MTAPhotos / STraffic
An Upper West Side subway station is getting modern, touch-free fare gates at all of its entrances, and the first phase of work is expected to get started this month.
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The 72nd Street 1/2/3 station is one of 20 stations slated for the new gates, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday. Early station preparation work is expected to begin in October, with the gates set to start going in during the fourth quarter of this year, according to the governor’s office.The announcement came with the results of the MTA’s fare gate pilot, which put new gates in 20 stations across the system. Fare evasion at those stations dropped by an average of 35 percent. The biggest decreases were at Hoyt St and Nostrand Av, both down 72 percent, and at 3 Av-138 St, which saw a 65 percent drop. Since the pilot began, roughly 29 million entries and 34 million exits have been recorded at the new gates.
“New York’s transit renaissance is powered by historic investments in aging infrastructure and improvements to safety and reliability, and by replacing turnstiles that date back to the token-era, we can achieve the twin benefits of accessibility upgrades and reduced fare evasion that riders deserve,” Hochul said.
The governor’s office describes it as the first comprehensive overhaul of the fare array system in more than 30 years. The MTA began installing tri-wheel turnstiles in the early 1990s. That design wasn’t accessible for riders using wheelchairs or traveling with strollers or luggage, so the MTA created emergency exit gates to give them a wider way in and out. In recent years, those emergency gates have become known as the “superhighway” for fare evasion.
“Station accessibility goes far beyond elevators. It’s about how smoothly one can move from the entrance to the platform,” said Quemuel Arroyo, the MTA’s chief accessibility officer, who called the touch-free gates a leap forward for riders who use mobility devices, push strollers or carry luggage.
The 72nd Street station is one of six Manhattan stations on the list. The others are 14 St-Union Sq, 86 St (4/5/6), 125 St (4/5/6), Chambers St (1/2/3) and Spring St (C/E).
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The MTA qualified three vendors, Cubic, STraffic and Conduent, to compete to supply the gates, and bids for this first phase are due this month. It’s all part of a $1.1 billion investment in the MTA’s 2025-2029 Capital Plan to upgrade fare control areas at 150 stations. A second phase of 30 more stations is expected to be under construction by the end of next year, which would bring the total to 70 stations with modern fare gates, counting the pilot.“The early returns on the new fare gate pilot are pretty impressive,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “Right now, we’re focused on expanding to the next 20, but thanks to Governor Hochul, we’ll get to 150 stations as part of the billion-dollar investment funded in the MTA Capital Plan.”
The new gates come on the heels of two new elevators that recently opened at the 72nd Street station, one serving the downtown platform and the other serving the uptown platform.
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