The following information is from BART:
BART elevators have always been an easy way for people to skip paying the fare.
BART crews have been installing newly designed fare gates that can’t be pushed through, jumped over, or maneuvered under to prevent this.
People now must pass through the fare gate to get to the train when riding the elevator.
We are also working to replace all fare gates systemwide with a similar design that will reduce fare evasion, increase reliability of the gates, and modernize our stations with a more welcoming design and state of the art features.
The following stations have the elevator fare gates:
-Coliseum concourse (completed Aug 2020)
-Concord concourse (completed Oct 2020)
-Montgomery platform (completed Dec 2020)
-Bay Fair platform (completed July 2020)
-Balboa Park platform (completed August 2021)
-Embarcadero platform (completed December 2021)
-El Cerrito Plaza platform (two elevator fare gates) (completed May 2022)
-Rockridge platform (completed July 2022)
-Walnut Creek concourse (completed October 2022)
-North Berkeley platform (completed December 2022)
-Civic Center platform (completed January 2023)
More money (our tax dollars) down the toilet, thanks BART!
You need to have these installed at the fare gates! WTF??
Again, thanks for nothing.
Martinez Guy, the article says they are replacing all the fare gates. They just started with the elevators.
you most likely give an “ata-boy”, “thumbs-up” to this new trend of groups of thieves gang rushing stores committing “snatch and grab” robberies.
Good… nice to see some progress
Better late than never… how about getting the trains to run reliably? and back to 10 car trains? .. our $3B of cash from us citizens went to increased salaries and bonuses gain? and they’re asking for another fare hike? we need to replace the entire board and senior leadership
I don’t think placing these new gates at the elevators will stop the bulk of the gate jumpers.
Monitoring a single station with a camera for a single weekday morning would (dis)prove this.
Joe
I see people push through these new fare gates at the civic center station… when they work. This week they were just hanging open.
I’ll add a few things that have been left out of this article written by BART PR staff, since journalists no longer write BART stories, BART’s Dept of PR does.
Fare gate replacement systemwide was Agreed to by the BART board over 3 years ago. The RFP has now been done twice. Latest estimate of award of a contract is by June if this year. BARt estimates it will take 3 years to complete installation of all stations. 3 years on BART calendar means 5-6 years on our calendars.
BART has lined up 1/3of the original needed capitol of $100M. That is a 3 year old estimate. And until last fall, lack of funding was the delay excuse.
The picture you see above is a prototype fare gate around elevators, a greatly needed improvement. It is working to stop the fare evasion at elevators. The remaining fare evasion methods that continue are:
Jumping over, sliding under, and pushing open the legacy gates.
Tailgating a paying rider through as they go through legacy gates.
Unlocked emergency swing gates at station agent booths.
Climbing over 5 ft barriers in the underground stations.
And there is one more way to not pay a fare. Can anyone guess what I left out?
There is a lot more work to do.
Thank you for the explanation. Sadly, I no longer feel safe riding Bart. The SF stations are absolutely frightening. I hope things get resolved. I know things are in process, but I will drive or stay home.
Havent rode BART for over 5 years. Glad they finally doing some upgrades to deter the fair jumpers.