NEW YORK, April 26 (UPI) -- Some people are riding New York City's subway trains free because they've obtained illegal keys allowing them to avoid turnstiles, authorities say.
The New York Daily News reported Monday transit police confiscated 33 copies of the special access keys last year and 15 already this year. The News said it has learned the keys can be had for as little as $27, though one New York man caught with one said he paid a transit worker $50.
"It was a good deal," said the 25-year-old man, who agreed to talk to the Daily News as long as the newspaper didn't name him. "I saved a lot of money. Now I got to pay every trip."
He said he also sometimes used the key to raise money, charging other people a dollar or two to get on the trains.
"I made some money," he said. "Nobody got hurt."
But free rides cost the city a pretty penny. NYC Transit estimates it loses $27 million a year to toll dodgers.
The keys are supposed to be limited to police, firefighters and authorized transit personnel. Metropolitan Transit Authority Inspector General Barry Kluger said he would coordinate with city police in an investigation into their distribution.
