The MTA’s next stop will be the poorhouse at this rate.

More and more riders are boarding city buses without paying the fare, according to new MTA data for the first quarter of 2019.

The cheapskates run most rampant on local bus routes, where one in every four riders skirts the fare, representing a 35-percent spike from the same time period in 2018.

Turnstile-jumping on the subways is also on the rise, though it remains far less frequent at approximately 3.9 percent of riders, the data, released ahead of the agency’s Monday board meeting, shows.

By comparison, transit agencies around the globe average fare-evasion rates of 2.1 percent on subways and 4.1 percent on buses.

Fare-beating is a growing strain on the coffers of the $17 billion agency — which hemorrhaged $240 million, or 1.5 percent of its annual budget, over the 12 months ending in March.

Last Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to reassign 500 police officers to patrol subway and bus routes as a deterrent to fare evasion, as well as assaults on MTA personnel.

The focus on deterrence comes after Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance opted last year to stop criminal prosecutions for most fare-beaters.

Arrests and civil summonses both initially declined in the aftermath of that decision, but summonses have risen about 16 percent since the last quarter of 2018.

In addition to the NYPD’s shifting focus, Vance’s office will contribute $40 million for new security cameras and improved station designs.

Transit officials also plan to expand the unarmed fare evasion-enforcing “Eagle Teams” to local routes in addition to Select Bus Service routes, where the fare-evasion rate is just 2.6 percent.

But in the meantime, the MTA expects to lose another $260 million to fare-dodgers over the next year.

“Paying the fare is simply not optional, and skipping it is deeply unfair to other customers who do pay, as well as illegal,” said MTA spokesman Maxwell Young.