New York City has thrown down a new way to stop would-be subway turnstile jumpers from avoiding paying to use the train: slightly, not-really serrated gate edges.
The city installed the so-called “subway spikes” earlier this week, at God-only-knows what cost, given that local news outlets can't get the city to say exactly how much these things cost. And they look a little something like this:
Too bad they don’t work.
In a hilarious video, subway riders show just how easy it is to get around the “spikes,” which are little more than a short wall with a wavy metal edge separating the turnstiles designed to keep people from hopping over the side of the gate.
NYC is spending money on turnstile spikes to stop fare evasion. The only problem? It does nothing to stop fare evasion. pic.twitter.com/n35HrpfKJ3
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 17, 2025
Within hours of the city installing the new supposed deterrents, subway riders - including admitted turnstile jumpers - said the new design clearly isn't stopping fare evaders who either hop over the gate down the middle, or who simply go under the arms of the turnstiles.
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It’s not the city’s first time trying to get a handle on turnstile jumpers, which cost the public transit system an estimated $500 million a year. In 2023, the city installed new high-tech gates that were allegedly harder to jump at several subway stops, at a cost of about $700,000 per station.
They were immediately hacked and rendered basically useless.
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Full Story: https://t.co/0kvq5DhmFI pic.twitter.com/CCdzMA5a9i
— MRCTV (@mrctv) January 16, 2025