NEW YORK, NY — Joseph Hernandez, Republican candidate for New York State Comptroller, today slammed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for hundreds of millions lost in unpaid tolls and fare evasion.
According to recent reports, unpaid MTA tolls have surged to roughly $350 million in just 2025, while the MTA’s 2024 Blue Ribbon Report concluded that fare and toll evasion across the system has cost the authority an estimated $700 million annually.
“This staggering $300 million increase in toll evasion since 2022 means that the MTA is now losing $1 billion worth of revenue each year,” explained Hernandez. He also said the numbers point to a deeper, systemic problem of a bloated and ineffective bureaucracy, incapable of managing one of the largest transit systems in the world.
“This isn’t just about people skipping fares or dodging tolls,” said Hernandez. “This is about an agency that is hemorrhaging revenue while continuing to spend like nothing is wrong. That is a failure of leadership, oversight, and basic fiscal responsibility.”
Hernandez emphasized that while public officials often point to enforcement as the solution, the vast scale of lost revenue reflects broader operational breakdowns within the MTA itself.
“When you’re losing over a billion dollars combined in tolls and fares, the issue is not just enforcement but instead the system itself,” Hernandez said. “The MTA has built a massive bureaucracy that struggles to collect revenue, control costs, or deliver results for taxpayers and riders.”
Hernandez pointed to long-standing concerns about inefficiencies, wasteful spending, and lack of transparency within the MTA, arguing that Albany has allowed the authority to operate without sufficient accountability.
“This is what happens when there is no serious oversight,” Hernandez said. “Costs spiral, revenue collapses, and no one is held responsible. Meanwhile, everyday New Yorkers are stuck with delays, higher fares, and a system they can’t rely on.”
As a candidate for State Comptroller, Hernandez said he would prioritize aggressive audits of the MTA to identify waste, recover lost revenue, and impose real fiscal discipline.
“The MTA doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a management problem,” Hernandez said. “As State Comptroller, I will conduct a comprehensive audit of the MTA, stop wasteful contracts and spending and ensure that every dollar is accounted for. New Yorkers deserve a transit system that works, and a government that knows how to manage it.”
Hernandez concluded by warning that continuing on the current path will only deepen the MTA’s financial instability and further erode public trust.
“We cannot keep throwing more money at a broken system,” Hernandez said. “Until we fix the culture of mismanagement and hold leadership accountable, the MTA will continue to fail the people it is supposed to serve.”