All 98 stations across the Washington Metrorail system now have more secure, retrofitted faregates to deter fare evasion. The improvements have led to an 82% drop in fare evasion in the Metrorail system. More than 1,200 five-foot-tall gates and taller fences have been installed across all stations. The project began in July 2023.

Metro has also recently completed the installation of new fareboxes across all 1,500 of its buses. Customers often could not pay on buses because of farebox malfunctions. Metro Transit Police regularly patrol bus loops and individual bus routes to enforce payment.

Fare evasion is one of customers’ biggest concerns, according to Metro surveys. Customers said it made them feel unsafe and that it was unfair to those who paid fares. 

Metro Transit Police continue to patrol stations for fare evasion and have written more than 10,000 fare evasion citations so far this year. That’s nearly three times the number of tickets written through the same period last year and 2,000 more citations than all of 2019. Revenue from the tickets goes to the local governments.

So far this year, MTPD has arrested more than 250 individuals stopped for fare evading and found to have open warrants. Police have also recovered 16 guns. 

Fare evasion increased to record levels during the pandemic, leading to a loss of $40 million of fare revenue a year. Metro relies on those fares to help keep buses, trains, and MetroAccess services running.

-via Press Release