BART riders were able to use newly renovated fare gates at the Civic Center Station in San Francisco.
The updated gates are over 6 feet tall with clear swing-style doors and a metal barrier over the top that has spikes. The doors are made of polycarbonate, a material that is 200 times stronger than glass and more durable, according to the agency.
Rider reactions to the new gates were mixed.
“They’re wonderful. It should be impossible for anyone to jump over,” said Elisa Bozmarova, a rider who uses the Civic Center Station frequently to take BART. “For people where cost is an issue, there should be special passes for low-income riders.”
Some riders, however, got creative and found other alternatives to avoid having to pay. One rider jumped over the 5-foot-tall metal fence encircling the BART entrance. Another was able to climb up the gate and jump over a portion that did not have spikes on the top.
A rider trying to exit by jumping over one of the old gates was directed by a police officer to go through the new gates. He had to buy a ticket in order to exit.
Another rider who got stuck since he didn’t pay got angry and became hostile towards a BART employee.
“Let me out! Let me out!” he yelled.
The Seventh Street entrance and exit gates at Civic Center Station are the first in San Francisco to have the upgraded gates installed. The other two BART gates at the station will also be replaced over the next several weeks.
The taller and stronger gates are part of an effort to prevent fare evasion, a prevalent issue that costs BART an estimated $15-25 million in lost revenue per year. The current fare gates, which are over 20 years old, are easier to hop over or under as they’re shorter with large gaps and barriers that have weak resistance.
FIRST: A BART rider enters through the current fare gates at Civic Center Station on Monday, July 29, 2024 in San Francisco, Calif. The current fare gates (shown) are over 20-years-old and do not sufficiently deter fare evasion. LAST: A BART rider tries to exit through the new fare gates at the 7th Street entrance to BART on the north end of the Civic Center Station. (Alise Maripuu/Bay City News)
The updated gates were first tested at the West Oakland BART Station as a prototype. The pilot was seen as successful, said BART spokesperson Anna Duckworth.
The West Oakland Station saw 120,000 more entries and exits in the first six months of 2024, an 11% increase compared to the same period in 2023. Additionally, ticket sales went up every month this year so far compared to 2023, whereas ticket sales went down each month this year at all the other stations system wide, according to BART.
In response to some riders trying to hop over the 5-foot metal fence blocking off the entrance at the Civic Center Station, Duckworth said that reinforcements will be made if the problem continues. Modifications had to be implemented at West Oakland Station since riders were finding other ways to evade buying a ticket.
“At West Oakland, there had been an issue the first day that we opened the gates in December, of people hopping from the middle of the stairwell down into the free area of the station. By the next day, they had that blocked off with mesh and fencing,” Duckworth said. “They’ll act accordingly quickly if we see that it’s becoming an issue.”
The new gates will be deployed at every station by the end of 2025, costing $90 million. The next four stations to have the updated BART gates installed are Fruitvale Station in Oakland, 24th Street Mission Station in San Francisco and Richmond Station, BART said.