MTA barrier gates: freedom!
This probably makes me weird, but I'm glad to see that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board will be putting barrier gates in subway stations. The gates, which will go up in Red Line, Purple Line and some light rail outposts, will be installed over the next 18 to 24 months.
Metro says the gates will "prevent fare evasion, provide for seamless travel and improve transit station security." Perhaps. All I know is that they'll mean I won't have to fly into a panic every time I see uniformed personnel board the train car I'm riding, looking for proof that I paid my fare. It's not that I haven't procured my little paper ticket; it's that invariably I've forgotten where I put it. Or that, once I think I've found it, it turns out to be a ticket from some journey taken months in the past.
I don't want to worry about this stuff. Like the longtime New York subway rider I used to be, I want to pay my fare, squirrel away my farecard, and use my commuting time to zone out and avoid making eye contact with people. Is this freedom--a modest mental vacation--worth tens of millions of dollars to the city, which stands to recoup $5.5 million in annual fare evasion losses? Possibly not. But this occasional Red Line commuter will appreciate it, all the same.
I hope this doesn't cause any delays. MTA rail is used by dozens of people every day.
Posted by: Tim Cavanaugh | February 28, 2008 at 04:32 PM
Don't get complacent yet, Ms. Brown.
There will still be some fare checking, where a uniformed officer will ask to scan your TAP card to see if you entered the rail system at a Blue Line station that cannot be gated by its design.
The gating project is flawed because the entire Metro Rail system cannot be gated, and therefore evaders will still be able to enter the subway via the Blue Line at 7th St/Metro Center and simply "crash out" the emergency exit when they get off.
Prediction: Even after gating, Metro will find itself needing almost the same number of uniformed security officers, which means they will have paid twice for the overhyped "security" this scheme purports to offer. (That is the case in Paris, where every subway station has officers because of the numbers of people who jump over the gates to avoid paying.)
Posted by: Kymberleigh Richards | February 29, 2008 at 11:00 AM
EB...
I understand your point of view...I hate it when the stormtroopers enter the train or set up a roadblock in the station and I have to show my papers, especially when the majority of the time, the law enforcement act as friendly as doorknobs...
...but this issue is really about the MTA's wanting to make all of us use their tap cards so they can track our every movement.
AND, yeah, gates won't remove the police from the landscape...remember there's a $250 fine for gum chewing...these fund$ will pay for the gates...4 out of 5 dentists suggest chewsing wisely...
AND, c'mon Tim don't comment about train ridership when you obviously don't RIDE the trains...
Posted by: Marc Caldwell | March 04, 2008 at 01:25 AM
Finally the MTA will get a modern fare card system. After riding modern metros all over asia, I cannot but express how convenient it will be to not have to walk up to the current cumbersome automated vending machines in use on the MTA. The menu system is sooo cumbersome.
just like the Hong Kong Octopus card used throughout light rail, heavy rail, bus, ferry, and at convenient stores, we will be able load up our cards with stored cash instead of fumbling through our pockets for change each time we want to purchase a ticket. this also gives options for ticketing based on the distanced travelled. it's so silly it cost me the $1.25 to travel from Hollywood and Vine to Hollywood and Highland, a 1 minute journey, or $1.25 from Hollywood and Vine to Long Beach, which is over an hour and more than 20 miles away.
I can't wait until TAP system comes out and I just load up 20, 50 dollars on the card and just pass the RFID card over the reader as I enter and exit stations.
Posted by: Andy | June 03, 2008 at 03:32 PM
I don't like TAP cards you have to pay for every single ride, where's the value for a person like me, who rides the bus regularly and randomly. It's $1.25 per ride if I ride 4 buses 5 days a week that's $25 a week, at least $100 dollars a month, add to that going further than a mile from my house any other time, if they mandate TAP cards then I'm screwed. Even now a monthly bus pass is $70, and we all know the fare is going up again next year. This all just bites.
Posted by: laneisha | August 13, 2008 at 05:15 PM
The weird thing about the TAP card such as it currently exists is that you can't simply load it with cash like you can with the Suica and the other similar cards in use worldwide; you can only use the TAP card as a substitute for a weekly or a monthly pass....
if all of the Muni lines, the LADOT and Metrolink were to sign on to TAP, it will be very useful. but for now..... not so much.
Posted by: James Fujita | August 25, 2008 at 03:47 PM
Finally LA is getting some sense, back east cities like D.C all have barrier gates. And I think it's great and it's about time! And yes the barrier gates for the blue line; well they might have to come up with a creative way with checking tickets, but the gates will definitely keep the crazies off. If we are one of the largest cities in the world there is no reason why we cannot have more efficient technology for our public transportation systems. It might cost a lot of money to reconstruct some of the stops along the blue line but that line definably needs barrier gates. The idea of the gates are not flawed at all it's just the people who created the design of the blueline that was. And if you ask me I think they should decontinue some of the stops along the blue line, in a car it takes 30 minutes to get to dwtn LA on the blue line it takes an hour now does that make any sense?
Posted by: Jasi | December 17, 2008 at 05:14 PM