Will LA Metro’s new, taller faregates stop freeloaders and reduce crime?

What’s the big deal when passengers jump the turnstiles so they can ride the LA Metro train without paying?

They often are the same folks who commit crimes, according to LA Metro.

Following that logic, LA Metro is spending millions of dollars to install 7-foot-tall faregates at train stations to keep out the scofflaws in order to reduce illicit drug use, loitering and violent crimes.

In 2023, LA Metro determined that 94% of riders arrested for committing a violent crime did not even own a TAP card. A TAP card — which stands for Transit Access Pass — is how people pay for their rides on an LA Metro train, bus or micro transit van. Passengers load it with cash, like a debit card, taking the place of a paper boarding ticket.

Metro is changing the way its riders enter train platforms — from the honor system to mandatory payment — and in some stations, passengers must pass through metal detectors.

“It is such a big change in how the system was initially built,” said Robert Gummer, LA Metro’s deputy chief of system security and law enforcement, adding that some train platforms don’t have any faregates at all.

Metro’s new faregates, at 7-feet-tall, will more than double the height of most current faregates that are 3-feet-tall. The new faregates are sturdier and are equipped with sensors that detect motion and lock the panels in an effort to prevent someone from following in right behind a paying customer — a practice known as “piggybacking.” They also can better count the non-paying customers who may squeeze through. Glass panels are replacing the old turnstile bars.

The idea behind bigger, stronger, higher faregates is simple: No tapping, no riding.

Put another way, barring freeloaders helps make the system safer — or it gives riders the perception of an orderly, safer system, said Gummer.

“It’s keeping illicit actors off the system,” Gummer said in an interview on Monday, April 21. “It does have an impact on whether the system will be safe. It also impacts the perception of safety.”

A few weeks ago, LA Metro installed its first two tall faregates: one at the Lake Station in the middle of the 210 Freeway in central Pasadena at Lake Avenue; and one at the Firestone Station in the Florence-Graham community in South Los Angeles between South Park and Watts.

Both stations are on the A Line train, a 48.5-mile light-rail line between Azusa and Long Beach. This summer, the longest light-rail train in the nation will add another 9.1 miles to its route, as part of a just-completed easterly expansion to Pomona.

Why start with Lake and Firestone stations? Because these two stations had the highest rates of people evading the fares.

At Firestone Station, between June and September 2024, the number of riders who did not pay the fare were far higher than those who paid their fares, Metro reported.

Early statistics provided by Metro indicated the fortified faregates pilot program is working. But there are scofflaws who can find ways around even the tall gates.

Paid entries at the Lake Station in Pasadena from March 3 through March 5 numbered 512. After the taller faregates were installed, an average of 1,062 paid entries were reported at the Lake Station from March 31 through April 2 — a 107% increase, Metro reported.

Firestone Station saw on average 297 paid fares during the same before-improvements period. After the faregates were installed, an average of 1,033 paid fares were recorded during the same period for a 248% increase, Metro reported.

How did the faregates affect crime?

Metro used its Transit Watch App to measure effectiveness. The app lets riders and Metro employees  punch in an incident, such as a non-working elevator, the presence of trash or graffiti, or more serious problems like assault, battery and homicide.

The app showed that from March 3 through March 5, there were 16 incidents at Lake and Firestone stations combined. But from March 31 through April 2, the number fell to four, a 75% reduction in reported incidents, Metro reported.

“We see a direct correlation between any crime use and the installation of new faregates. And all that has had an impact on safety,” Gummer said. “We found of those arrested (for crimes), most have not paid to come onto the system.”

Since a rash of robberies, stabbings and shootings on buses and trains last spring, the board has stepped up patrols. It has hired more Metro Transit Security officers and ordered an increased law enforcement presence from LAPD, Long Beach Police Department and L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.

It has also begun testing metal detectors on some lines and added more Transit Ambassadors, who are not armed and function as guides. The ambassadors have revived people with opioid overdoses by using Narcan.

The wave of incidents — which often lead local TV news — may have contributed to keeping people off the Metro system. In a survey released in 2022, close to 50% of women cited crime, sexual harassment and safety as concerns on the Metro system.

Taller faregates are the latest change on rail lines intended to improve safety. Previously, Metro had required users to tap their card to exit the train platform, a 180-degree reversal. If a rider didn’t pay, the rider could be cited with a $75 fine, and/or directed to buy a TAP card and pay for the ride. The Tap-to-Exit system is in place at end of line stations in Santa Monica (E Line); APU/Citrus (A Line); downtown Long Beach (A Line); B and D lines at Union Station and North Hollywood.

Gummer said taller faregates at the two stations are equipped to employ Tap-to-Exit. That function may be turned on in the near future, he said. With both strategies, Gummer said, “We’ve seen a cascading of positive impacts, such as fewer reports of crime and incidents and the improved perception of safety.”

Taller faregates have been installed at 18 stations in the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) installed taller faregates at all 98 stations and has reported an 82% reduction in fare evasion, Metro reported.

LA Metro will install taller faregates at the following stations in the next few months: 7th Street/Metro Center (B/D, A, E lines); Westlake MacArthur Park (B/D Lines); North Hollywood (B Line); Pershing Square (B/D Lines); Willowbrook/Rosa Parks (A, C Lines); Wilshire/Vermont (B/D Lines); Vermont/Santa Monica (B Line); Hollywood/Western (D Line).

Starting in October, Metro will add new faregates to 11 more stations at a cost of $15.3 million.

While the new faregates are fortified, they are not foolproof.

A look at customers entering the pay area at Lake Station on two recent mornings found those who did not want to pay simply reached over the bar of the emergency gate and unlatched it, swinging it open.

Gummer said it’s a challenge to stop people from illegally using a mandated fire exit to enter the platform. The gate can’t be locked or removed due to fire codes, he said.

“We are currently looking at interventions to disrupt that activity,” he said. One approach reported by Metro is to raise the emergency gates making it harder to reach over the gates. The idea is to “prevent them from reaching over and popping open the gate,” Gummer said.

A women was observed ramming her shoulder into the entrance panels. When they didn’t budge, she took out a TAP card from her purse and tapped the reader, opening the door. When asked about her behavior, she said she had the TAP card but was trying to enter without paying.

Adam Valenzuela, of Arcadia, tapped to enter the Lake Station on Monday, April 21. “I don’t mind it,” he said. When asked if the new faregates make a difference he said, “Oh, yeah. It’s calmer. There are no people fighting, no brawls going on. I think it is a great thing.”

Alice Chan tapped to enter the Lake Station platform and was waiting for the westbound train. She had mixed feelings about the system, saying she thought it was used to keep homeless riders off the trains.

“They are still human beings,” she said.

Gummer insisted that was not Metro’s intent, saying the unhoused patrons need to use public transit to get to appointments. “That is certainly not the objective,” he said. “It is not a crime to be homeless.”

He said Metro is built for people to get from one place to another. “Those who use our system should be for the purpose of transportation,” he said.

The taller faregates, as well as “Tap-to-Exit” and more security aims to bring order and control to riding the trains. This calms people’s fears, Gummer said.

“It is encouraging good, positive behavior on the system,” he said.