The transit agencies are finally recognizing and beginning to respond to the fact that fare evasion often leads to unruly and criminal on-car behavior which in turn drives paying customers away.

Take BART for instance. Three years ago its board scoffed at the idea of cracking down on fare evasion. As one Director put it, “if someone doesn’t pay it’s because they can’t afford to, so let them be”.

This approach has not worked….anywhere. If there are no consequences for cheating or breaking the law, some individuals invariably take advantage of the situation. That’s just the way it is. Everywhere. In all situations.

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But BART has now taken notice and is currently intent on tightening up. Police and unarmed ambassadors are now more in evidence and it is anticipated that the presence of armed police both in stations and on-board BART cars will further increase.

In addition, plans are now well underway to “harden” the stations, that is to make it harder and more risky to jump or push through the fare gates or otherwise evade fares. Improving security in BART facilities was supposed to be enhanced by the regular use of cameras mounted in stations and on BART cars. Lots of cameras. But there’s a problem. Believe it or not when fare evasion or other misbehavior is captured by BART’s video cameras, the information never gets to the police or other first responders in time for it to be of any use to them. So if someone jumps a fare gate or vandalizes BART property or commits a crime on a BART car, he or she can walk casually away long before any camera shots became available. Or if someone is injured or becomes seriously ill on the BART system, again the videos from the cameras are of no help.

Newspaper accounts have described 70% of the cameras as “fake”. We don’t know whether or not that’s true. But whether they are fake or real, what difference does it make? What’s the difference between a fake camera that doesn’t do anything and a fully functioning “real” camera that never produces anything that anyone can use in time to respond to a problem?

BART reports that its staff and Board are now 100% committed to accelerating its stationing hardening program and putting its cameras to effective use as soon as possible

It appears that other properties are following BART’s lead. Caltrain has recently put increased priority on reducing fare evasion on its system, as have the SFMTA and other bus operators. The Interest in ending rampant fare evasion on trains and buses is at last on the upswing.