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Early Addition
We'd like to take a moment to talk about the High Entrance Exit Turnstile (HEET) at many subway stations. A friend was telling us how he was fined for allowing another straphanger enter the station with him. Our friend wasn't trying to deliberately flout the law - he thought he was being a Good Samaritan because the straphanger had just swiped through, but accidentally turned the turnstile from one behind where you're supposed to, so he was out of luck on his unlimited ride Metrocard, thanks to the 15 waiting period before using it again. Now, this is something Gothamist sees at least once a day - some more, unsuspecting person doesn't realize that when you use a HEET, you need to be right inside in order to get to the other side. So, our friend let the poor chap enter the station with him on his card - only for a cop to ticket him. D'oh!
The other thing we hate about the HEET and regular turnstiles is that they don't tell you when your Metrocard is expiring. Please, MTA? But what we love about HEET is its other nickname: The Iron Maiden. NYC Subway on the Fare Control devices.
Photograph from Tien Mao
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the mta tracks all metrocards so if the person in front of him gives the serial number on the back they can prove their story, it should be dismissed. iron maiden's stink tho.. esp in case of emergencies
Don't do the crime unless you're willing to do the time (...or pay the fine, in this case).
I have nightmares about being shredded to death in a HEET.
I call them 'baby-back ribs of death.'
I hate the stations where they only have one or two of these and NO exit-only ones, or maybe only one exit-only one. Like in Herald Square of all places! It results in everyone panicking and getting all crabby because it's either EVERYBODY out or EVERYBODY in.... and it takes FOREVER. Or at least seems to when a train is about to pull in and you wanna get on it.
I hate the fact that you can't get big or bulky items through these. I see parents with strollers struggling all the time just to make it through. And for me, getting on the train at odd hours with my surfboard is no fun at all.
I call them 'meat grinders' and loathe them
Bring back Tokens!!!! They worked every time.
Why is it a crime to pay for someone's fare?
My wife and I swipe for each other. When a card runs out etc.
It is not like someone did not pay for the fare.
That is absolutely fucking stupid.
Hey cops go find some REAL crime
I bet someone is getting robbed or raped when you are writing your bullshit turnstile ticket.
Wow you are a real crime fighter.
NOT You are just revenue generating bastards by extorting money from people enforcing stupid, poorly thought out ordinances.
Hey cop basher-
Maybe you're the one who's the idiot.
The dude with the valid fare card let someone go chest to back with him in one of those slots on the HEET, which is perfect reason for a citation. Squeezing two in one is illegal.
What he should have done was swiped once, let the guy go through, and then swipe again, and he would go through.
More hate for the heet from me. Though my pet peeve is at the Canal Street ACE where at the entrance near the front of the train, there's 1 HEET and 1 exit only. Inevitably someone has trouble with the damn thing and there's a line of a half dozen people or more waiting while people stare baffledly at the HEET.
Everyone read this:
You DON'T have to wait until the person in front of you goes fully through to start swiping your card. The machine WILL store your fare and let you through when the bars come around for you. I promise.
For some reason, people just stand there like idiots waiting for the bars to come to a stop. This WASTES A LOT OF TIME. Also, when swiping from a stand-still, you'll swipe slower, which is why you get more card-read errors.
So please, just KEEP WALKING and swipe like normal. Don't wait for the bars to stop rotating.
Jared. thats not entirely true...
yes the fare gets stored and you can walk rite in after the person in front..buuut if you walk to fast you'll be greeted by a turnstile into your nuts...its happened to me before...give it a second and then walk on through.
Everyone has their own name for these monsters...I call them "tourist traps" because that's what they do best.
They're a horror with the stroller--and they upset my otherwise merry child. To me, the meatgrinder just means "expect a writhing toddler-tantrum." I hate them.
"Put them in the Iron Maiden!"
"EXCELLENT!"
"Execute them!"
"Bogus!"
