The supposedly unjumpable new BART fare gates are certainly deterring fare evasion, but some determined scofflaws are still finding ways to get through them without paying.

BART’s $90 million, four-year quest to install evasion-proof fare gates finally bore fruit when the new, full-door-size gates arrived at West Oakland station late last December, and at Civic Center station in July.  They’re currently being installed at the 24th Street BART station, or rather, they are already installed at the southwest entrance (the Taqueria San Jose side) and are still going up at the northeast entrance (El Farolito side), which is out of commission until they’re ready.

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

If you haven’t seen these gates yet, here’s what they look like, at that very 24th Street BART station entrance. BART is thrilled with their results, and has seen an 11% increase in paid fare at the stations with the new gates. But an SF Standard correspondent spent an hour at this 24th Street station entrance, and observed that some people are still able to get through the evasion-proof fare gates without paying.


The Standard counts five fare evasion methods they observed, giving them each whimsical nicknames. But effectively most of these are variations of the “piggyback” tactic seen above, where a second person squeezes through the gate after a first person has already swiped their Clipper card.


Though as seen above, there other ways. The Standard also notes that some people also just dash through the emergency exits, though those are sometimes locked, and can also set off alarms with unauthorized use.


And SFGate ran an experiment in March where a correspondent found they could squirm underneath the gates, though doing so on a BART station floor is not an appealing proposition.


The very outspoken BART director Debora Allen saw the Standard’s article, and promised further reinforcements were on the way in the form of “more ticketing by police officers for the holdouts, [raising] the rails and [keeping] swing gates locked.”


Per BART, the (mostly) evasion-proof gates have also been installed at Richmond Station. Next up are the Oakland International Airport and Antioch stations, and the gates are expected to be installed systemwide by the end of 2025.  

Related: BART Announces the Next Eight Stations Getting Those ‘Evasion-Proof’ Fare Gates [SFist]

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist