New York (1010 WINS) — NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Kathleen O'Reilly said on Monday that enforcement of the MTA's mask mandate for subway and bus passengers has resulted in "very few" $50 fines more than a year after the order was instituted.
"I can assure you that we’ve issued very few of those," O’Reilly said to MTA board members, though she did not reveal an exact number of those fined.
While federal law under the Biden administration orders commuters to wear a mask on public transportation, an MTA compliance survey found 11% of subway commuters were maskless in November, slightly up from their findings of 10% in October.
"What I’ve told my cops to do is to make sure you carry masks with you, make sure you wear your mask — and if you encounter somebody on the train, offer them a mask," O’Reilly added. "Ninety-nine percent of the people that we encounter that are not wearing a mask will take a mask, and they will put that mask on when the officer requires them to do so."
According to MTA's data shared with The New York Post, the MTA's in-house police force has issued 76 mask summonses since former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's mandate in September 2020, while officers have had 48,000 interactions with compliant riders who have been asked to wear a face covering.
However, NYPD spokesperson Sgt. Edward Riley did not provide additional insight into the data obtained by The Post.
"Garnering voluntary compliance is the best approach for everyone, and we find that almost every time we encounter someone who isn’t wearing a mask, when we ask them to put one on, they comply," he said in a statement. "We’re focused on the end result, compliance with the mask mandate, and this has been a very effective approach."
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