MTA picks 20 more subway stations for wide, touch-free fare gates

Riders at 20 more subway stations will soon see wider, touch-free fare gates. The MTA intends to begin putting them in before 2026 is over. The decision follows a trial at 20 other stations, where fare beating fell 35 percent on average.

Work to get the stations ready is expected to start in October. Three companies have been cleared to compete for the first contracts, with bids due this month. The gates belong to a larger, $1.1 billion effort to rebuild fare-control areas at 150 stations, funded by the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan. Taken together, those 150 stations handle nearly three-quarters of daily subway riders.

Which subway stations get the new fare gates

Stations named for the next round include:

• 14 Street-Union Square, a hub for the 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R and W
• Chambers Street, on the 1, 2 and 3
• 161 Street-Yankee Stadium, served by the B, D and 4
• 3 Avenue-149 Street, on the 2 and 5
• Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets, where the A, C and G stop
• Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue, on the D, F, N and Q
• Forest Hills-71 Avenue, on the E, F, M and R
• Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue-JFK Airport, served by the E, J and Z

What the fare gate pilot found

Over the course of the trial, the gates logged about 29 million entries, while exits through them came to around 34 million. Somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of typical daily riders passed through them at least once. The biggest drops came at Hoyt Street on the 2 and 3 and at Nostrand Avenue on the A and C, where evasion fell 72 percent at each. At 3 Avenue-138 Street on the 6, the decline was 65 percent. Beyond evasion, the agency graded the gates on accessibility, how passengers moved through them, upkeep, reliability, integration with existing systems, and the accuracy of their data and evasion detection.

Today’s three-wheel turnstiles date from the early 1990s, when they took over from token-era equipment. Their narrow opening is hard to clear in a wheelchair or with a stroller or luggage, so for decades those riders used emergency exit gates instead. Over time, those wider gates turned into a popular way to get in without paying, and the MTA has responded with new locks, guards posted at gates and delayed exits.

Quemuel Arroyo, the agency’s chief accessibility officer, uses a mobility device. He described the touch-free gates as “a leap forward in making our transit system more welcoming for everyone.”

Beyond this first group of 20, another 50 stations are in line for new gates, and work on a second phase covering 30 of them should be under way before 2027 ends. When all 150 stations are finished, the subway will have its first complete fare-control overhaul in over 30 years.