BART riders beware: Beginning Friday, passengers who hop the fare gates should expect to be slapped with fines of up to $120 for adults and $60 for minors, with criminal penalties for repeat adult offenders.

Since the start of the year, BART police officers have handed out some 300 warnings to riders without valid tickets and passed out another 1,000 flyers to inform patrons of the new policy, said BART police Deputy Chief Lance Haight. Those early efforts indicated 3 percent to 4 percent of passengers were riding without a ticket, and on one day, 10 percent did not have one, he said.

BART estimates fare cheats cost the agency up to $25 million per year in lost revenue. It had planned to begin enforcing the new rules at the beginning of February, but delayed enforcement due to faulty ticket-reading machines, said BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost. The machines worked, but took too long to read the tickets, she said.

“They would need to be swiped multiple times,” Trost said. “So, we were working to get their performance to an acceptable level.”

Those machines are now in the hands of six new fare inspectors who will patrol station platforms and trains, checking passengers’ Clipper or paper tickets. BART had planned to hire new employees to fill the positions, but instead, Haight said they moved some community service officers into the new roles, and they’ll attempt to back-fill the now-vacant positions. BART has 63 budgeted community service officer positions, of which 17 are vacant.

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Editorial: Electing Allen and Wallace crucial for BART’s solvency BART’s governing board voted in October to adopt the new “proof-of-payment” system, which means patrons must produce a valid ticket, or Clipper card, upon demand, similar to Caltrain and Amtrak. First-time offenders could be a given a warning or a reduced $75 fine for adults, or $55 for minors, which could be substituted for community service.

Adults caught jumping the fare gates more than twice during a 12-month period could face criminal penalties that come with a $250 fine, which can also be substituted for community service.

In addition to the new fees and penalties, BART also planned to invest $3 million to bolster security at its stations, including installing video software to better understand the ways people are evading the gates, erecting taller fences around the paid areas, and retrofitting elevators so they don’t allow people to move from unpaid areas of the station to paid areas without first crossing a fare gate.