Friday, May 1, 2009

Elsie Law's Daily Dose Of The Law

New York State's Court of Appeals has reportedly ruled that it is a felony to purposely bend a New York City transit MetroCard with the intention of getting a free ride.

A glitch in NYC's transit software system allowed for a bend in transit's MetroCard to garner a free ride on city trains. The MetroCard bending practice, which transit claims costs them approximately $16 million annually, can now lead to a prison sentence of up to 4 years.

According to The New York Daily News, the judge who ruled in the case opined that felony prosecutions for the card bending practice should only be handed down to repeat offenders.

[SIDEBAR: I find this case ironic, in light of NYC transit being able to repeatedly squeeze its riders for money via consistent fare hikes.]

1 comment:

beback said...

The MTA does more than squeeze their riders. I'm sure there are at least 1,900 or more riders who have had a second fair taken off their card when they transfer from the train to the bus. That means you have to buy another card to use,while you send your card to MTA and wait. Many people don't have the extra money to investin another card,so the money is lost to transit. What a rip off.