The BART Board of Directors voted unanimously on Thursday to adopt swing-style barrier gates as the transit system’s preferred design for new fare gates to replace their traditional wedge-shaped orange gates.
The Plexiglas gates with panels that swing open like a pair of French doors when a person tags in or out are similar to the fare gates by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency but BART managers say they
are taller and sturdier, making it hard to jump over the panels or push them open.
A major reason BART wants to install new fare gates is that currently 5 to 6 percent of its riders evade paying fares, costing the transit system $25 million to $30 million a year.
BART Board President Bevan Dufty said, “Unchecked fare evasion is an Achilles heel for us because we depend on fares,” as the transit system gets 67 percent of its revenues from fares, unlike other agencies that depend more on subsidies than fares.
The only catch with the plan to use swing-style gates is that BART hasn’t yet identified where it will get the estimated $150 million needed to build and install them.
BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said BART does have the money to install some swing-style gates within about six months at the Richmond station, which currently is experimenting with stacked gates, a system in which there’s a second level of wedge gates to make it harder for people to jump over the barriers.
A report by BART staff said sensor data indicates that fare evasion at the Richmond station decreased by 38 percent from the installation of the stacked gates on June 15 through Sept. 9.
The report says the Richmond station was selected as the location for the pilot program for the stacked configuration because it has a lower ridership than most stations and fare evasion there is particularly high.
BART also experimented with pop-up barriers, which critics described as inverted guillotines, at the Fruitvale station in Oakland but the transit system recently scrapped those gates because they were ineffective, easily damaged and hard to maintain.
BART also considered floor-to-ceiling gates, which critics described as an “iron maiden” style, similar to the gates used in the New York City subway system.
But many BART directors said it would be difficult for people who use wheelchairs to get through the floor-to-ceiling gates.
“We have to take the iron maiden gates off the table,” BART Director Robert Raburn said at Thursday’s meeting.
16 comments
It’s amazing how much time and money they waste on simple things like this. Think of how many other Muni systems have been using gates that work perfect. Why was it so hard to figure it out. Copy one that works that is already being used
Because BART is not going to copy MUNI, because they didn’t come up with the idea. BART is better (bigger ego) than MUNI.
Cal your right. Sad thing is we are paying for there arrogance and stupidity
A report by BART staff said sensor data indicates that fare evasion at the Richmond station decreased by 38 percent from the installation of the stacked gates on June 15 through Sept. 9.
How do they know that and if they do know why didn’t they stop them? Guess I don’t really need to know as I would never step foot on BART to begin with.
5 to 6 percent of riders that don’t pay cost $25 million to $30 million a year? How expensive was the fare? If you do the math, it sounds like an exaggeration.
That is the best choice. It will be interesting to see the money saved by these cheaters.
These new gates won’t stop fare cheating. The cheaters will simply switch from gate hopping to tagging along (when a cheater walks very closely to a fare-paying customer).
Let’s say the number of cheaters will go down by half resulting in 12-15 million in savings. So what we get is a gate system that will take 10-15 years to pay for itself in the best case. That is, unless BART drastically underestimates the cost of fare cheating.
@tashaj. Exactly! I had a man push me out of the way when I paid my fare. There was an officer as well as an agent at the station but neither cared or were afraid of being accused of racial profiling. Another time a guy in his 20s just jumped over the gate. BARF stations are also filled with poop and urine. There are also “passengers” who play loud music and are drugged or emotionally unstable.
$150 million / 48 stations is $3.125 million average per station. I can’t believe it costs THAT much to install these damn gates!
Note that stations may have 10-20 gates per station – but yeah, the costs appear high.
I have yet to see a govt agency do anything efficiently.
Just imagine other ways that money could be spent. Lowlifes will find a way to get in no matter what. Probably busy making bogus tickets in a basement somewhere.
I’m interested to know how they tested these.
“…making it hard to jump over the panels or push them open.”
Hard? So it can still be done? People who fare evade are going to push through these if they can.
The turnstiles in NY are the best. I travel there for work and I have never seen anyone fare evade. When I take BART I see it at least 4/5 of my 10 trips per week.
Not plexiglass! Just another surface for punks to carve their graffiti. They will ruin those panels faster than BART can replace them. There must be a better solution.
Watch out, another bond measure may be coming coming…
hmmm so bart said this
BART Board President Bevan Dufty said, “Unchecked fare evasion is an Achilles heel for us because we depend on fares,” as the transit system gets 67 percent of its revenues from fares, unlike other agencies that depend more on subsidies than fares.
soooo it is clear that this jumping happens all the time and yet they claim its hampering them
yet they grab and strike for tax money all the time now using millions to buy a building and refurbish it ….
something smells rotten
also stated
A major reason BART wants to install new fare gates is that currently 5 to 6 percent of its riders evade paying fares, costing the transit system $25 million to $30 million a year.
5-6 %
= 25-30 million ….can I get a fact check on this please …
so 30 million is being lost and just now after years of evasion they are maybe considering stopping it
they must think we are idiots
again something rotten
I have fact checked it. BART’s estimates are low at $25-30M, but I am glad to see them come off of the $10-25M number they have been using for almost 2 years.
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