ONLY ON ABC7NEWS.COM: BART cops bust fare evaders on camera in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- BART police are stepping up enforcement and issuing more citations to combat a problem that's costing the system up to $25 million per year - fare evasion.
At the Embarcadero Station Tuesday morning, officers didn't even have to go undercover to conduct a two-hour sting operation. They simply stood back in full uniform and watched as one after another, suspected evaders went over and through the gates without using a paid ticket.
"We enforce fare evasion through the district on a day to day basis," explained Deputy Chief Lance Haight, "but recently we've been gathering our officers together, to saturate one location and conduct focused enforcement at that station for a specified period of time."
In a little over two hours, BART officers issued 10 $250 citations and another six warnings to riders who used a variety of methods to evade the route used by paying customers. One man was arrested for resisting and failing to provide his name to officers.
The stepped up enforcement is part of a larger effort by BART to crack down. Vulnerable swing gates will soon be locked and the height of the barriers at all stations will be raised to 60 inches. Riders will also begin seeing newly-hired uniformed community service officers at station like Embarcadero and other favorite hot spots for fare jumpers.
