BART Fare Enforcement: Balancing Goals, Community Concerns, and Human Costs

• In Event: Perceptions of Crime and Safety in Public Housing and Transportation

Abstract

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Office of the Independent Police Auditor (OIPA), on behalf of the BART board, engaged the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) in a project designed to conduct a deep investigation into the impact of fare evasion enforcement on public safety, racial equity, and access, this study also includes a full cost benefit analysis BART’s current fare enforcement operations. BART refused to share all the requested data in order to fully analyze their fare enforcement operations entirely. However, through a extensive search of publicly available data and an extended qualitative effort we were able to cobble together a reasonable picture of the cost incurred by BART in fare enforcement as well as the human cost to BART riders of this activity. BART’s focus on fare evasion may not bring in revenue, may be focusing on an overstated problem, and is not effective at curbing the kinds of incidents that make riders feel uneasy and safe in the system.

Authors

• Price Nyland, Center for Policing Equity

• Paula Ioanide, Center for Policing Equity