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Alameda County Grand Jury Bart report
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Fare Evasion
Recent news reports about fare evasion at BART showed or described people pushing through
emergency gates, jumping over fare gates and fences, or riding street level elevators directly into the station - all without paying their fares. Violators include people in a hurry to get to work, students who want to save money, and others who for personal or financial reasons decide not
to pay their fare. Some residents are of the opinion that fare evasion is not a priority, but customer survey data
would say otherwise. Commuters and others who pay for their rides are frustrated by the unfairness of this behavior. Riders gave “enforcement against fare evasion” the largest service rating decline in the 2018 Study, compared to the earlier surveys. Furthermore, fare evasion
contributes to a perception of lawlessness, and fear for personal safety. There are major financial consequences of lax enforcement as well; BART estimates that it loses $25 million each year
from fare evaders, representing 5% of passenger fare revenue23.
The Grand Jury learned from BART senior management that an estimated 15% of riders do not
pay their fares, which means that approximately 17.7 million passengers annually are not paying,
out of the 118 million total passengers. The comparable rate of fare evaders on similar transit
systems is much lower (about 8%) according to the same source.
In response to this problem, BART adopted a two-pronged approach: cite fare evaders, and modify (“harden”) infrastructure to make fare evasion more difficult
 The Board adopted a proof of payment requirement, effective January 1, 2018. Not paying the proper BART fare now subjects the violator to a civil citation fine of $75 for adults and $55 for minors. Community service options are available instead of cash payments for those who cannot afford the fine or who prefer that option. An adult with a third violation
in a 12-month period is issued a criminal citation, with a fine up to $250 and/or community service. BART may pursue collection of unpaid fines from an individual’s
Cal
Intercept Collection Program. However, that option does not yet appear to have been implemented
Although BART police do issue fare evasion citations when they find a violator, BART
hired six dedicated fare inspectors in 2018, and in September 2018 approved hiring ten
more to conduct targeted night and weekend inspections. Four more inspectors are
proposed for FY 2020. The cost of the fare inspectors is close to $125,000 each, so the
total complement of inspectors will cost approximately $2.5 million annually.
 After two months of issuing warnings to persons who could not provide proof of fare
payment, the fare inspectors began issuing citations to violators in March 2018. Results
for the first six months were discouraging:
 3,813 citations were issued (90% to adults)
 89% of recipients ignored their citation
 9% of recipients paid the fine
 2% of recipients performed community service
 Only $29,000 was collected in fines.
These dismal results mean that only 0.04% of violators were caught during that first six
months, according to BART’s statistics; for every violator cited, 2,300 got away with not
paying 24 . BART recognizes that some passengers
can’t afford the full fare, so currently offers Clipper
Cards with a 50% discount on fares for youths age 5
to 18 and a 62.5% discount for seniors 65
and persons who are disabled. The board is also
looking into participating in a pilot program to
provide a 20% discount for low income persons.
 As a more permanent solution to fare evasion, BART undertook station hardening
projects in FY 2018 and FY 2019 to make fare evasion more difficult, including raising
railing heights in stations, installing alarms on swing gates and emergency doors, moving
elevators into paid areas, upgrading the security camera network, and retrofitting fare gates by increasing air pressure to make them more difficult to force open. These and similar station hardening measures will continue in 2020 and beyond. BART is currently
studying the costs and feasibility of replacing fare gates to prevent people from pushing through or jumping over them. In FY 2018, $2 million was budgeted for these efforts, with an additional $1.2 million in FY 2019.
While it is encouraging that BART is serious about responding to fare evasion, one step of enforcement - collecting fines from violators - is seriously lagging, as noted above. If violators face no real consequences for ignoring citations, then the estimated $2.5 million annual investment in fare inspectors may not be a good use of the public’s money, unless BART can demonstrate that the