COVER UP OR PAY UP
$50 FINES FOR MASKLESS COMMUTERS
ALBANY — Commuters who refuse to wear a mask while riding on public transit will soon be subject to a $50 fine, Gov. Cuomo and MTA officials announced Thursday.
The fine will be enforced on subways and buses, as well as Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road commuter trains starting Monday, Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman Patrick Foye said during a conference call with the governor.
“Wearing a mask on public transit is mandatory, the governor’s executive order has the force of state law,” Foye said. “Compliance … remains high, but we want to drive it even higher. Achieving universal mask compliance is our goal.”
Cuomo, who praised the MTA’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, said he wants to boost confidence in public transportation and dissuade commuters from clogging up the roadways with additional traffic as schools reopen.
“We want people on Metro-North, LIRR, subway system. They know the cars are cleaner, disinfected. The last variable is are the other riders on the trains recognizing social distancing and are they wearing masks,” the governor said. “That’s what people want to know. If I get on the LIRR, Metro-North, subway car, will other people be we wearing masks? Yes, 90%. Well, I’m nervous about COVID. I want to make sure that compliance is very high. And they are right.”
The governor mandates masks be worn in places where social distancing can’t be maintained, such as a subway car or bus, at the height of the outbreak back in April.
Some advocates panned the new measure, noting already high compliance on subways and expressing reservations about enforcement when cops are often caught disregarding the rule themselves.
“New York is not seeing COVID cases from transit now because most people are already wearing masks,” Danny Pearlstein of the Riders Alliance said in a statement. “The governor’s policy seems less likely to make subways even safer than to cause more conflict between police and riders.”
Sarah Feinberg, interim president of the NYC Transit Authority, said MTA police, along with NYPD and Bridge and Tunnel officers, will be tasked with enforcing the fine.
Feinberg added that the fines remain a “last resort” and said officers will be instructed to first remind a maskless rider that face coverings are mandatory.
If someone forgot or doesn’t have a mask, they will be offered one before being issued a fine if they continue to refuse to wear it.