<\/p>\n
Senior computer systems engineer Weldon Chen points to the AI sensor in the upgraded fare gate at the Lake\u00a0Merritt BART lab in Oakland. The upgrades come in an effort to curb piggybacking and fare avoidance.<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
New fare gate detection zone graphics can be seen at the Lake\u00a0Merritt BART lab in Oakland.<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Joy Sharma, interim assistant general manager of infrastructure delivery, looks through data sheets for the upgrades to the new fare gates at the Lake\u00a0Merritt BART lab in Oakland, on Wednesday. The upgrades come in an effort to curb piggybacking and fare avoidance.<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Inside a small laboratory, deep in the bowels of\u00a0BART<\/a>\u2019s Lake Merritt Station, a team of engineers is toiling away at the transit agency\u2019s latest invention: a\u00a0fare gate<\/a> that shuts fast enough to prevent cheating.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if you proceed quickly, it\u2019s harder for someone to go behind you,\u201d said Joy Sharma, BART\u2019s assistant general manager of infrastructure delivery.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sharma stood in the laboratory on Wednesday, gesturing toward a fare gate<\/a> mock-up arranged on a plywood podium. It looked exactly like a gate in the wild, with tall Plexiglass panels and sensors to track body movement. But this version had hardware and software upgrades, all serving to close the panels in 500 milliseconds, instead of the former 800.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The idea, Sharma said, is to block people from slipping behind paying passengers, a tactic known as \u201cpiggybacking.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBasically, we\u2019re taking a really great product, and making it better,\u201d said BART spokesperson Alicia Trost, who joined Sharma to demonstrate the technology. Sharma tapped a payment card and proceeded through the mock gate in three steps, with Trost trailing by about two paces. The panels closed before Trost could get through.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Last month, BART began testing this innovation at Antioch Station, as well as the middle row of stiles at Concord. Riders who board or exit at either stop can try a hack, of pausing a beat just after they pass the black sensor strips. The panels will shut with a satisfying swish, blocking any would-be freeloaders.<\/p>\n The Lake Merritt BART lab tests new fare gate infrastructure in Oakland, to help curb piggybacking and fare avoidance.<\/p>\n Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n Officials expect to roll out the design systemwide on May 18.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It\u2019s a new chapter in BART\u2019s ongoing quest to find the perfect fare gate, a Platonic ideal that dogged the agency for years. Pressure began mounting nearly a decade ago, when officials announced that fare evasion was costing the agency up to $25 million a year. At that time, BART had low pie-wedge gates<\/a> at all 50 stations, infrastructure that dated to the 1970s. An unathletic person could hop over or squeeze through the triangular consoles. Some riders evidently got the impression that payment was optional.\u00a0<\/p>\n Desperate to solve the problem and calm an angry public, engineers holed up in their laboratory<\/a> and began experimenting. They tried double-decker gates that were too high to vault, as well as plates resembling shark fins that would stick up as the stiles closed. Board directors at BART even considered the \u201cIron Maiden,\u201d a revolving, prison-style door with bars that come together like interlocking teeth.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n