MTA collected close to $630 million in bus fares in 2025, according to its year-end report. The city’s Independent Budget Office estimated in June that fare-free buses would cost just over $1.1 billion a year by 2027.
Meanwhile, close to half of bus riders skipped the fare in the second quarter of 2026, MTA data shows.
Lieber said in July he planned to ramp up fare evasion enforcement on buses.
EAGLE officers, short for Evasion and Graffiti Lawlessness Eradication officers, can issue tickets for fare evasion, but do not have the authority to detain or arrest people. They are not police, though the MTA often deploys them alongside NYPD officers.
New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said the unit has about 350 fare enforcement officers who deal with tens of thousands of riders daily and receive de-escalation training.
“This is not indicative of the level of professionalism that we see or expect for our employees,” Crichlow said.
Some riders have complained about fare enforcement operations slowing down or even halting buses, and see it as counterproductive to the city’s mission of faster buses. Many have taken to the internet to criticize the officers’ use of excessive force and profiling, such as this Reddit user.
The Rev. Kevin McCall, a civil rights activist who appeared at a press conference with Taylor on Wednesday, called MTA’s enforcement efforts a “new level of legal stop and frisk.”
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