MTA delaying emergency gate openings to thwart fare evaders as critics sound alarms over safety: Putting peoples lives at risk

The MTA has gone off the rails with its fare evasion crackdown, critics say.The agency’s latest attempt at thwarting fare evaders is to bolster a program that locks subway emergency gates for 15 seconds after they’re opened, in a bid to stop scofflaws from sneaking in without paying.But riders could still hold the doors open for fare beaters even under the pilot program, which the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Monday it was expanding to at least 150 stations this year.Some straphangers pointed out the initiative could be dangerously foolish and spark mass panic in case of an emergency, such as a fire or shooting — and ripped it as un-fare to those with disabilities.“When you’re in a state of panic and need to get out of a place fast, that 15-second [delay] is a long time,” said Sharon McLennon-Wier, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York. Dustin Jones, a disability advocate who uses a wheelchair and who sued the MTA in 2017 over alleged accessibility issues at subway stations, agreed, calling the program “very dangerous.”“The average person with a disability, if they are moving slowly and they have to wait for a certain time for the door to open, that’s time that you’re losing — [and] in an emergency, every second counts,” Jones told The Post.News of the expanded fare-beating bid comes after the MTA said the issue was at “crisis-level” in a Blue-Ribbon Panel report released last year – which found turnstile hoppers cost the agency $690 million in 2022 alone.“Every dollar lost to evasion impairs the MTA’s financial stability, threatens reliable transit for all New Yorkers, and increases the need for alternative revenue sources, including through larger fare and toll hikes,” the report reads.The MTA did not respond to multiple inquiries from The Post about what riders should do during an actual emergency if they are forced to wait to exit through the safety gates.But the agenc...