Metro: “We’ve Heard Your Concerns and Taken Action to Deter Fare Evasion”

In summer 2021, Metro kicked off a yearlong project to replace all faregate payment cabinets across the Metrorail system with modernized units that include enhanced safety features, larger displays, and faster processing. Metro also took action to decrease fare evasion. After testing modifications to the existing faregates, they made the decision to retrofit all faregate doors to reduce fare evasion.

Metro made a multimillion dollar investment by upgrading and replacing all 1,200 Metrorail faregate cabinets across the 98 rail stations in its system. New technology enable customers to wave their SmarTrip® cards more quickly and enable gates to be entered in either direction when clear.

Per Metro: “We’re taking action. We also heard your concerns about fare evasion and, over the next several months, we are installing higher, more secure faregates. Fare evasion accounts for approximately $40 million in estimated revenue loss each year and we are committed to minimizing that loss and investing those funds in the safety and reliability of our service.

In addition to our “Pay the Fare” warning campaign in fall 2022, we continue to advance numerous efforts to reduce non-payment, including communication, education, issuing citations, and faregate modification.

Pilot Program at Fort Totten Station: In spring 2023, Fort Totten was chosen as a testing pilot for multiple reasons, including its high rate of fare evasion and its ability to accommodate additional faregates without compromising the footprint of the station. A number of prototypes, including one ADA gate with swing gates, were tested. The resulting design was finalized in July.

First Phase Completed: Following the success of the pilot, nine additional Metrorail stations were selected and received retrofitted faregates:

What’s Next: High traffic rail stations in the District of Columbia are next in the pipeline, with Tysons Corner in Virginia and Southern Ave in Maryland rounding out this next phase that will run through January 2024:

Following the completion of these stations, Metro plans to retrofit faregates across the Metro system over the next year.”

Courtesy of WMATA