MTA to Charge New York City Marathoners $10 Each Time They Record Themselves Gingerly Going Down Steps to Subway Stations After the Race
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Photo by Yucel Moran on Unsplash
New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority today announced a plan to charge New York City Marathoners a $10 fee every time they record video of themselves, or fellow runners, delicately walking down steps at any city subway station after the race.
Even among experienced runners, walking down stairs or steps after 26.2 miles of hard running is frequently a challenge, as tight, sore legs struggle to function normally; videos of runners demonstrating this, sometimes still wrapped in their post-race “space blanket,” are reliably popular on social media.
“For years now, marathoners have taken a ‘free ride’ on the MTA, using our subway entrances as backdrops for their popular online videos,” the MTA said in a news release. “These performances also, by the way, hinder everyday New Yorkers who are simply trying to get where they need to go.”
“Beginning this year, therefore, we will assess a $10 fee for each instance of such a video.”
The MTA didn’t explain exactly how the fees would be collected, though it alluded to things like surveillance cameras, facial identification software, and race bib numbers.
The announcement comes less than a week after the MTA abandoned a controversial plan to charge the New York City marathon $750,000 for shutting down the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
“That harebrained scheme didn’t work,” the statement said, “but we have every confidence that this one will.”
