BART unveiled prototypes of its highly anticipated new fare gates at the West Oakland Station on Thursday, receiving raves from some and cautious optimism from others.
The “next generation fare gates" are meant to deter fare evaders and reduce maintenance and will eventually replace all of the system’s current 700-or-so orange, fin-like gates by 2025. The project is costing BART $90 million.
At the West Oakland Station, three tall polycarbonate gates and two metal gates with perforated holes stood in place of the old pneumatic barriers. The prototype gates were approximately six inches off of the ground and well over six feet tall.
To the left of the new installations, a sixth gate—which will feature a mechanical door-locking system—is expected to be ready for use at West Oakland in four to six weeks for testing, according to BART spokesperson Alicia Trost. Once the new locking system is ready to be deployed, all the gates throughout the system will have it.
“The gates in place now have a software door brake,” Trost said. “The mechanical one is meant to prevent a forced opening from continuous pressure.”
Trost added that the prototypes are not the final versions of what riders should ultimately expect and that the agency will choose one type of door before moving into the next phase of the new fare gate process.
“We will select only one door type after initial testing at West Oakland to be used moving forward,” she said. “We are looking to see how the doors hold up and if one type requires more maintenance or causes problems.”
The Standard spent two hours Thursday morning at West Oakland Station, observing riders entering and exiting the new gates alongside a heavy BART police and fare inspector presence.
Some riders had trouble passing through the gates after tapping their Clipper cards because their response time was slightly slower than that riders are accustomed to when passing through the old fin-like gates.
San Francisco resident Darryl Pace said he was pleasantly surprised to see the new gates upon arriving at the West Oakland BART station.
“I wasn’t expecting to see this today,” Pace said. “I’m happy it is there because I pay my fare, and I hope that everyone else will do the same thing.”
Still, Pace said he was not optimistic that the new gates would curb fare evasion in the long term. He noted that the increased law enforcement at the station on Thursday was not typical.
“This is all for the show right now,” he said. “People are scandalous and will do what they have to do to get past those gates. Not everyone has the money, or they just don’t want to pay the money, so you know how devious people are."
BART has estimated that the rampant problem of fare evasion costs the system $15 million to $25 million per year, with more than 20,000 people hoisting themselves over or under the gates.
One such fare evader named Jeff did seem deterred by the new barriers. Jeff, who declined to give The Standard his last name, was weighing other, cheaper options to get into San Francisco.
The food courier who lives in West Oakland said he often jumps the fare gates and would most likely get on BART at another East Bay station so he could still take the train to Embarcadero without paying.
“The only place it looks like you can hop over is by the attendant booth, and by then it is not even worth it,” he said, laughing. “If push comes to shove, it is $3.50 from here to Embarcadero, so I may just have to fork it over.”
Jeff added that BART's per-ride fare policy isn't fair to regular riders, noting that other cities, such as New York, offer an option of a flat rate for unlimited rides during a certain time period.
"In the Bay, we have this one-time fare," he said. "Am I riding on a roller coaster or riding public transportation?"
A group of riders told The Standard they came to West Oakland to test the new gates and see if they were truly effective at stopping those attempting to push through or tail other riders.
“We came to find out and see if we could mess with them," said Clark Merrick, who traveled to the station from San Mateo County with three of his friends after reading about the new gates on social media. "We hope it makes an improvement.”
In terms of preference, the group said the polycarbonate gates were more attractive but the metal ones felt more secure.
Merrick added: “I’m personally toward whatever is the cheapest long-term solution.”
BART plans to announce the next eight stations where the prototype gates will be installed at its Jan. 11 board meeting.