Here’s one for the “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it" files: a woman trying to sneak under a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) fare gate, which had recently been revamped to stop such scammers, encountered a major pain in the tuchus instead of getting a free ride.
It was a seat-of-the-pants effort, but unfortunately, it backfired. She got stuck, you see:
Meanwhile at a BART fare evasion gate in SF (to save $2.55) pic.twitter.com/TdSxenaeeu
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 2, 2026
No, if and or butts: you have to pay the fare, according to San Francisco authorities who are taking a rare logical step in trying to slow the radical decline that has befallen the City by the Bay. It all went down last Wednesday, according to the local outlet SFist:
A woman who was clearly attempting to evade paying a fare became stuck under a BART entry gate at a San Francisco station last week, and a BART agent took some video of the situation that has since gone viral.
"This is terrible," says the woman filming what is now a viral video clip, who it seems is a BART employee.
"We can't even open it without harming you [now]," she adds.
Another agent can be heard telling the woman, "You could have just asked us," suggesting they might have taken pity on her and let her through if she didn't have money for the fare.
What a bum trip.
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The situation came about as BART is attempting a cheeky new concept in California: enforcing the rules. Sick of flushing millions of dollars every year due to fare scofflaws, they revamped the fare collection machines:
"Tailgating and piggybacking have happened at BART for all of its history," said BART PIO [Public Information Officer] Alicia Trost. "Even with the old fare gates, people would still sneak in behind you."
That's costly to BART and unnerving to the customers, so Trost said they've been working on what seems like an obvious solution.
"It's just the door speed, right? Let's just have the doors close and open faster," she said. "So, they're going from 800 milliseconds to 500 milliseconds."
The wraps are designed to allow clear sightlines through the fare gates so BART Police and staff can still see across the fare gate line. BART Marketing also worked closely with BART Police and other internal stakeholders during the planning process to make sure the placement and… pic.twitter.com/UH0X3jYFc6
— BART (@SFBART) June 3, 2026
The wraps are designed to allow clear sightlines through the fare gates so BART Police and staff can still see across the fare gate line. BART Marketing also worked closely with BART Police and other internal stakeholders during the planning process to make sure the placement and materials met their standards.
They made a few other changes too, and although they might not sound like much, they’re actually making a huge difference:
They figure BART is gaining about $10 million per year because of the fare gates. And she said it goes far beyond just the revenues.
"Just putting in these fare gates that make it harder to go in without paying has made the whole system literally better. Customer satisfaction: up. Ridership: up. Crime: down. Vandalism: down. Even things like sexual harassment, we're seeing plummet. And all if it is tied to the date the fare gates went in. It's quite remarkable. And the story's still unfolding. Like, we're still realizing the full benefits from it," Trost said.
Who would have thunk?
Well, actually, the folks who came up with the “Broken Windows” theory, which asserts that overlooking small crimes inevitably leads to lawlessness. The concept was used successfully to tackle crime in New York City in the 1990s under then-Police Commissioner William Bratton, who served under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, but California lawmakers have found it to be too big a pain in the butt to apply in the Golden State.
Although this lady’s plans may have gotten rear-ended, she also just proved that San Francisco may just be making sense for once.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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