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BART officials, elected representatives and other public transit stakeholders gathered at the West Dublin-Pleasanton BART Station Friday to commemorate the completion of the transit agency’s years-long effort to install new fare gates at all 50 stations across the Bay Area.
The Next Generation Fare Gates project was completed four months ahead of schedule, according to officials, with the West Dublin-Pleasanton station being one of the last to receive the new gates.
“The completion of the fare gates project systemwide is a major milestone,” said Melissa Hernandez, vice president of the BART Board of Directors, during Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This project reflects BART’s commitment to modernizing our system and improving safety, reliability and, overall, our rider experience.”
Emily Loper, senior vice president of public policy for the Bay Area Council said during the event that a few years ago, polling showed that transit riders wanted a significantly safer and cleaner system. In response to that, the transit agency’s Board of Directors decided to greenlight the installation of the new fare gates.
The new gates first came online following the installation of a prototype at the West Oakland station in December 2023. Since then, BART has secured over $70 million in funding for the completion of the project with money coming from the 2016 voter-approved Measure RR, reallocated BART funds, county transportation agency funds and other state and federal funding.
“We see these safety improvements as key to attracting and retaining riders going forward,” Loper said during the event. “This (new) system is safer, cleaner and more comfortable today than we have ever seen it. The fare gates have greatly improved the rider experience and proved that BART is a system worth investing in.”
Among some of the local elected officials who spoke at the event was Pleasanton Vice Mayor Jeff Nibert who said he couldn’t be more excited about the new gates and what they mean for riders.
Other local and regional officials who attended the event included Dublin Mayor Sherry Hu, Alameda County District 1 Supervisor David Haubert and Assemblymember Liz Ortega.
“These fare gates mean more than just fare gates,” Ortega said. “They mean a doorway to employment, a doorway to entertainment, a doorway to fighting climate change and so many other things.”
BART Chief of Police Kevin Franklin also addressed some of the safety benefits that have come from the new fare gates, including a significant decline in fare evasions.
“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,” Franklin said. “In the last survey, only 10% of riders said they saw somebody fare evade and that’s down from 22% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025.”
He also said the new gates have led to a nearly 60% drop in crimes against a person over the last year.
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