BART says fare cheats cost system up to $25 million a year

BART estimated on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, it loses between $15 million to $25 million a year to fare cheat and plans to deal with it. In this photo, riders pass through the gates at the Rockridge BART station on Monday, October 28, 2013. less BART estimated on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, it loses between $15 million to $25 million a year to fare cheat and plans to deal with it. In this photo, riders pass through the gates at the Rockridge BART station ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close BART says fare cheats cost system up to $25 million a year 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The news that 22,000 people a day may be illegally riding BART for free — and depriving the transit system of as much as $25 million a year — has passengers angry and directors ready to crack down on the scofflaws.

Cheats who jump fare gates, sneak in behind paying passengers or simply stroll through swing gates without paying are costing BART somewhere between $15 million and $25 million a year, Paul Oversier, assistant general manager for operations, told a BART committee Tuesday.

Riders at Embarcadero Station, one of the system’s hotspots for fare evasion, expressed astonishment Wednesday when informed of the losses.

“Wow. That’s a lot,” said Angela Dee, 28, a photographer who lives in Oakland, adding that she supports a crackdown on scofflaws.

Maz Bijan, 36, an engineer who commutes from Fremont, regularly sees people jump low walls or walk nonchalantly through swinging gates, mostly at Embarcadero Station. It’s too easy to sneak in or out of BART, he said.

“I ride BART every day, and I’ve seen a lot of people do it,” he said. “Everybody should pay.”

That’s the goal of a $3 million enforcement plan that BART officials hope the Board of Directors will agree to include in the budget for the fiscal year that starts on July 1. Details of the plan were released Tuesday afternoon at a meeting of BART’s Operations and Safety Committee.

Oversier said the agency has solid evidence, collected by video and direct observation, of about $6 million in losses due to riders who don’t pay their fares. But officials know the problem is larger, he said — by somewhere between $9 million and $19 million a year.

BART officials believe about 4 to 5 percent of riders — as many as 22,000 a day — skip paying their fares.

“That’s an astounding number,” said Joel Keller, a director from Brentwood.

The $3 million plan to crack down has two approaches: Teams of fare enforcement officers would roam the system, randomly checking tickets or Clipper cards and issuing warnings or citations to those who haven’t paid. BART would also create physical deterrents by raising the heights of fare gates and walls around areas of stations for customers who’ve paid. They will also close swing gates that are not adjacent to station agent booths.

Those efforts, Oversier predicted, could bring in $8 million to $11 million a year in otherwise lost fares.

Directors Lateefah Simon and Rebecca Saltzman, both of Oakland, said they were concerned that deploying fare enforcement officers could lead to uneven enforcement, with teens, minorities or homeless people being targeted. Simon said she also feared that confrontations with fare enforcement officers could lead to chases or even use of force.

“We don’t want to create more problems than we solve,” she said.

Simon, who admits to fare evasion as a teen, said she nevertheless understands the need to stop the cheating. But she believes the emphasis should be on infrastructure — higher fare gates and walls, for instance — rather than on deploying fare enforcement officers.

Director Debora Allen of Clayton agrees that making it harder to sneak in and out of BART without paying would be more cost-effective than hiring a handful of enforcement officers. But it would be worthwhile, she said.

“This is an issue where we will probably recover more than we spend,” she said. “This is a priority of mine.”

Keller, however, believes enforcement is necessary to let riders know that riders evading fares is not something BART is willing to accept.

“You leave a kid alone in a candy store long enough and eventually he’s going to take a piece,” he said. “If we have a system that allows people to fare evade, people are going to eventually get it,” and more will stop paying.

As for concerns about uneven enforcement, Jeffrey Jennings, BART’s acting police chief, said the department had developed a plan that “will be fair and equitable and make it very clear that we are trying to change the culture at BART toward fare evasion.”

The full Board of Directors is expected to discuss the issue at a meeting Thursday at 5 p.m.. But it will consider funding the fare evasion efforts as part of the budget process, which concludes in June. An ordinance allowing fare enforcement is expected to be considered in May.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan