NYC subway fare jumpers easily beat anti-theft ‘fins’ as MTA spends $7.3M to bring program to nearly every station

This week, the MTA finalized a partnership with Boyce Technologies to install more “sleeves” and vertical “fins” at turnstiles. The goal is to have the hardware in place at 456 of the city’s 472 stations by January.

Straphangers tell the story: people can easily jump over the jagged metal “fins” that are meant to stop leaping or using the turnstile housing as a launch pad. The thieves are also bypassing the “sleeves” that jam over the turnstile arm to prevent sneaky passage.

“Homies are coming through the whole night,” musician Kevin Lightfoot said to a Post reporter after he paid his fare.

Lightfoot, 59, called the MTA’s spending on ineffective barriers a waste of taxpayer money.

“Put something in the bottom so that they can’t go under it — but then they’re gonna hop over,” he added.

So far, about 2,900 of the sleeves and fins have been mounted at 327 stations, with the rest scheduled for installation at the remaining 129 locations by January, according to the MTA.

Even after the rollout, Post reporters still observed many fare evaders slipping past the new defenses on Thursday.

At Jamaica Center in Queens, one rider calmly vaulted over the reinforced turnstile, barely touching the spikes in a quick, discreet motion.

A woman avoided the spectacle altogether by crawling beneath the turnstile.

Within just two hours at Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall, two men leaped over the turnstile, another step‑over, and three others slipped under. A teen even joined a friend who used his card, while two men walked through an emergency exit usually opened by a rider.

At Union Square, in a little more than an hour, six people went over and under at different entrances—all of which featured the “fins,” “sleeves,” and gate guards.

“The guys they have outside, they’re just getting a free paycheck,” Lightfoot said. “If anything happens, he can’t stop it.”

An unnamed MTA employee, who declined to give his name for fear of losing his job, told a Post reporter that workers see people defeat the new devices “all the time.”

Another unnamed MTA worker echoed the sentiment. “Oh they’re going over, and we’ve got the spikes here. Nothing will stop them,” he said.

When the MTA first tested the shark‑toothed apparatus in February, a Post reporter also documented several people bypassing the system with ease.

The MTA said it hired a consultant to design and test the “fins” and “sleeves” but did not reply to The Post’s question about how that testing was carried out.

Brie, an aesthetician from the Bronx, slammed the spending as pointless, even though it’s only a fraction of the MTA’s $21 billion operating budget.

“They’re gonna do whatever they want to do. I’ve seen many people doing it,” Brie said. “Like they will go over, under, without any repercussion.”

On top of that, the MTA plans to shell out a staggering $1.1 billion to test new “modern fare gates” that are designed to curb fare evasion.

That capital will fund the installation of supposedly more robust gates at about 150 subway stations across the system, according to the MTA’s proposed 2025‑2029 Capital Plan.

Testing of those gates is slated to begin at the end of this month, MTA chairman Janno Lieber said on Wednesday.

Fare evasion cost the MTA roughly $400 million in 2025 for subways alone, the agency said.