Seen at the station on 96th and Broadway
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What began in January 2025 as the MTA’s latest effort to curb fare evasion has now reached the Upper West Side, where spikey fins and crescent-shaped metal barriers have been spotted.
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Half-moon subway shields have been installed at both the 86th and 96th Street subway stations on Broadway. These measures are intended to make it more difficult to jump over the turnstiles, and it also coincides with the MTA’s recent announcement that fares will increase from $2.90 to $3. While ILTUWS did not observe any fare beaters, one person who asked to remain anonymous said, “If somebody wants to get through, they can get through.”You’ll find a combination of the half-moons with what the MTA refers to as “fins.” They resemble spikes, though not very sharp. These vertical metal barriers have ridges where people once used their arms on both sides of the entry to push themselves over the turnstile. The combination of the half-moons and fins is noticeable and can be effective, but as Jesse D. at the station told us, “You can still go under,” meaning people can get down on the floor and essentially crawl below. “They usually always have people here on the lookout for people sneaking in, but I don’t usually see them do anything,” they added.
Seen at the station on 86th and Broadway
ILTUWS reached out to the MTA to ask how many fins and half-moons have been installed on the Upper West Side and whether more are planned. An MTA spokesperson responded, “The installations are part of a continued rollout of the fins and sleeves across turnstiles in the subway system. Future locations are not available.”
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After multiple emails with no clear response on how many stations have these measures, ILTUWS called an MTA representative, who said that was all the information they could share at this time.In September 2025, the Citizens Budget Commission reported, “Fare and toll evasion cost the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) approximately $1 billion in revenue in 2024.” They also noted 655 arrests in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 4,092 in the first quarter of 2025. Are these new measures working? The CBC says, “Between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, the subway fare evasion rate declined from 14 percent to 10 percent.”
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