Fare evasion is so rampant on city buses that almost half of all riders aren’t paying — as scrambling transit officials deploy a new crew of enforcers to catch the freeloaders.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s unarmed “fare inspectors” will be stationed in buses and at bus stops after fare evasion skyrocketed from 21% in 2020 to roughly 50% in the first quarter of 2024 — costing estimated millions in lost revenue every year.

“The MTA uses your fares to hire more bus operators and mechanics, expand and modernize our fleet, and improve frequency and reliability,” the MTA said in a statement. “When you pay your fares, you are helping us deliver better service to the over 2 million New Yorkers who rely on buses every single day.”

Bus-hopping has cost the transit system $312 million in 2022 alone, according to the agency — sapping a pool of money that helps fund about a quarter of the system’s budget.

MTA bus driver Curtis Carrington, 43, who has been driving for nine years, told The Post that fare-beating was so common, it was comical — and scoffed at the idea that drivers should be the ones responsible for enforcement. 

His job, he said, starts and finishes with getting passengers safely from point A to point B — nothing more, nothing less. 

“I see it all the time — every day,” Carrington said. “Out of a busload of people — let’s say 10 people got on, maybe two paid.

“I just look the other way — we’re taught not to fight the fare,” Carrington added. “We’ve got people that have gotten assaulted and stabbed because of them fighting the fare.”

Whether the inspectors can do better in fighting fare evasion remains to be seen. Inspectors can ask fare jumpers to get off a bus or can issue a ticket between $50 and $100, according to the MTA.

The inspectors were “soft-launched” last year, but expanded funding will allow for up to 100 inspectors in the 2024 fiscal year, with the staff to be supported by NYPD officers.

The latest rollout comes during an ongoing initiative to get fare payments back up to pre-pandemic levels — including fare enforcement on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, as well as gate guards at subway stations.

One MTA ticket booth attendant in Brooklyn has even taken it upon himself to announce brazen scofflaws over the loudspeaker in order to get the attention of cops patrolling the station. 

While bus drivers have historically shouldered the burden of fare enforcement, the tides shifted due to a policy that emerged in 2008 after a Brooklyn bus driver was stabbed by a fare evader, Gothamist reported.

Protected cockpits for bus drivers were unveiled in 2023, according to the union representing MTA bus drivers, and aimed to protect drivers from “unhinged riders” who could “reach around partitions to strike or throw objects,” the union said last year.

But the barriers didn’t solve all issues on the bus. Last year, an MTA inspector was shot during a dispute over a bus ticket.

Bulletproof protective cockpits should be prioritized by the MTA to protect their drivers, Carrington told The Post. 

“I think it’s a priority, honestly, for our safety,” he said.

Fellow MTA bus driver Arlanda Jones agreed.

“We don’t even know where they’re coming from. They could have a razor,” said Jones, 42. “They could have a knife.

“People have been calling me a bitch all the time. And I didn’t even do anything. I don’t [deserve it] — but I still get them to where they got to go safely. That’s my job. So I swallow that,” she added.

The expanded rollout this year comes as 46.9% of local bus riders and 56.6% of SBS bus riders dodged payments in the first quarter of 2024.

That’s compared to subway fare evasion rates at 14% during the same period.

The new statistics also come as the MTA’s five-year plan assumes an increase of 4% in 2025 and another 4% in 2027 — raising a single ride ticket to about $3 and $3.14, respectively.