The fine for jumping a turnstile in NYC is $100 for a second offense and $150 for a third within four years, with a warning (no money owed) on the first. That’s the civil track, which is how most fare evasion stops are handled. If you’re arrested and charged criminally instead, the ceiling jumps to a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.1
What You Actually Pay
The civil penalty is set by the Transit Adjudication Bureau (TAB) and climbs with each violation inside a four-year window:
- First offense: warning only, no fine. It still counts toward your tally.
- Second offense: $100. Pay in full on time and you get a $50 OMNY credit back. Fair Fares NYC participants who received a reduced fine get a $25 OMNY credit. The credit has to be picked up at the TAB office within 60 days of paying.
- Third offense and beyond: $150, or a criminal summons instead.
The ticket itself is called a Notice of Violation. A police officer or MTA enforcement agent hands it to you at the station. No arrest, no criminal record, no court appearance unless you ask for a hearing.
When It Stops Being Just a Fine
Officers can skip the TAB ticket and arrest you for Theft of Services under New York Penal Law 165.15 if the circumstances call for it. Prior fare evasion tickets, outstanding warrants, or other open legal issues are common triggers. A third civil offense also opens the door to a criminal summons rather than another TAB fine.
Theft of Services is a Class A misdemeanor. It covers obtaining or trying to obtain public transportation without paying through force, deception, stealth, or mechanical tampering. The maximum penalties are up to 364 days in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, and probation of two or three years.
Jail is rare for a first offense that’s just a turnstile jump. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has publicly stated it will not seek incarceration for fare evasion cases without an accompanying felony charge. What tends to stick is the record itself. A Class A misdemeanor conviction shows up on background checks run by employers, landlords, and licensing agencies for years. NYCHA treats it as grounds for ineligibility for four years after you finish serving your sentence. For non-citizens, even a single misdemeanor can affect admissibility, deportability, and status applications like Temporary Protected Status.
What Happens If You Ignore the Ticket
This is where a $100 ticket turns into something much worse. Miss the hearing date printed on the Notice of Violation and TAB tacks on a $25 penalty. Thirty days after that, another $25. You also lose your right to a hearing to dispute the ticket at all.
Unpaid TAB fines then accrue interest at 9% per year. TAB starts with letters and calls, but collection can escalate to wage garnishment, seizure of your state tax refund, court action, and enforcement by a New York City Marshal or Sheriff.
If you’ve already blown the deadline, you can file a Request to Stay Entry of Default Judgment with TAB and ask to reopen the case. You have to show good cause for not responding on time. If TAB says no, you owe the full fine plus every penalty and interest charge that has stacked up.
How to Respond to the Ticket
You have two choices: pay or fight it.
Payment can be made online, by phone, by mail, in person at the TAB office in Brooklyn, or through MoneyGram.
To contest the ticket, request a hearing in person, by mail, or by email. The MTA recommends mail or email over appearing in person. At the hearing you present your case under oath to a Hearing Officer, and you can bring witnesses, submit evidence, and ask questions.
If you can’t pay in one shot, TAB offers a Time Payment Plan for anyone with at least $40 in outstanding fines. It gives you 60 days to pay and carries a $10 processing fee. You have to set it up either before your hearing date or within 30 days after it. Once that second $25 late penalty hits, the payment plan option is gone.
Your Odds of Getting Caught
Enforcement has climbed sharply. In 2024, the NYPD issued over 143,000 TAB summonses for subway fare evasion, a 96% increase from 2019. The MTA has placed unarmed gate guards at more than 208 subway stations and is reconfiguring turnstiles to block common evasion methods. New fare gates are going in at 20 stations with plans to expand to at least 150 stations in the coming years. Getting waved through or slipping past unnoticed is a lot less likely than it used to be.