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NEW YORK, NY June 27, 2005 —For many New Yorkers, walking between subway cars is about as basic an act as jaywalking. But New York City Transit wants to change that. A committee is expected to vote today on a proposal that would fine riders $75 if they’re caught trying to get from one car to another. WNYC’s Beth Fertig rode the rails and filed this report.

REPORTER: Why do subway riders walk through the trains?

DOO WOP SINGERS: "Why do birds sing so gay …."

REPORTER: Sometimes it’s just about making a buck. There’s the woman selling batteries, the kids selling candy, and of course, the doo wop trio, A Cappella Soul.

MALIK: We’ve been on this train for 7 years, everybody knows us darling.

REPORTER: It’s easy to work the train. You get on in back, keep walking forward, and hope you’ll find enough riders willing to pay for the entertainment – or, whatever. Malik and his do-wop singers say the proposed fine makes no sense. He believes the transit authority is looking for extra cash.

MALIK: Why would they make it a fine? Why can’t they just lock the door, and then you don’t have to give nobody no fines. If they’re locked you can’t go through them. By leaving them open, to me that’s entrapment!

REPORTER: The Transit Authority does lock the doors on its longer trains, mostly the letter lines. So the professional walkers flock to the number trains on the West Side and the Lexington Avenue line.

EDDIE: Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, pardon the interruption I’m a volunteer with the publication Big News…

REPORTER: That’s Eddie, one of the guys selling Big News. He claims he can make 300 dollars on a good day. Not bad for someone who says he used to be homeless. Eddie’s rule is never walk between cars while the train is moving.

EDDIE: For me being a native New Yorker it’s alright, it’s not a problem. I don’t feel like I’m going to fall or none of that. There’s rails handrails to hang onto as you’re passing through. I’ve never even heard of anybody falling through the cars. Have you? They got a man that got no legs that comes through the cars begging all the time, he pass through the cars with no problem!

REPORTER: Ask the conductors, though, and you’ll get a different story.

CONDUCTOR: I’ve heard a lot of people falling in between the trains. FERTIG: While walking between the cars? CONDUCTOR Yeah, walking. It’s dangerous. It’s dangerous. Because those trains go on a curve. If you don’t know where those curves are and you lose your balance, what happens?

REPORTER: The Transit Authority says four people were killed while walking between cars in the year 2000, and fifteen others were injured. Those numbers have dropped since then. And the TA says fines would primarily be used against the people who walk between cars the most: vendors and illegal pan-handlers. But what about New Yorkers who are just in a rush?

As the six train rumbles up Lexington Avenue, a young man carrying a bouquet of flowers enters from the back of the car.

FELICIANO: Like I’m running late and my exit’s all the way on the other end

REPORTER: His name is Fernando Feliciano and he’s in a hurry to meet his fiancée.

FELICIANO: So I try to make as much as possible in between the trains so when I get to my stop I’m getting right at the exit ‘cause I’m running late.

REPORTER: It’s not just a matter of impatience or even subway logic. Megan Horan and her friend Gala Mukomolova say sometimes you’ve just got to get to another car. Especially if there’s no air conditioning or annoying passengers.

HORAN: Like I’ve been in cars with people smoking and like that sucks, I wanted to move to another car and you shouldn’t be fined for that.

MUKOMOLAVA: When it’s crowded right?

REPORTER: Or when it just smells that way. On the Broadway local a disheveled man is slumped over a shopping cart filled with garbage bags. Twenty-one year old Rafael Leva and his buddy have just gotten onboard.

They size up the situation quickly and walk to the next car.

LEVA: Cause in the other train it stinks there was like a bum and it really stinked and I wanted a comfortable seat.

REPORTER: Of course, riders can simply follow the transit authority’s advice and get out when the train stops – using the platform to safely walk to another car. But Leva says that’s not what THIS city’s about.

LEVA: Basically we’re NYC. There’s like 7 point 5 million people to 10 million people in this little chunk of island. Sometimes if you get off the train you lose your chance cause you want to try to go in another train and it’s too full, you can’t go in. And I’ve seen people like fighting for it. So. It’s a jungle.

REPORTER: A jungle that’s always moving, even underground.

SINGERS: Ladies and Gentlemen welcome aboard the Gospel Train