I would rather drivers do this than cause delays. I say this as a taxpayer and almost-never bus rider.

In some ways this is a good thing. In order for fare collection to slow down the buses, you need to have lots of passengers which is obviously a good thing for the MTA.

What this problems begs for is a different solution than collecting fares when riders board the bus. Perhaps the bus could follow the light rail model and allow riders to pay their fare off the bus and just show proof of payment on demand. Busy stops could have ticket machines while smaller stops could use on board payment.

This is very common in Germany and works well there in my own experience.

You know what bothers me more?

Bus drivers turning from Fayette on MLK south that "block the box", when they know they can't clear the light.

Or bus drivers that block two lanes at a stop.

Instead of blaming the operators, how about devising a schedule that will not force them to take such measures?

I agree with JH. The problem is that the schedules can't be met and the drivers believe that making it on time is more important than transporting people.

But, also, putting money into the fare boxes is not that easy. Maybe the new fare card will help the issue, but as it is, I routinely have to try more than once to get my dollar bill to be accepted and putting change in is very difficult. Fare boxes shouldn't require a jewel's level of fine motor control.

MTA bus drivers are DOCKED pay if they are consistantly too early or too late to a scheduled stop..........hmmmmm, I wonder if that could be part of the problem. So yes, making it on time IS more imnportant than transporting people.

@Dave, what kind of pay docking are you referring to? Do operators get fined or something for being late/early?

Also, in general, I agree with the scheduling issue. Yes, realistic schedules must be part of the solution; however, I don't see how it's an acceptable practice to refuse fares. I couldn't see a movie clerk with a line of 20 people shutting down his or her cash register and letting people get in for free just because he or she was getting behind (the analogy may not be the best, but hopefully the point makes sense.)

Schedules, operators, and even passengers all affect the timeliness of bus service--all factors must be optimized for performance to improve.

Missing a few cash fares would not really impact the financial performance of MTA since all fares, including monthly/weekly passes, account for a fraction of the cost of running the buses. On the other hand, having buses that run slower cause the operating cost of the line to be higher since more buses and drivers are needed to make a schedule. And now you added the cost of the mystery riders to check on this and additional monitoring and responding to riders on this issue. The last thing we need is for an article like this to cause a knee-jerk response. If all bus operators were required to make everyone swipe every time and not let them flash their pass, you'll need to redo the schedule and make everyone later for work. Aren't there more significant questions to bring to the public's attention than this one?

@Transit-portation----what part of DOCKED don't you understand? Docked means that pay (income) is subtracted from thier (the bus drivers) pay check. I don't know how else to explain it.

@Dave, thanks for the clarification; however, the part that I don't understand is your information source. Bus operators' pay checks are not docked because of lateness. You make it sound like they get some sort of fine. How could that even work? If the operator arrives late, they lose pay? That doesn't make sense.