BART Board of Directors set to vote on taller fare gates to reduce fare evasions

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- BART's Board of director's agenda is out, and in it, we found there are three new options for fare gates that will be voted on. The change will cost the system millions of dollars.

After an online survey conducted with 1,006 randomly selected riders BART concluded:

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"We had 89-percent of the people surveyed believed that it was important to reduce fare evasions. 70-percent people said that it was very important or extremely important to control fare evasions," said Debora Allen, one of nine BART Board of Directors.

We walked around Embarcadero's BART station and asked riders what they thought about the options.

"As long as the disable can come through without getting hit in the head or anything because I know there are different kinds. That will be perfect," said Shirley Oliver.

Option one: A swing style. It will be effective against jumping over the gate, pushing through but it won't work against tailgating.

Option 2: A retractable barrier. Option 3: Floor to Ceiling turnstiles.

Both option 2 and 3 will work against jumping over the gate, pushing through and potentially limit tailgating.

The swing style option is BART's top pick according to their agenda.

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"We're building new stations and we're building new station with 1972 pong era fare gates inside of them. That just doesn't make sense," said Allen.

Implementing the swing style barrier gate is estimated to cost $150 million. According to director Allen the funds needed won't come from riders.

"There are grant monies available in different programs that Bart could seek out money for the fare replacement. We have 'Measure RR' money, we have county transportation funding for access," said Allen.

The vote will be open to the public and will happen Thursday, Sept. 26 at 2040 Webster Street in Oakland.

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