Today, we have an exciting new report from Obvious Land: San Francisco\u2019s public transportation system has raised revenue, dramatically improved customer safety, and is cleaner and more orderly than ever, and they\u00a0accomplished\u00a0it all with one neat trick. They\u00a0actually cracked\u00a0down on crime. And it worked.<\/p>\n
This news\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0surprise most normal people, but liberals might be in for a shock. It turns out that when you install new gates that it\u00a0make\u00a0impossible for fare-evaders\u00a0\u2014\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0the euphemism we use to describe criminals who refuse to pay to use the subway\u00a0\u2014\u00a0to jump the gate, you magically improve everything about the subway. Seriously.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re\u00a0even taking notice within the mainstream media, which endlessly excuses law-breaking and says we need to tackle the root causes like poverty and homelessness\u00a0(which is really like saying we should do nothing and\u00a0let like\u00a0the criminals run wild). But\u00a0look at this headline from The Atlantic<\/a>, which admits:<\/p>\n \u201cIn August, BART completed the installation of new fare gates at station entrances and exits: Six-foot-tall saloon-style doors, made of plexiglass with metal frames, have replaced the waist-high barriers of the 1970s that were easy to duck or jump. The new gates have compelled more riders to pay their\u00a0fare\u2014revenue is projected to rise by $10 million a year. They have also led to an enormous drop in vandalism. Workers spent\u00a0nearly 1,000\u00a0fewer hours cleaning up after unruly passengers in the six months following the gates\u2019 installation, compared with the six months before. Crime on BART fell by 41 percent last year.\u201d<\/p>\n How about that?\u00a0It turns out, if you put in a little bit of work to deter, exclude and\u00a0actually punish\u00a0criminals, you end up\u00a0way ahead\u00a0in the long run.<\/p>\n Note that this perfectly obvious\u00a0finding was bitterly opposed by so-called criminal justice reformers. Previously, the Center for Policing Equity said that\u00a0cracking down on crime wouldn\u2019t make the subway system\u00a0safer<\/a>, and they pointed to studies that\u00a0supposedly showed\u00a0that.\u00a0Well, it turns out\u00a0those social justice\u00a0influenced academics were wrong, and in the real world, when you crack down on\u00a0bad behavior, you get\u00a0really favorable\u00a0results.<\/p>\n Look, we know\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0going on here.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0quintessential broken windows policing. If you let just a small number of\u00a0reprobates\u00a0get away with even small crimes, you get more serious\u00a0crime. You end up turning over the public spaces to the mentally ill and the dangerous.<\/p>\n So\u00a0with just a little increase in enforcement, you can actually make a big difference. Note that San Francisco\u00a0has not solved its homelessness problem or its mental illness problem<\/a>. It hasn\u2019t addressed the so-called root causes of crime.\u00a0It has simply installed gates, or walls, that the criminals\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0jump over.<\/p>\n Maybe there\u2019s\u00a0a lesson in that.<\/p>\n Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill\u2019s commentary show \u201cRising\u201d and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n