Stand clear of the closing snorts!<\/p>\n
The MTA will dish out $7.3 million to expand its anti-fare evasion gadgets to nearly every subway station in the five boroughs \u2014 even though rule breakers have been laughing their way right past them. <\/p>\n
The MTA signed off this week on a deal with Boyce Technologies to add more fare\u2011evasion \u201csleeves\u201d and vertical \u201cfins\u201d at subway entrances, ultimately bringing the hardware to 456 of the city\u2019s 472 stations by January.<\/p>\n
The jagged metal \u201cfins\u201d are designed to stop people from jumping or using the turnstile housing as a launch point. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n
But straphangers doing the right thing say jumpers are easily bypassing the jagged metal \u201cfins\u201d that are designed to stop people from jumping or using the turnstile housing as a launch point. And the thieves are getting by the \u201csleeves\u201d that are fitted over the arm of the turnstile to prevent riders from sneaking through.<\/p>\n
\u201cHomies are coming through the whole night,\u201d musician Kevin Lightfoot told a Post reporter after paying his fare.<\/p>\n
Lightfoot, 59, said the MTA is wasting taxpayer money on barriers that don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut something in the bottom so that they can\u2019t go under it \u2014 but then they gonna hop over,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Roughly 2,900 of the sleeves and fins have already been slapped onto entrances at 327 stations, with the remaining 129 stations expected to be completed by January, according to the MTA.<\/p>\n
The \u201csleeves\u201d are fitted over the arm of the turnstile to prevent riders from sneaking through. LP Media<\/p>\n
Yet on Thursday, Post reporters still caught many people effortlessly dodging the fare.<\/p>\n
At the Jamaica Center station in Queens, one man coolly vaulted over the fortified turnstile, barely glancing at his hands as he planted them just so to avoid getting pricked by the spikes.<\/p>\n
A woman avoided the drama altogether and simply crawled under the turnstile.<\/p>\n
Within a two-hour span at the Brooklyn Bridge\/City Hall subway stop, two men jumped over the turnstile, one man simply stepped over the turnstile and three others crawled under the turnstile. Additionally, one teen followed his card-using friend through while two other men were able to walk through the emergency door left often by an exiting rider.<\/p>\n
A man handily sails over the MTA\u2019s effort to block fare evaders Thursday. NY Post\/Georgett Roberts<\/p>\n
At Union Square, in a little over an hour, six people went over and under at different entrances all of which had the fins and sleeves \u2014 plus gate guards<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe guys they have outside, they\u2019re just getting a free paycheck,\u201d Lightfoot said. \u201cIf anything happens, he can\u2019t stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n An MTA worker at a different station who declined to give their name for fear of losing their job told a Post reporter employees see people thwart the new devices \u201call the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet another MTA unnamed worker told the Post the same thing. <\/p>\n \u201cOh they\u2019re going over, and we\u2019ve got the spikes here. Nothing will stop them,\u201d the worker said.<\/p>\n