NYC Transit may have to replace locks on emergency gates throughout its 468 subway stations because too many keys are the hands of subway scammers, agency head Tom Prendergast said Monday.
Transit has begun an audit to determine how many keys have been issued over the years and to whom, Prendergast said at the MTA's transit committee meeting.
If the audit determines too many keys have fallen into the wrong hands - the keys are supposed to be used only by firefighters and certain authorized transit workers - then the agency will change locks wholesale, Prendergast said.
"If that's required, that's what we're going to do," he said.
The Daily News reported on the key problem in an exclusive story Sunday.
MTA board member said farebeating seems rampant.
"People just go through with impunity," Albert said.
NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Diaz said police are targeting trouble spots
For all crimes and offenses, transit police have made 12,359 arrests January through March and issued more than 30,000 summonses.
Crime is at a historic low.
Officials said that keys in the wrong hands is not a security issue but a "farebeating issue."
One problem may be that scammers vandalize MetroCard vending machines in unstaffed entrances so they don't accept dollar bills.
"The machines are always broken," a stations cleaner said, speaking anonymously.
"They make it so people can't buy MetroCards so people have to come to them and pay them to get in."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/04/26/2010-04-26_nyc_transit_scrambles_to_replace_subway_emergency_gate_locks_as_copied_27_magic_.html#ixzz0mFAPwQCG
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