The Morning: Free riders

Plus, Donald Trump, a hostage rescue and clubbing with kids.

View in browser|nytimes.com August 28, 2024 SUPPORTED BY BLAND AI By David Leonhardt Good morning. We're covering the rise of fare evasion on subways and buses — as well as Donald Trump, a hostage rescue and clubbing with kids. A subway station in Manhattan. Stephanie Keith for The New York Times 'Not an orderly place' I've been riding the subway regularly for almost 40 years, first in New York, where I grew up, and these days in Washington, D.C. When I started doing so, in the 1980s, fare evasion was common. I saw many people jump turnstiles, and I'll confess that I cheated once myself: As teenagers, a friend and I squeezed through the gate together at Shea Stadium to save $1. It seemed like a normal New York thing to do. Until it didn't. As part of the city's crackdown on crime in the 1990s, the subway system became a cleaner and safer place. I saw very few people jump turnstiles in New York in the early 2000s. The same was true in Washington. It is not true anymore. For the past few years, fare beating has again become a regular part of public transit. I've watched people do it just a few feet away from powerless transit workers looking directly at them. My colleague Ana Ley, who covers mass transit, wrote a story this week focused on buses that quantified the problem in New York City with a jarring statistic: On nearly half of all bus rides in the city, people now skip paying the fare. As a result, about one million riders ignore the bus system's most basic rule every weekday. Source: M.T.A. | Local bus data is through the first quarter of 2024; subway data is through the second. | By The New York Times This evasion has become a major financial problem for the transit system, which depends on fares for revenue. The trend has also created a sense of chaos and unfairness. "Something should be done about it," Mary Parrish, a frustrated 85-year-old retired teacher, told The Times while waiting for a bus in Brooklyn. Janno Lieber, chief executive of the transit system, which is known as the M.T.A., has called fare evasion "the No. 1 existential threat" because it creates a sense of lawlessness. "It says at the doorway: This is not an orderly place," Lieber said. The subways have indeed become less orderly. Violent crime, per subway rider, has risen sharply since 2019, as Nicole Gelinas wrote for Times Opinion. In a survey last year, only 49 percent of daytime subway riders said they felt safe, down from 82 percent in 2017. Two big reasons Covid is part of the explanation. The transit system suspended some fare collection in 2020, which fed the notion that paying was optional. Society's long pandemic shutdowns also seem to have contributed to a malaise from which the country has still not recovered. But M.T.A. data makes clear that Covid isn't the only cause of growing fare evasion — because it began rising sharply in 2017, not 2020. The second big cause is also part of a larger story. In the late 2010s, calls began growing for a more relaxed approach to law enforcement. Crime had fallen so low that it didn't always seem like a threat. And more people had understandably grown concerned about mass incarceration, given that the U.S. was a global outlier and disproportionately locked up people of color. These concerns helped lead to several policy changes. In Oregon, citizens voted to decriminalize all drugs. In Washington D.C., Democratic politicians questioned the importance of immigration enforcement. In New York, the Manhattan district attorney in 2017 stopped pursuing most fare evasion cases, and Brooklyn took similar steps. Times Square subway station. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times These policies haven't aged very well. Fare evasion in New York has surged. Oregon, faced with neighborhoods coping with sick addicts and public defecation, recently restored some penalties for drug use. On immigration, the Biden administration's loosening of border policy has frustrated even many Democratic voters, mayors and governors — and the administration has since reversed itself. The subway systems in New York and other cities have also made changes. Washington and Philadelphia have installed taller barriers to stop people from jumping over fare gates. New York and Chicago have placed more police officers inside the transit system. City life, damaged None of this necessarily means that the old status quo on subways and buses was ideal. Some activists argue that public transit should be free and that higher taxes should cover the system's costs; critics of this idea reply it would cause transit systems to be underfunded and unreliable. There are also thorny questions about what the consequences for fare evasion should be. Few legal experts favor jail. Drug use may offer a useful analogy: As my colleague German Lopez has pointed out, even modest penalties can have a big effect on behavior. Whatever the answer, New York's glorious transit system, a signature part of the city, is struggling. The projected budget deficit is growing, and many regular riders say that today's chaotic atmosphere has damaged the quality of everyday life. For more: I recommend reading Ana's story. She also did a Q. and A. with our New York Today newsletter. A MESSAGE FROM BLAND AI AI called—and you thought it was a person. Say Hello to Bland, the most human-sounding AI in the world. Chances are, you've already spoken to Bland's AI without even noticing... It understands emotions, can respond in any voice or language, and already handles 1m+ phone calls simultaneously, 24/7. For enterprises, it's been a financial game changer across sales, customer support, you name it. It's like the perfect employee. Just give it a call yourself... Try an AI Phone Call THE LATEST NEWS 2024 Election Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.  Nick Hagen for The New York Times, Eric Lee/The New York Times Dueling ad strategies: Kamala Harris's ads focus on her middle-class upbringing and accuse Donald Trump of fighting "for billionaires and large corporations," while a pro-Trump group plans to air ads attacking Harris's record on the border. Ahead of the presidential debate, the Trump and Harris campaigns are fighting over whether microphones will be muted when a candidate isn't speaking. Trump's campaign team clashed with an official at Arlington National Cemetery during the former president's visit. Federal law prohibits political campaigning there. Harris and Trump both embrace tariffs, but to different degrees. She supports targeted tariffs; he has proposed tariffs on most foreign goods. Years ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s daughter told a magazine that her father once sawed the head off a dead whale and strapped it to the family minivan. An environmental organization is now calling for an investigation. Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian leaders used flattery and pomp to get into Trump's good graces, Trump's former national security adviser writes in a memoir. Jan. 6 Jack Smith, the special counsel, narrowed his Jan. 6 indictment against Trump to reflect the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity. Smith, after setbacks and delays, is signaling that he will pursue both the Jan. 6 and classified documents cases through the homestretch of the presidential campaign. A judge sentenced the first rioter to breach the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 to more than four years in prison. More on Politics Florida's state tourism website took down resource pages for L.G.B.T.Q. travelers. "The Trumpist wing of legal thought": A federal court in New Orleans has embraced aggressive conservative arguments, leading to major Supreme Court rulings. Middle East The brother of the freed hostage.  Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Israel's military rescued a hostage — a 52-year-old member of Israel's Bedouin minority who was working as a guard at a kibbutz when he was abducted — from a tunnel in Gaza. Soldiers appear to have found the man by chance as they were combing through the tunnel for Hamas fighters. He is the eighth hostage to be rescued alive. Israel's military launched a broad operation in the occupied West Bank. At least nine people had been killed, Palestinian officials said. Read the latest updates. El Al — Israel's biggest airline — has turned a record profit this year as international carriers cut routes to the country, The Wall Street Journal reports. After weeks of concerns about a broader regional war, Hezbollah's limited attack on Israel suggests that Iran, like its ally, wants to limit the risk of escalation. More International News In Yola, Nigeria. Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times Many African countries have excessive debt. This has stunted economic growth and caused social instability. Mexico paused diplomatic relations with the U.S. Embassy in response to criticisms by the U.S. ambassador of plans by Mexico to overhaul its judiciary. The arrest of the Telegram founder in France has raised a critical question: Can tech executives be held responsible for what happens on their platforms? Other Big Stories The U.S. job market has recovered from a pandemic loss, but the recovery has been uneven: The South is booming, while parts of the Midwest have struggled. These maps show the trends. The police in Colorado are searching for as many as 10 missing Doberman puppies after their breeder was found dead in his home. Opinions Boeing's safety problems began when the company shifted its focus from building great planes to making money for Wall Street, Clive Irving argues. Here is a column by Thomas Edsall on Trump's plans, Bret Stephens on worthy protest targets and Zeynep Tufekci on the Telegram controversy. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Marie Cooper Kristian Thacker for The New York Times Health: Doctors saved Marie Cooper's life against her wishes. Her story shows the confusion around do-not-resuscitate orders. Quiz: A challenge for students heading back to school: How well did you keep up with current events this summer? Covid normalcy: Test kits sales are down and a new casual attitude has taken root in the fifth summer of the disease. Shopping: Inside one woman's quest to map the famous Paris flea market. Lives Lived: Rudy Franchi brought classic French films to New York City and appraised pop-culture ephemera on "Antiques Roadshow." He also fabricated stories for a tabloid newspaper, like one that claimed that John F. Kennedy was still alive. Franchi died at 85. SPORTS Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce. Julio Cortez/Associated Press N.F.L.: Amazon has signed an around $100 million deal with Travis and Jason Kelce to become the home of "New Heights," their popular podcast. U.S. Open: Dan Evans beat Karen Khachanov in a record five-hour, 35-minute contest. Read a recap here. Keeping cool: Misting machines, more trees and retractable roofs help players and fans manage the sweltering heat during the U.S. Open. A MESSAGE FROM BLAND AI AI called—and you thought it was a person. Say Hello to Bland, the most human-sounding AI in the world. Chances are, you've already spoken to Bland's AI without even noticing... It understands emotions, can respond in any voice or language, and already handles 1m+ phone calls simultaneously, 24/7. For enterprises, it's been a financial game changer across sales, customer support, you name it. It's like the perfect employee. Just give it a call yourself... Try an AI Phone Call ARTS AND IDEAS In the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. Graham Dickie/The New York Times On New York City's streets, a tradition of sorts has emerged: daytime dance parties with veteran D.J.s, attended by techno heads and toddlers alike. For parents who left their nightclub years behind them, the parties are a chance to share the experience with their children — and to release some energy on the dance floor. "It's such an important part of my life that I want my kids there," one partygoer said. More on culture Liza Minnelli Erik Carter for The New York Times Liza Minnelli met the jewelry designer Elsa Peretti in the early 1970s and has worn her pieces ever since — to Studio 54, the Oscars, even Versailles. Opera Philadelphia announced a pay-what-you-can model for the upcoming season, with tickets for all performances starting at $11. After the success of the Icon of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean is building three more megaships. As you try to secure tickets for the Oasis comeback tour, look at the timeline of Liam and Noel Gallagher's infamous feuding. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times Try a summery tomato risotto. Squeeze more time out of your phone battery. Find relief with a good foam roller. Support your neck with the right pillow. GAMES Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was unknotting. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David P.S. Young Chung, a schoolteacher, recently completed every puzzle in The Times's Mini Crossword archive — all 3,600 of them — in honor of the Mini's 10th anniversary. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018