As North America's largest transportation network, the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) faces management challenges on a daily basis. By the MTA’s official the stats from 2023, the busiest subway line carried around 140 million passengers a year. The subway has a daily ridership approximately 3-4 millions around the year on a constant basis, which is more than a third of New York City population. The MTA is a core part of the New Yorker’s daily life.
We are approached by the MTA in the hope of educating, instead enforcing, passengers with games. By playing the game, MTA wants the player to understand that fares are important to MTA’s operation. With communication with the MTA and analysis on the public facing reports, we have identified the below challenges:
Other than the operational task of transporting a tremendous amount of passengers daily, the MTA has also been facing misconduct from its passengers. This is including but not limited to misbehavior onboard, fares skipping, etc. Mischievous passengers not only causes inconvenience and disruption of order, but also consumes MTA resources to solve. Last year in 2023, the MTA has spent $150 million on police force to catch farebeaters with unfortunately marginally success. The passengers have not been appreciating the services that is provided to them on the daily basis. The MTA is a core part of the New York City transportation system, which without, the city would stop functioning.
New Yorkers are accustomed finding their ways around paying the fares, without realizing their behaviors’ impact on the MTA. As for 2023 Summer, around 14% of subway riders jumped the turnstiles, leading to a cost of $690M in 2022. The MTA has introduced an increase of police force in attempt to battle the turnstiles jumping in 2023, yet did not reached a satisfactory outcome. Without a sufficient income of fees, The MTA would not able to provide services for New Yorkers, and the MTA is still running on a net negative budget. In long run, the money lost would not only hinder the MTA to improve its service, but also worsen the passengers’ own experience.
The above are the main challenges we are presented. By educating the passengers, the average New Yorker, who are our target audience, the MTA hopes the new means could aid their effort in improving the riding experience for everyone.
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