N.Y. Penal Law § 165.16: Unauthorized sale of certain transportation services

§ 165.16 Unauthorized sale of certain transportation services.

1. A person is guilty of unauthorized sale of certain transportation

services when, with intent to avoid payment by another person to the

metropolitan transportation authority, New York city transit authority

or a subsidiary or affiliate of either such authority of the lawful

charge for transportation services on a railroad, subway, bus or mass

transit service operated by either such authority or a subsidiary or

affiliate thereof, he or she, in exchange for value, sells access to

such transportation services to such person, without authorization,

through the use of an unlimited farecard or doctored farecard. This

section shall apply only to such sales that occur in a transportation

facility, as such term is defined in subdivision two of section 240.00

of this chapter, operated by such metropolitan transportation authority,

New York city transit authority or subsidiary or affiliate of such

authority, when public notice of the prohibitions of its section and the

exemptions thereto appears on the face of the farecard or is

conspicuously posted in transportation facilities operated by such

metropolitan transportation authority, New York city transit authority

or such subsidiary or affiliate of such authority.

2. It shall be a defense to a prosecution under this section that a

person, firm, partnership, corporation, or association: (a) selling a

farecard containing value, other than a doctored farecard, relinquished

all rights and privileges thereto upon consummation of the sale; or (b)

sold access to transportation services through the use of a farecard,

other than a doctored farecard, when such sale was made at the request

of the purchaser as an accommodation to the purchaser at a time when a

farecard was not immediately available to the purchaser, provided,

however, that the seller lawfully acquired the farecard and did not, by

means of an unlawful act, contribute to the circumstances that caused

the purchaser to make such request.

3. For purposes of this section:

(a) "farecard" means a value-based, magnetically encoded card

containing stored monetary value from which a specified amount of value

is deducted as payment of a fare;

(b) "unlimited farecard" means a farecard that is time-based,

magnetically encoded and which permits entrance an unlimited number of

times into facilities and conveyances for a specified period of time;

and

(c) "doctored farecard" means a farecard that has been bent or

manipulated or altered so as to facilitate a person's access to

transportation services without paying the lawful charge.

Unauthorized sale of transportation service is a class B misdemeanor.