BART successfully completes installation of Next Generation Fare Gates at all stations months ahead of schedule

Ribbon Cutting for Next Generation Fare Gate at West Dublin Station

New gates leading to dramatic drop in number of people who see fare evasion 

BART has completed the installation work on a milestone project that is already making the system safer. Next Generation Fare Gates are now in place at all 50 BART stations. BART promised to complete installation by the end of 2025 but beat that deadline by four months with the final gates being installed in August. 

General Manager Bob Powers and Assistant General Manager Sylvia Lamb at Next Generation Fare Gate Ribbon Cutting

“This is the latest in a string of victories for riders that are transforming the daily BART experience,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “Since last year we have boosted our visible safety presence in the system, increased cleaning, gone to running only Fleet of the Future trains, became the first transit agency in the Bay Area to offer riders Tap and Ride, and now we have installed state-of-the-art fare gates that are already deterring unwanted behavior. Our riders say they want a system that is safe, clean, and user friendly, and we are responding with decisive actions.” 

The number of riders who say they’ve witnessed someone fare evade on their trip has dropped by more than 50% in just the last year. In the latest Quarterly Performance Report, only 10% of riders said they saw someone fare evade. That’s down from 22% in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2025. Reports of fare evasion have been dwindling as Next Generation Fare Gates have been installed at more stations.  

BART Board Vice President Melissa Hernandez at Next Generation Fare Gate West Dublin Ribbon Cutting

“The completion of the Next Generation Fare Gates project marks a major step forward in modernizing our system and enhancing the rider experience,” said BART Board Vice President Melissa Hernandez. “These new gates improve accessibility, safety, and efficiency, and reflect BART’s commitment to investing in the future of public transit across the Bay Area.” 

The gates feature a unique door locking mechanism that makes their swing barriers very hard to push through, jump over, or maneuver under. The overall fare gate array height (gate, console, integrated barrier) forms a barrier of 72 inches minimum to deter fare evasion. 

“The gates deployed by BART are the only ones of their kind in the world,” said Sylvia Lamb, BART Assistant General Manager for Infrastructure Delivery and head of the fare gates project “Our team did incredible work to beat the installation deadline by several months. Now we will benefit from lesson learned over the last year through the experiences of hundreds of thousands of riders to focus on making these gates even more resilient.” 

Upcoming work will focus on the full utilization of advanced sensors to make it harder for those who want to “piggyback” into the system by closely following behind paying riders. 

BART replaced 715 fare gates across a system that spans five counties.