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  • Metro GM looking at changing new fare gates to prevent fare invasion

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1605777  by davinp
 
Since last year, Metro has spent millions replacing all the fare gates in their system.
The problem is these new fare gates are lower to the ground and easy for people to jump over to evade paying fares. The previous management did this to prevent blind spots.

Sources said Metro’s new General Manager Randy Clarke wants to look at possibly modifying faregates to prevent such losses.

Metro could change gates to be more restrictive, like those that have been piloted on the BART system in San Francisco and Oakland, California.

The problem, however, is that Metro just spent millions to install new fare gates across the system, and would have to spend even more.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/loca ... y/3146428/
 #1605779  by STrRedWolf
 
Maybe not as much as fully replacing them, but a prototype can be had where the existing gates are duplicated and stacked on top of the old ones. The curved edge of the orange gate "blades" themselves would form four curved edges of a "diamond". When a pass is tapped, all blades swing away and let a person through.

You stop evaders leapfrogging over the center shared console and diving over the blades... and you're using existing parts, thus cheaper to build and install.

Anything else is a full replacement.
 #1605804  by NaugyRR
 
When we were in DC last October I noticed more people just forcing open the gates than jumping over them. Even at staffed stations the ticket agent and nearby police didn't seem bothered by it either.
 #1605841  by STrRedWolf
 
NaugyRR wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 8:44 am When we were in DC last October I noticed more people just forcing open the gates than jumping over them. Even at staffed stations the ticket agent and nearby police didn't seem bothered by it either.
...crap.

Full replacement. There's no other choice now.
 #1605891  by Sand Box John
 
NaugyRR
When we were in DC last October I noticed more people just forcing open the gates than jumping over them. Even at staffed stations the ticket agent and nearby police didn't seem bothered by it either.


That is because DC decriminalize fare evasion back in 2018.
 #1606337  by JDC
 
Not quite on-topic for the thread, but I did want to add that everyone should follow the new GM on Twitter. Obviously it's PR, but even if it is just PR his constant presence in the system is a good start to his leadership (IMO).
 #1615626  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone - Interesting subject about Metro fare evasion - which has been an ongoing problem...

I have memories of the times that I spent in Washington primarily in the first half of the 1980s...
I was a regular rider of Metro - exploring the entire system back then with my interest in rail transit...

On some visits I stayed adjacent to the McPherson Square Station - and got to know well one Metro
Station Attendant...I learned as example that the gates were two hard-rubber panels that would give
with a beeping and resistance when they were pushed back - and that the individual motors can end
up getting "burned out" when gate panel(s) was pushed back too many times...

In the Station Kiosk there was a computer console with a side slot that could read the magnetic stripe
on Farecards - it was interesting to learn just how much fare information was encoded on them...

On the main console there was a master digital clock that used 24 hour time - which was visible from
outside the Station Kiosk. After learning that fares were determined at the time of entry I recall that
there were savvy riders that would wait in the evening for Peak fares to end at 6:30 PM - at 1831 they
would then enter the system at the cheaper off-peak fare...

The Metro Transit Police was vigilant in the subject of fare evasion - there was more of a deterrent
to the now-widespread fare evasion that is being noted today...

I always found interesting that the chances of being caught for fare evasion was more in a system
such as Metro which requires riders to go through fare gates twice as opposed to systems such as
New York City Transit which only collect fares upon entry...If the new higher swing gates become
one better way to combat the fare evasion problem Metro should continue to install them and
replace the older now-problematic fare gates which were designed in the late 1970s...MACTRAXX
 #1615661  by RandallW
 
Since DC basically decriminalized fare evasion, it's rampant, and not exclusive to DC. It also leads to increased crime throughout the Metro. This is the problem NYC had that led to "broken windows" policing policies in the '80s--on the Subway, they were spending so much effort trying to stop theft and violence, but only became successful when they stopped fare evasion. (Put another way--fare evasion is a gateway crime that demonstrates other crime won't be an issue.)

So spending money on increasing the barriers to fare evasion is spending money on improving the safety of the Metro which is a significant factor in suburban use (because the sense of safety matters).