NEW YORK — Dec. 19, 2025 — New York City subway turnstiles are getting a makeover that many riders have already noticed: sharp-looking metal partitions and awkward plastic add-ons that make entrances feel more like an obstacle course than a gateway to the platform.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) says that’s the point.
In a push to curb subway fare evasion—an ongoing financial drain that transit leaders say has ballooned in recent years—the agency is rolling out what several outlets have dubbed “spikes and paddles” across the system. Officials argue the hardware is a fast, relatively low-cost way to make fare-jumping harder at hundreds of stations while the MTA prepares for a much larger redesign of fare gates in the years ahead. [1]
But the rollout is also reigniting a familiar citywide argument: will more physical barriers actually change behavior, or will determined fare evaders simply find the next workaround?
What the MTA is installing: “spikes,” “paddles,” “fins,” and “sleeves”
The new equipment comes in a few parts—often described differently depending on the report.
- Metal vertical partitions (“fins”) are mounted between adjacent turnstiles, designed to eliminate the side ledges that people use for leverage when vaulting. Some versions include jagged tops that look like spikes.
- Turnstile add-ons (“paddles” or “sleeves”) attach to the turnstile arms themselves, aimed at preventing “easy” hops and reducing the space that people exploit to slip through.
At a basic level, the goal is to disrupt the two most common moves riders see every day: planting hands on the turnstile housing to spring over, and stepping onto turnstile bars for a quick vault. [2]
According to documents cited by multiple outlets, the hardware has already been installed at 327 of the city’s 472 subway stations, with the MTA planning to add it to another 129 stations by the end of next month, bringing the total to 456 stations. [3]
The price tag: $7.3 million—and an “emergency” procurement
The expansion is tied to a $7.3 million contract connected to Boyce Technologies, Inc., a Long Island City-based firm that has long worked on transit-related infrastructure projects. [4]
MTA procurement documents describe a contract to furnish and install “Fare Evasion Turnstile Sleeves” and “Stainless-Steel Vertical Fins” under an Immediate Operating Need process. The contract term listed in the documents runs May 16, 2025 through May 15, 2027. [5]
The same procurement summary includes unusually granular detail on what riders are actually seeing in stations:
- A “sleeve kit” includes three sleeves plus clamps/hinges and other hardware, and each sleeve includes a 3/16-inch-thick perforated aluminum plate intended to block jumping over the arm.
- Each fin weighs roughly 40 pounds and is installed on the side of the turnstile assembly to stop riders from using it as a launch point.
- The contract’s pricing structure is per turnstile, with line items for sleeves, fins, or both together—and includes a 10% price concession that the MTA says could translate into about $800,000 in savings if quantities are fully used. [6]
At the MTA board’s New York City Transit Committee meeting earlier this week, officials also faced questions about the decision to move quickly. amNewYork reported that an MTA procurement manager described the contract as originally awarded under an “emergency order,” with board ratification coming after the fact—prompting concerns from at least one board member about oversight and timing. [7]
Why the MTA is doing this now: a revenue problem measured in hundreds of millions
The MTA is making a simple argument: fare evasion is no longer a small leak—it’s a major hole in the budget.
Transit officials estimate the agency will lose about $400 million to subway fare evasion in 2025, up from $285 million in 2022, according to ABC7. [8]
That 2025 figure also appears in MTA procurement materials describing the rationale for scaling the program systemwide. [9]
Fare evasion trends have also been a recurring theme in policy and watchdog reports. The Citizens Budget Commission, for example, has emphasized that enforcement alone can’t realistically catch every incident—pointing to the scale of evasion systemwide and urging a multi-part strategy that includes environmental design changes (like the hardware now being installed). [10]
The “environment” piece—changing the station and gate layout so it’s harder to cheat—is exactly where “spikes and paddles” fit into the MTA’s broader playbook.
Does it work? The MTA says the barriers cut fare evasion by up to 60%
The headline claim, repeated across local coverage, is effectiveness.
Transit officials say fare evasion has dropped by around 60% at stations where the design has been implemented, and NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow has publicly defended the approach as practical—even if it looks strange to riders. [11]
In a message included in NYC Transit performance materials published this month, Crichlow also wrote that Governor Kathy Hochul directed NYC Transit to “fortify all subway stations with anti-evasion infrastructure,” adding that “turnstile sleeves and fins” have seen fare evasion decline by up to 60 percent at fortified stations. [12]
There are also early signs—at least in the aggregate—that fare evasion rates may be moving in the right direction. Gothamist reported that MTA public statistics showed 11% of subway riders evaded fares from July through the end of September this year, compared with 13% over the same period last year. [13]
That’s not the same thing as proving spikes and paddles are the decisive factor, but it’s part of the narrative the MTA is leaning on: multiple tactics, together, can bend the curve.
The criticism: riders say fare evaders can still beat the system
If the MTA is selling the new barriers as deterrence, critics argue the deterrent has limits—especially in a subway system where many riders see fare evasion as routine.
The New York Post, in a report this week, said its journalists observed people bypassing the devices with tactics like vaulting, crawling under, or exploiting emergency exits, and quoted riders who questioned whether the hardware is worth the money. [14]
Even beyond questions of effectiveness, the “spikes” label itself has fueled an emotional response: some riders see the turnstile fortifications as a symbol of rising tensions around public space, fairness, and enforcement in the transit system—particularly when service reliability, affordability, and public safety are already constant political flashpoints.
Then there’s the safety question. While the goal is to prevent risky behavior, critics warn the design could incentivize fare evaders—especially younger ones—to attempt even more dangerous maneuvers to avoid paying. In public discussions around the rollout, some officials have raised concerns about potential injuries from people trying to defeat the barriers anyway. [15]
What comes next: “spikes and paddles” are the quick fix, not the endgame
Even the MTA frames this rollout as only one layer of a larger plan.
ABC7 reported that the $7.3 million effort is small compared with the $1.1 billion budgeted to install redesigned fare gates at 150 stations as part of the agency’s five-year construction plan. [16]
That bigger initiative is already moving from concept to visible pilot installations.
NY1 reported earlier this month that the MTA is testing modern fare gates from four companies at 20 stations, replacing the familiar horizontal turnstiles with systems designed to make jumping or crawling under far more difficult. The pilot includes stations such as Third Avenue–138th Street, Port Authority, and the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center complex, with additional major hubs expected to see the new arrays as the test expands. [17]
In an MTA board presentation dated Dec. 17, the agency highlighted that its 2025–2029 capital program includes new fare gates in more than 150 stations—a sign that the long-term solution is a structural redesign, not endless retrofits. [18]
In other words: the “spikes and paddles” era may be the bridge between today’s vulnerable turnstiles and tomorrow’s more modern fare-control system.
The bigger fight against fare evasion: design, enforcement, and equity collide
The debate over NYC subway fare evasion has never been only about hardware.
Policy groups and MTA leaders increasingly describe fare evasion as a multi-cause problem—part economics, part culture, part enforcement, and part station design. The Citizens Budget Commission has argued that the scale of the issue requires a blend of approaches—often summarized as enforcement, environment, education, and equity—because no transit system can realistically police every missed swipe. [19]
The MTA’s current strategy reflects that mix:
- Environment: the sleeves/fins/paddles and other gate modifications.
- Operations: steps like “delayed egress” at some emergency exit gates.
- Long-term capital: redesigned fare arrays and modern gates.
NYC Transit leadership has also linked the push to broader system modernization and customer experience goals, arguing that better fare control protects revenue that can be reinvested into service and safety improvements. [20]
But critics counter that deterrence-only strategies can miss the underlying reasons some New Yorkers skip fares—especially as cost-of-living pressures remain high. This is where the politics get sharp: some riders want stricter enforcement to protect a system they pay for; others argue that affordability programs and service quality must be part of the solution if the city wants compliance that lasts.
What riders should watch for in early 2026
As of Dec. 19, here’s what the current reporting and documents suggest riders will see next:
- More stations fortified quickly. The MTA plans to add the barriers to 129 additional stations by the end of next month, expanding the rollout to 456 stations in total. [21]
- A larger fare gate pilot continues. The MTA’s ongoing tests at 20 stations are aimed at identifying modern gate designs that can be scaled systemwide over the next several years. [22]
- The long-term capital bet remains huge. MTA planning documents continue to point toward 150+ stations getting new fare gates under the capital program timeline. [23]
Whether riders end up viewing today’s spike-topped partitions and plastic paddles as an effective deterrent—or just the latest chapter in an endless cat-and-mouse game—may depend on what happens when the next wave of modern fare gates reaches the busiest stations.
For now, the message from transit leadership is clear: the MTA is trying to make paying the fare the path of least resistance—by making everything else harder. [24]
References
1. abc7ny.com, 2. www.amny.com, 3. abc7ny.com, 4. www.mta.info, 5. www.mta.info, 6. www.mta.info, 7. www.amny.com, 8. abc7ny.com, 9. www.mta.info, 10. cbcny.org, 11. abc7ny.com, 12. www.mta.info, 13. gothamist.com, 14. nypost.com, 15. gothamist.com, 16. abc7ny.com, 17. ny1.com, 18. www.mta.info, 19. cbcny.org, 20. www.mta.info, 21. abc7ny.com, 22. ny1.com, 23. www.mta.info, 24. www.mta.info