/BillandTed
Subway Jared above is completely wrong and giving bad advice. People wait for the bars to stop moving because they've experienced getting stuck in the stupid contraption. I don't know why, but it doesn't always work, and it's a real pain when it doesn't.
A lady and her son totally tried to scam me at a HEET on 26th/8th. An older woman went thru the HEET first, I was in the space behind her. As she was exiting the HEET, and I continued to push forward, one of the bottom bars grazed her foot/ankle. She started screaming and crying saying I broke her foot/ankle, her teenage son got in face threatening to sue me. I offered to call an ambulance, she said they have no insurance. Her son continued to get in my face demanding my contact info and cash, saying they'll go to hospital and would stick me w/ all treatment costs, sue me, etc. When I told them that I wouldn't give them any contact information or a penny until I called MY lawyers, the lady had a miraculous recovery and practically ran away.
I wonder if anyone else has seen this kind of HEET scam??
They are simply the most stupidly designed thing I've ever seen in any subway system in the world. All in an effort to deter fare beaters. The entire system is just pitiful, clinging to ancient technology, with 'modern' patches like the HEET added on. Get with the 20th century already. Ban the HEET!!!!
C,
Idiot Cops probably had the same experience I did with a HEET, and the undercover cops involved with my ticket were the Biggest Assholes Known To Man. It would have been just as effective if they had quietly taken us aside with a warning and explained that if his unlimited card didn't work, that didn't give me the right to be Good Samaritan. Instead they flashed their badges for the entire platform to see and acted as though we had robbed a bank. Some police are heroes, but these kind deserve to be bashed at every opportunity (this also goes for the ones who, ticket pregnant women who sit on the stairs, girl scouts selling cookies, etc.). If they're so miserable, no one if forcing them to work for the NYPD.
Also, your solution doesn't make sense, since you would still have to wait 15 minutes with an unlimited card.
Doesn't matter if the cop was an asshole with you or not. You broke the law (no matter how trivial the offense may seem to you). The cop didn't have to hear what your excuse was. Nor did he have to be nice to you. Sure there were probably more serious crimes happening somewhere else, but fare-beating is fare-beating. Break the law = Get ticket. I hope the person you helped offered to pay your ticket.
And enough of this moral shit. You got caught. NEXT time cheat the system at a station where there’s less of a chance of a cop being around.
The cops are just doing their jobs. There’s no need to call them idiots (even though a lot of them are
I fail to see how it was fare beating if the person actually paid and was unable to get through the first time. Its the same as the token clerk allowing you to swipe at a turnstile and then walk through the door.
Pregnant or not...don't sit on the effing stairs. it blocks foot traffic, and is a hazard. i read that dumb chick who got a ticket for sitting on the steps was complaining that subway station seats are dirty...sooo she sat on the stairs...smart...
Thank you MTA for making communting HELL! Give yourself a raise...
Great JOB.
LOve all riders
Just this week I had to SQUEEZE myself, my baby, the stroller, our bags through one of these things because there wasn't a single person to let us out the service exit.
Wait, actually, there were 2 MTA employees emptying trash who said "It wasn't their job," and then laughed while I struggled.
Really classy.
But those things are fun when you play 'husband in the cage", "friend in the cage'....or whoever. If no one else is around, go through first then stop the rotation. Ah...good times.
I'd like to know how I was "cheating," "fare beating" or "stealing" from the system if we both had unlimited cards. Such "laws" are in effect because the MTA is simply too lazy to deal with poorly designed and malfunctioning turnstyles (see aforementioned classy behavior in the stroller story above).
Frankly, I don't give a shit if cops are assholes, but the good ones should, as they are the ones who also end up with tarnished reputations (and to clarify, I HAVE dealt with very decent members of the NYPD). Then again I suppose there's no incentive to act like a human being when you're undercover in faux ghetto thug attire and tackily spiked/highlighted hair.
