BART’s “Next Generation Fare Gates” have arrived at the 24th Street station; six-foot-tall, translucent plastic barriers were installed over the weekend. Among other benefits, the new gates, a $90 million rollout across the entire system, are meant to curb fare evasion.
BART first opened pilot gates in December 2023 at the West Oakland Station. According to BART spokesperson James Allison, they are working as intended.
“West Oakland had 1.09 million combined entries and exits during the first six months of this year. That’s an 11-percent increase from the same period of 2023, nearly double the systemwide ridership increase of 6 percent for that same period.”
Allison contends that the increased numbers are due to a diversion of fare evasion. He adds, “West Oakland also saw an increase in Clipper card sales, while systemwide card sales were down. We think these numbers indicate the new gates are compelling more riders to pay their fares.”
Commuters, however, had mixed feelings, at least when interviewed at the 24th Street station this week.
Nicole Earl, who is a regular commuter, said, “I like that things are getting updated. The new gates have a nice look to them.” Earl did say that congestion had worsened since the installation of the new gates, a problem that she hopes BART will fix soon.
Earl recalled a morning around 8:40 a.m., when she was commuting to work and was stuck behind 10 or 15 people waiting to get through the new gates. “I missed three Goddamn trains in that time,” she said. “It made me late for work.”
Another passenger, running past to catch her train, shouted: “It’s a huge slay! Fund public transportation.”
In addition to limiting fare evasion, the gates feature new technology that makes them more accessible to riders with disabilities, provide a more welcoming appearance and improved reliability, compared to the old gates.
Brandon Castro, another regular commuter, thinks that the new gates are a waste of money. “I saw how much they were spending on the gates and thought it was stupid.”
Aaron Patrick, who regularly comes in from the East Bay, shared a similar sentiment: “It doesn’t benefit anyone but BART.”
Patrick called the new gates “very discriminatory,” and said the system is “unfair” — some people can’t afford the cost of a ticket, he said, and should not be denied public transportation. He recalled an incident that occurred in February around 9 p.m., in which one of his friends was threatened with detainment by BART police because she could not afford the fare price. This incident happened at the West Oakland Station just two months after the new fare gates made their first debut.
Patrick said that his friend was in between paychecks and didn’t have enough money on her clipper card. So Patrick paid his fare, and his friend followed behind him. The new fare gates detected two people entering the gate at once, and an alarm went off. As they were walking to catch the train, he said, three police officers aggressively yelled that his friend was being detained for fare evasion. While his friend was never physically detained, Patrick describes this experience as “scary,” leaving both of them shaken up and emotional.
The new gates have a clear swing-style design and stand at a minimum of 72 inches tall. According to BART, the gates have “state-of-the-art” features like 3D sensors to allow customers with large items such as bikes, luggage, and wheelchairs more time to pass, and LED lighting to help visually impaired passengers.
Since their initial installation at West Oakland Station, new fare gates have gone up at Civic Center, Fruitvale and Richmond. Up next will be the Oakland International Airport and Antioch stations.
The project’s estimated $90 million price tag will be paid for by local, state and federal funds. Of that, $13 million has yet to be accounted for.
BART aims to have new fare gates at all 50 stations by the end of 2025.
Thanks for reporting this story, I think the new gates are a good idea. The article devotes multiple paragraphs to the argument that preventing fare evasion is unfair and discriminatory, and that BART should be free. Is that a possibility? I’ve read in Mission Local and The Chronicle that BART faces a massive shortfall next year. So it seems if we want to ride BART, we (all of us) will have to pay. As long as everyone is required to pay the same fare, how is that unfair or discriminatory?
“It doesn’t benefit anyone but BART.”
That’s like saying it doesn’t help anyone except people who take public transit or who benefit from the positive effect it has on the environment.
“Patrick called the new gates “very discriminatory” and said the system is “unfair” — some people can’t afford the cost of a ticket, he said, and should not be denied public transportation.”
Thanks for your reporting. Did you ask Patrick what his plan is to pay for BART if not through fares? And how is asking everyone to pay the exact same fare for a useful service, “discriminatory”?
This is great, we need to add them to the Muni side too! LA found 93% of people committing violent crime on their metro didn’t pay their fare. We need to make transit work for normal people, not criminals. It’s either gates or cops, which would activists prefer?
They should’ve used turnstile gates identical to NYC, with gates that go all the way to the ceiling. Do not listen to all the losers and bums demanding free public transit, because they’re the ones who have been evading fares for years. They don’t realize that it costs money to run a citywide public transportation system, and everyone has to pay their fair share. BART should absolutely be so cheap that everyone can afford it, but people don’t appreciate free things. I’m glad to see these gates, problematic as they are, already reducing the homeless dregs and drains on society from riding.
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There’s nothing ML likes better than relating a ridiculous sob story. 🙄
OMG! Quelle horreur! People are forced to be law-abiding!
Not everyone who jumps the turnstile causes a problem but everyone who causes a problem jumps the turnstile
These gates are a solution in need of a problem. Fare evasion doesn’t make my train experience worse, but missing trains because of these new gates will.
On a broader level, these gates miss the forest for the trees. BART is going bankrupt and these gates will not help. We need more regional funding for our train systems and we should be finding ways to make our transit systems more accessible, not less.
“BART is going bankrupt and these gates will not help”
In what bizarro world does encouraging and enforcing rider payments not help BART revenues?
We’re supposed to find all this cash somewhere? Before the pandemic BART covered something like 70% of its operating costs through fares. Fare evasion is off the charts. Where is that 70% supposed to come from? There’s already property taxes. Is that just supposed to go up forever to cover costs? And fare evasion might not make your ride worse but it sure does make mine worse. All, ALL of the loud, crazy, I’ll behaved people on BART haven’t paid. That might be ok with you but it’s not with the rest of us. The new gates are finally going to make the system somewhat more accessible for those of us who want to ride in peace and get to our destination without being afraid of assault.
We would never accept fare gates to enter Dolores Park, the public library, or public schools. Transit should be free, too.
That’s easier said than done given BART’s current budgetary realities, but, in the meantime, this spending on new fare gates is a poor use of money as opposed to service and accessibility improvements and fare discount programs. BART has the highest fares of any comparable system in North America.
If you have access to a car after three police officers aggressively yell at you over $2.90, then you will decide to use the car instead of getting traumatized again. Which is ultimately the point of the suburban electeds trying to make BART worse to use for riders.