Aggressive Ticket Sellers Spur Downtown Alliance To Cut Bus Stops

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — The Downtown Alliance is temporarily scrapping five stops along its free bus line, connecting South Street Seaport to The Battery, because of an uptick in aggressive ticket sellers seeking to co-opt the group's buses into fraudulent schemes.

Ticket sellers who swarm and often trick tourists have long plagued Lower Manhattan's waterfront, and while legislators and police have taken steps to crack down on the rash of unauthorized street sellers they remain a persistent problem.

In recent weeks, the number of ticket hawkers have swelled who lure tourists onto Downtown Alliance buses along The Battery with false promises of rides that will take them to boats for sightseeing tours. Now, officials fed up with sellers trying to fleece tourists through the free bus service have axed five stops along The Battery until the summer's end to try and curb the illicit behavior, said the president of the Downtown Alliance, which manages Lower Manhattan's business improvement district (BID).

“There were situations where the ticket sellers were literally pushing people onto buses that they say will get them to a boat," said Jessica Lappin. “We thought we could make it a little more difficult for ticket touters if the buses don't stop there."

The Downtown Connection bus, which serves 600,000 commuters annually, was created with the Battery Park City Authority to help those who live and work in the area commute across Lower Manhattan, according to the Downtown Alliance. A fleet of seven buses travel a usually 36-stop route from South Street Seaport to The Battery seven days a week, except on a handful of major holidays, from 10 a.m. to 7: 30 p.m.

On Aug. 9, the buses began bypassing three stops on The Battery-bound route — State Street at Bridge Street, Battery Place at Washington Street and Battery Place at West Street — and two stops for busses heading to South Street Seaport — Battery Place at West Street and Battery Place at Greenwich Street — to avoid unscrupulous sellers stalling buses to try and load tourists on as a ruse to sell tickets.

Buses will not pause at the five stops until roughly Labor Day, Sept. 3. The alliance will review how slashing the stops curbs aggressive street sellers and may carry the cuts over into future summers, said Lappin.

The schemes reached a point where the BID, which is in daily communication with Manhattan's 1st Precinct that has long worked to crack down on the issue, felt temporarily cutting the stops was the best option, explained Lappin.

"The primary goal is to make sure people who work and live here can get around the district and we want to have the best experience for them," said Lappin. "And it’s not a great experience if you’re going to pick up your kid and your bus is held for 20 minutes because ticket touters are trying to load tourists onto the bus."

Some sellers even try and disguised themselves by wearing red shirts similar to Downtown Alliance employees and hover near information kiosks run by the BID.

On a recent week day, one ticket seller who claimed to work for Statue Cruises, which is the only ferry operator to take passengers to Liberty and Ellis islands, tried to sell this reporter a $18.50 ticket to visit Lady Liberty for $40.

The sellers have also earned a reputation for violence. Last year, an argument between two competing ticket sellers near The Battery escalated into a shooting that left two wounded and in 2016 a street seller fractured a tourist's skull with a punch to the head after the man refused to purchase a ticket to the Statue of Liberty.

To crack down on the nefarious behavior, City Council passed a 2016 law that requires ticket sellers peddling boat and bus tours to register with the Department of Consumer Affairs and display licenses while working — a measure intended to help law enforcement go after repeated bad actors.

Legislative efforts and law enforcement are chipping away at the industry, but the aggressive sellers continue to be a problem and employ new tricks to fool tourists. The Downtown Alliance has long held the position that the ticket sellers should be outright banned because of the "chaos" they create, said Lappin.

Councilwoman Margaret Chin, whose district includes The Battery and who co-sponsored the bill requiring vendors register with the city, says the legislation marks "a strong first step at reining in the problem" but agrees that more must be done to address the issue.

“Families deserve the opportunity to visit Battery Park and New York City’s most historic attractions without being scammed, intimidated or harassed by hawkish unauthorized ticket sellers," Chin said in a statement. "While legislation that I co-sponsored to create a licensing requirement for ticket sellers marks a strong first step at reining in the problem, our City must continue this momentum and heed our community’s demands to strengthen enforcement and monitoring."

In the coming legislative session, Chin's office is looking to ramp up enforcement and empower the city to bring the hammer down on repeat offenders, said Paul Leonard, Chin's chief of staff.

The 1st Precinct did not respond to multiple calls for comment.

Images courtesy of the Downtown Alliance