The following is from BART:
There’s been a big decline in the number of riders who say they’ve witnessed fare evasion on BART. For our latest Quarterly Performance Report, we asked riders, “did they see anyone enter or exit the station without paying their fare today?” Only 17% of those questioned said they had, which is a drop of nearly 1/3 from the same period just a year ago when 25% of respondents said they had witnessed fare evasion.
In the last 12 months, BART has installed Next Generation Fare Gates at more than 20 stations across the system. More stations are getting new gates every month. In just the last few days installation work began at Concord, El Cerrito Plaza, Glen Park, and San Leandro stations.
“The decline in fare evasion sightings is the latest indication that Next Generation Fare Gates are transforming the rider experience,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “We know it’s not possible to stop 100% of fare evasion, but we are seeing that these state-of-the-art, durable gates are proving themselves to be more resistant to fare evaders and are deterring unwanted activity on BART.”
As more stations receive new gates, BART’s crime rate has dropped. Overall crime on BART was down 17% last year even as BART served 2.6 million more trips than it did in 2023.
As fewer riders are seeing fare evasion, participation in the Clipper START discount program is skyrocketing. Clipper START trips on BART for the latest quarter more than doubled to 363,238 from only 150,282 a year ago. That’s a 141% increase. Clipper START provides a 50% discount on Bay Area transit to eligible riders who have an annual household income of 200% of the federal poverty level or less.
BART has heavily promoted enrollment in Clipper START throughout the process of installing new fare gates. BART is on track to have Next Generation Fare Gates at all 50 stations by the end of this year.
If the system is secured to allow only riders that have paid a fare it will improve dramatically, IMO. I’d say 90% of the riders that pee, puke and sleep on it all day did not pay a fare.
It’s nice to read people are seeing less fare evasion, but the gates should’ve been built from Day 1 where no one can sneak in. While the rest of us pay the problem riders are probably sneaking in. The emergency entrance is used as a way to avoid paying not emergencies.
…and have the station agents do more than look at their phones and play as a figurehead only
They’re a complete waste of time (and money)
I’ve said it before…. I’ll believe it when I don’t see it.
You probably didn’t ride BART anyway…
Concord is installing the new gates. I always felt sorry for the people working there because they were so exasperated by repeat offenders
I expect this long-overdue change will help somewhat, but…my son rides BART daily between San Francisco and one of the Oakland stations. He says the gates stay open too long, and he’s had multiple occasions already where someone walks in for free just by following closely behind him. So soon all the grifters will be sure to figure this “option” out. My experience is that the station agents do not care. About anything.
And isn’t it interesting how the crime rate on BART has gone down by the same percentage that the fare evaders have been reduced! I knew that those were the people causing all the trouble on Bart! A lot of you probably don’t know this but the BART Board actually was tolerant of this practice cuz they thought it was kind to give homeless people a place to stay all day being warm in the winter and cool in the summer and have a place to sleep. Ditto , they thought inner city youth certainly deserved to ride around on Bart and not have to pay. So this was just like our open border policy of the past. There’s actually only one Bart Board of director who was against us all Deborah Allen. She’s about the only sane one there! It was the boards past practice that drove away all the good passengers from riding Bart. I’m one of those but I am finally beginning to write it again cuz it has improved.