Transit Adjudication Bureau: Fines, Deadlines, and Hearings

The Transit Adjudication Bureau, or TAB, is the New York City agency that handles civil tickets issued on the subway and bus system, and if you have a Notice of Violation you have two choices: pay the fine or request a hearing to contest it by the deadline printed on the ticket.¹ TAB is not a court. The case is civil, not criminal, so a TAB ticket does not create a criminal record. The bureau runs out of a single office in Brooklyn and processes thousands of these notices every year.

What TAB Tickets Cover

TAB enforces the Rules of Conduct for the New York City Transit Authority under 21 NYCRR Part 1050. The most common tickets are for fare evasion — jumping a turnstile, entering through an exit gate, or using counterfeit or improperly transferred fare media. A malfunctioning fare device is specifically not a defense.²

Other frequent violations include smoking or vaping anywhere in the system (platforms, stations, trains, buses), carrying a lit match or torch, unauthorized selling or panhandling, occupying more than one seat when it interferes with other passengers, putting feet on seats, lying on floors or stairways, and playing music through a speaker loud enough for others to hear.³⁴ Drinking alcohol, gambling, and riding bicycles or skateboards inside stations are also violations.

How Much the Fine Is

Fare evasion fines changed on January 1, 2025 and now use a tiered schedule based on how many violations you have in a rolling four-year window.⁵

First offense: warning, no fine.
Second offense: $100. Pay on time and in full and you get a $50 OMNY credit, which you pick up at the TAB office within 60 days.
Third offense or more: $150, or the case may be handled as a criminal summons instead.

Fair Fares NYC participants who were enrolled when the ticket was issued get a 50 percent reduction on fare evasion fines. Riders who weren’t enrolled at the time but sign up for Fair Fares before the hearing date can receive a one-time full waiver of the fare evasion fine.⁵

For everything else — smoking, taking up multiple seats, unauthorized selling, and other non-fare violations — TAB can impose a civil penalty of up to $100 per violation, plus interest or costs. The specific amount for a given infraction is set by TAB’s fine schedule.⁶

Your Deadline to Respond

The response deadline is printed on the Notice of Violation itself. As a rule:¹

Fare evasion NOVs issued on or after January 1, 2025: about 45 days from the date of the offense.
All other NOVs: about 30 days from the date of the offense.

By that date, you need to either pay or request a hearing. Hearings can be conducted in person, by mail, or by email.

Paying the Fine

TAB accepts check, cash, credit card, or money order in person, and check or money order by mail. The mailing address and office location are printed on your NOV. The office is at 29 Gallatin Place, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. for payments.⁵⁷

If You Can’t Pay All at Once

TAB offers a Time Payment Plan for balances of at least $40. 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. Miss the plan deadline and penalties and interest start accruing on the remaining balance right away.⁵

If you’re not yet enrolled in Fair Fares NYC but want to apply, you can request a 45-day extension by submitting an “Intention to Apply for Fair Fares NYC” form to TAB on or before the hearing date. If you don’t submit proof of enrollment within those 45 days, the full balance becomes due immediately and may have penalties and interest tacked on.⁵

Contesting the Ticket at a Hearing

If you dispute the violation, a Hearing Officer at the TAB office decides your case. In-person hearings run Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.⁷ These are administrative proceedings, not trials. There is no jury and no prosecutor. The Hearing Officer reads the transit officer’s written account from the NOV and then lets you tell your side.

Bring evidence. A receipt showing you tapped your MetroCard or OMNY card, photographs, and written statements from witnesses all help. You don’t need a lawyer, but you can bring one at your own expense.⁸ For fines in this range, most people won’t find hiring one worthwhile, and the process is built to be navigable on your own.

TAB provides free interpreter services in over 170 languages, by phone and in person, including during hearings. You don’t need to bring your own interpreter.⁷

The Hearing Officer issues a written decision saying whether the charges are sustained or dismissed and what you owe.

What Happens if You Ignore the Ticket

This is where the real cost builds up. If you don’t respond by the hearing date, TAB enters a default judgment. On top of the original fine, an additional penalty of up to $50 can be added for failing to respond on time, and interest starts running.⁶ A $100 ticket can quietly grow well past that.

New York State can also intercept your state tax refund to collect the debt. Under the Statewide Offset Program, the Department of Taxation and Finance lists the MTA as an agency whose debts qualify for refund offsets.⁹ If your refund is taken, you’ll get an Account Adjustment Notice, but by that point the money is already gone.

A TAB violation is civil, so it won’t show up on a criminal background check. Unpaid balances can be referred to collections, which may affect your credit depending on the amount and the scoring model. The practical takeaway: respond by the deadline even if you plan to fight the charge. Ignoring the notice only makes it more expensive.

Appealing a TAB Decision

If the Hearing Officer rules against you, you can file a Notice of Appeal, and it must reach TAB within 30 days of the date on your Notice of Decision and Order.¹⁰ TAB will not process the appeal unless you first pay the full fine. The exception is a Financial Hardship Waiver, which lets you appeal without paying up front; if the waiver is denied, you get 30 more days to pay and resubmit.

The Appeals Board reviews the evidence and arguments from the original hearing. It is not a fresh hearing and you do not get to bring new evidence; the board looks at whether the Hearing Officer made errors with what was already in the record.

If the Appeals Board also rules against you, New York’s Article 78 procedure lets you ask a state Supreme Court to review the administrative decision. The filing deadline is four months from the date you receive the final determination.¹¹ Article 78 is considerably more involved than the TAB process, and for fines in the $100 to $150 range most people won’t find it worth pursuing. The option is there if you believe TAB fundamentally mishandled the case.

1
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. What to Do if You Get a Ticket on the Subway or Bus
2
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. NYCTA Rules of Conduct and Fines – Section 1050.4
3
Legal Information Institute. New York Codes, Rules and Regulations 21 NYCRR 1050.7 – Disorderly Conduct
4
Legal Information Institute. New York Codes, Rules and Regulations 21 NYCRR 1050.6 – Use of the Transit System
5
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Transit Adjudication Bureau – How to Pay a Fine
6
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. NYCTA Rules of Conduct and Fines – Section 1050.10
7
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Transit Adjudication Bureau
8
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. TAB Hearings
9
New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Tax Refund Offset Programs
10
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Appeal a TAB Hearing Decision
11
New York State Unified Court System. How to Commence an Article 78