You know why I hate the HEET? They look way too much like egg slicers to me. I feel like one day I might come out on the other side all segmented like a hard-boiled egg. On a groggy morning, that thought is enough to make me walk to another entrance.
Dirk,
You said the police officer did not "have to be nice to you." Wrong. Members of the NYPD are obligated to be "courteous," even when writing a ticket. If they are "discourteous," they are subject to discipline, and they are not doing their job right. So regardless of whether you think it's okay to let someone else through a HEET without stealing a fare when the MTA's equipment malfunctions (I'd argue you'd have to be a dick NOT to do so), please don't buy into the myth that cops can simultaneously (1) do their job and (2) not be nice to someone they're writing a ticket to.
"You said the police officer did not "have to be nice to you." Wrong. Members of the NYPD are obligated to be "courteous," even when writing a ticket."
Actually, being nice and being courteous are two different things at times, so he's not necessarily wrong.
"If they are "discourteous," they are subject to discipline, and they are not doing their job right."
And it's entirely subjective what you think is discourtesy.
"So regardless of whether you think it's okay to let someone else through a HEET without stealing a fare when the MTA's equipment malfunctions (I'd argue you'd have to be a dick NOT to do so), "
Noone is arguing that the system is malfuncioning, the rider malfunctioned, by turning the turnstile from the wrong place.
"please don't buy into the myth that cops can simultaneously (1) do their job and (2) not be nice to someone they're writing a ticket to."
The real myth hear is why people think they are smarter than cops who do this repeatedly, daily and are strictly supervised and randomly tested frequently. Sometimes-just for courtesy.
If your metrocard is unlimited and the turnstile victimizes you, go to court on the ticket. Saying "I just swiped it and turned the turnstile improperly" is like saying "I charged someone to use my unlimited metrocard and then decided to enter illegally."
Further two people entering on one turn of the turnstile is ALWAYS ILLEGAL-duh!
Why do the cops write summonses in the hole? That's how crime has dropped. Idiots who will later commit violent crime will often fare evade, drink in the subway and otherwise violate the New York City Rules and Regulations first. Also, fighting crime is about warrant checks-as often as possible, that's why the police stop folks.
If the police relaxed the standard, we can return to the 1970s.
Actually, the time between swipes on an unlimited Metrocard is 17 minutes.
A real cop will go out and look out for real crimes like rape and murder which happen every second instead of standing near the turnstile looking for someone to give that damn ticket.
"A real cop will go out and look out for real crimes like rape and murder which happen every second instead of standing near the turnstile looking for someone to give that damn ticket. "
They are looking for that, at the same time-it's easy to do both. However they are obligated to enforce the law and are supposed to have very little discretion on who they stop. If they went out looking for "real crime" and ignored this it would be easy to argue that they were favoring certain groups.
However by stopping people for fare evasion you can easily run them for warrants and catch "real" criminals.
Tickets are usually driven by quotas.
Quotas are driven by bureaucrats.
Bureaucrats are driven by Satan.
these things stink, but the cops have to do their jobs. they cant look the other way if people double up through the turnstile. one of the previous posters is correct about cracking down on farebeaters - the cops are there catching criminals before they actually do something wrong while in the subway system. this stategy works. anyone who rode the subway in the 70s and 80s can attest to this fact. it's like cleaning up manhattan by getting rid of the squeegee men and the porn shops. Bratton and Kerik knew what they were doing and Ray Kelly is maintaining and improving upon their policies. in the process, there will be an occasional instance where someone is ticketed for doing something that was "technically" wrong, even though there was no criminal intent. if this person shows up in court with the rider whom he helped, the ticket will get thrown out after the MTA looks at the time stamps on their metrocards.
There is no evidence that zero tolerance on petty crime (i.e. fare beating) has had anything to do with the decrease in crime since 1990. People have tried to prove a connection and have been unsuccessful.
it's 18 minutes, not 15