The MTA is taking action against fare evasion
Manhattan: Re “Silence to fare evasion is consent” (op-ed, April 28): We’re in agreement that fare evasion is a critical and sometimes overlooked issue — but not by the MTA. Anyone who thinks we haven’t been giving it the same level of intensity as congestion pricing hasn’t been paying attention. In fact, wide-ranging efforts to clamp down on fare evasion have been underway for the last three years, since the formation of an MTA-commissioned Blue Ribbon panel.
In that time, we’ve been making it easier to pay fares with OMNY while making our services harder to steal — with increased NYPD enforcement, yes, but also by hiring hundreds of gate guards and making changes to the physical subway turnstiles and emergency gates. And uniformed Evasion and Graffiti Lawlessness Eradication (EAGLE) teams have been working on fare enforcement on buses, where fare evasion had soared. Not to mention the countless infrastructure interventions, including anti-back-cocking and installing turnstile fins and sleeves.
These interventions are working. Subway fare evasion is down 30% since last year, and rates of bus fare evasion have been pushed down for the last three quarters. We agree that what’s needed now is decision-makers outside the MTA to restore meaningful consequences for the crime of theft of service. New, less porous fare gates are coming.
But until then, we’ll continue to work with our partners in law enforcement and the criminal justice system to make sure fare evaders face accountability. Demetrius Crichlow, president, MTA New York City Transit
Stayin’ alive
Kew Gardens: Re “Belichick sez girlfriend was just ‘doing her job,’ ” (May 1): May-December relationships can be viewed in two ways. The first is that love has no bounds, and the second is that it violates social norms. I once had a friend in a similar situation as Bill Belichick. I asked him if he was concerned about the relationship when viewed as a medical risk. He said: “I have, and I hope it never happens, but if she dies, she dies.” Phil Serpico
Forging ahead
Clearwater, Fla.: There are two kinds of people in this world: those who sit back and wait for things to happen, and those who are driven and make things happen. Let it be said, President Trump makes things happen. His first 100 days have been a whirlwind of getting things accomplished. Despite the hateful rhetoric from left-wing, radical Dems fighting against Trump’s efforts, he and his dream team won’t back down. Most importantly, the border is secured and violent, criminal illegal aliens are being deported. No doubt, Trump will continue to stand his ground and fight. You can be sure he will always put America first. JoAnn Lee Frank
Premature punditry
Medford, L.I.: The media is playing up the fact that in various polls, Trump has the lowest approval rating for his first 100 days than any president of this century. Some pundits are downright giddy over it. I’m watching this media circus wondering if these people ever heard the sports axiom, “It’s not how you start, but how you finish”? Trump has on his professional and political resumes the gargantuan duo accomplishments of the greatest comeback in American business history and the greatest comeback in U.S. political history. To anyone taking glee in his rough start over trying to solve a generations-long problem of America being taken advantage of in trade, does anyone really think that dancing on his grave now is going to age well? As Ronald Reagan said about the outcome of the Cold War, “We win, they lose!” Eugene R. Dunn
Consequences be damned
Staten Island: Trump’s level of understanding of any of this is way lower than anyone imagines. He thinks foreign countries will pay the tariffs (like Mexico paid for the wall) and he calls them reciprocal because he believes value-added taxes are equivalent to tariffs. Absolute nonsense. I’m not sure any of this matters, since his only concern is to replace progressive income taxes on billionaires with regressive tariffs on everyone else. Michael Rosenkrantz
Bumbling businessman
Manhattan: I laughed out loud at Voicer John Procida’s hilarious love letter to Trump, assuming that he must be a professional comedian. No such luck. Trump, a trust-fund baby, inherited $400 million from his father and went bankrupt six times. Daddy bailed him out every time. In the real world, people like that are not called businessmen, they’re called losers. Perhaps it’s time for Procida to put down the Kool-Aid and turn off Fox News, whose own attorneys argued in court that they are an “entertainment network,” explaining that they peddle their opinions as opposed to actual facts. Furthermore, adding insult to injury, they insisted that any intelligent person would absolutely recognize that what they are hearing from Fox is, in effect, fake news. Apparently, they were wrong. Or were they? Anne Stockton
Look for the exit
Merion Station, Pa.: After Mike Waltz’s departure as national security advisor, will Trump politely ask Pete Hegseth to resign or will he boldly shout at our “Apprentice” defense secretary, “You’re fired!”? It’s only a matter of time until Hegseth joins Waltz on the unemployment line. Paul L. Newman
Killing the messengers
Swarthmore, Pa.: Edmund Burke was an Irishman born in the 18th century, a seminal thinker often credited with formulating the modern political philosophy of conservatism. He’s also credited for articulating the notion of the “Fourth Estate.” Burke said, “There were three Estates in the British Parliament, but in the reporters’ gallery, there sat a fourth Estate far more important than them all.” He was referring to the importance of having a vibrant and powerful free press to call out the excesses and perceived wrongdoings of the government. Some cynics may scoff that the media’s role in the era of a president who relentlessly undermines the press’ credibility has been greatly diminished. I say it has crystalized how vital its role is. If the press is beaten into a state of quiescent submissiveness, the leap from a democratic republic to an autocratic one becomes so much smaller. Our president grasps this all too well. Ken Derow
Dictatorial trajectory
Edinburgh, Scotland: Political observers have understandably grown weary of lazy references to Hitler when trying to explain Trump. And while a few governments (sadly, including the Westminster administration in the U.K.) try to play normal even while Trump disappears U.S. citizens and protected migrants to concentration camps in El Salvador, no one but the most deluded thinks the orange menace has anything remotely akin to a rigid Hitleresque plan for America. However, those who still cling to the idea of a U.S. liberal democracy when late-stage capitalism is eating itself are naively, gleefully banging on about vote shares and Trump’s crashing poll numbers. It’s worth remembering that Hitler’s Nazi party only ever achieved 37.3% of the popular vote. It almost immediately lost 2 million of those votes. What mattered was that Hitler gained power. Once there, he was unmovable, like dog turd deep in the groove of your shoe. Amanda Baker
Sign me up
Highland Falls, N.Y.: When told that the Vatican was publicly criticizing his policies, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin famously replied, “How many divisions does the pope have?” Trump and his slavish minions seem to want to use the same policy with American courts, ignoring them and daring some action to stop their illegal and inhumane policies. I’m not a constitutional scholar, but if the judges decide they can create a legal militia to enforce their judgements and jail Trump, JD Vance, Pam Bondi and the rest, I’ll be the first to volunteer my 70-year-old services. Joe Cyr
Rights are rights
Manhattan: Mahmoud Khalil’s pending deportation is entirely motivated by racism. He was never accused of inciting to riot, the only way he could have plausibly been deemed a threat. Are students and people on temporary visas barred from exercising free speech? If they’re subject to our laws, they should also have our freedoms. Khalil must be set free! Elizabeth Sheffren
Late-night nonsense
Bronx: Why are they showing cartoons in the middle of the night? Why am I watching cartoons in the middle of the night? Mary Caggiano
