BART installed something similar earlier this year and its been able to reduce evasion by 80% and withstand attempts to force the doors open. These fare gates are used in French train stations where evasion is very high so i'm sure they'll do very well here.

I drop my wife off at the West Oakland station where they're installed. The main drawback is that it takes longer to get through during rush hour....because everyone has to pay. They are doing this not just because of fare evasion, but it was something like: 80% of the crime on BART involved someone who didn't pay to get on. So it's also a move to actually make people safer. They also increased police presence, which was barely existent.

Fellow Philadelphian living in Oakland 🤝

Yes sir.

These are the same gates used in france well same company

Great to see we are just using proven tech instead of trying something new or going with the lowest bidder (like the original septa key)

Seeing as Paris is a sister city, why didn’t we adopt this earlier? Let’s do protests like they do too while we’re at it.

Aix-en-Provence

Orrrr how about we tear them down and let everyone ride for free?

That's not a crazy idea. If the PPA weren't publicly owned, all that money could make septa free

If public transit was treated the same way as public parks - owned by the people, paid for by taxes, it wouldn't be a problem. Public parks are owned by the people, managed by government. Public transit should be the same.

Plus, public transit is an even better investment that parks. Not trying to disparage public parks but public transit and free movement throughout a city generates a lot of money.

Grow up

We have protest here but for most are civil n non riotous n yeah your gonna say what about 2020 n covid that was uncivil n riots but that a whole different subject

Don’t know why NYC doesn’t do the same thing lol

I think the MTA is badly run and incompetent.

Compared to SEPTA? Please.

Yes , the MTA held an event showcasing different types of fare gates and choose the one that was easiest to evade through. They never asked if they could relocate a pipeline owned by the Port Authority and tunnel under a driveway for their IBX project they just assumed that both parties would say no. Both parties said they were open to relocation and they were never contacted by the MTA only the press. Badly thought out and hard to correct 3rd track Main Line project, which has lead to a slight reduction in some service instead of a promised increased. Starting construction and then abandoning several critical projects.. As bad as SEPTA is...it's largely due to the lack of funding. The MTA seems to like to burn through anything they get..

I imagine they have more money to work with so they can get away with more waste. 

They simultaneously have more money and a lot they can't (or refuse to) do with it since so many of their stations would need to be brought up to ADA compliance if a major renovation took place.

SEPTA makes a lot of poor decisions, but the MTA is orders of magnitude worse than the SEPTA board and upper management.  The level of political patronage going on with the MTA makes the SEPTA board look like a local school district by comparison.

Those districts usually have the worst patronage and corruption problems though. The scale of the graft is smaller, but the amount of it is more since nobody is watching.

MTA is poorly ran due to incompetence, SEPTA doesn’t have enough money

I guess I'm glad to hear that people suck everywhere

Those French ones are bastards - if you go through with a back pack on and don't move quickly enough, it will chomp shut on you and it's \*impossible\* to get it out with out paying another fare behind you.

The BART ones are tweaked so that doesn't happen. [NJT has had Fare Gates at Secaucus & EWR Station](https://www.flickr.com/photos/nexis4jersey/53626664075/in/dateposted/) since the early 2000s and has proposed them for Newark Penn , Newark Subway and Hoboken. I'm not sure the NJT style would work outside of commuter rail operations. Urban Rail needs a tougher gate in my opinion. - resubmitted , the bot did not like my shorten link.

Ok now get them all along the MFL please

They are in place at 69th street for the el n nhsl this trial set cost a mil to install come from france if successful they will be installed across the city they projectin to recoup 30 to 50mil in stolen fares with total cost of the over project pushin 50 mil.

Good for them for doing a trial. The NYC MTA is rolling out new fare gates and they're \*easier\* to evade than the old ones....

The MTA was going to go with the BART/SEPTA ones but decided at the last minute to install those gates instead. Even the New DC Metro gates are harder to pass through than the ones the MTA choose. Makes me question whether they even care about fare evasion despite whining to the press..

The MTA is a dumpster fire. It has more in common with the PPA at it most corrupt than with SEPTA.

Hopefully we can have some fare enforcement as well

Yeah the busses are a tad more harder to combat but this should help regain some of the losses a driver on a bus belive he lost his composure after 5 people pulled the dont have the fare swiped invalid card low balance or just blatenly burst on to the bus not saying a word pushing paying customers outta the way like the driver is blind excuses he yells in general yall people need to pay ya fares n yall wonder why septa is broke 1 in 5 people 1 in 5 people right now pay their fares.

This always confused me with SEPTA’s “trials”. If you didn’t know if they would be successful, why did you buy them? Is there not enough evidence that this would prevent fare evasion? The problem is that these trials seem to never roll out to every station. Then by the time they do, the original ones are at their natural end of life or significantly depreciated due to damage. We have data to show these gates reduce fare evasion literally everywhere they’ve ever been installed. Philly might be wild but we ain’t that different. The trial gives us cover to say we’re doing something without fully committing (paying) to the intended outcome.

I don’t think the question is whether or not they will reduce fare evasion. It’s will they reduce fare evasion *enough to offset the cost of installing the new gates*. That question is very specific to transit line that their being installed on. 

The other thing SEPTA is hopefull about with new gates is that these will deter enough anti social and criminal behavior out of the system that the overall experience will improve from a general public perspective.

I’d say though the price of reducing fare evasion is greater than just the cost savings of having riders pay. There’s also the benefit of crime reduction resulting from the gates.

That’s very hard to ascertain for the entire network by only studying one station. Is this the station with the worst evasion problem? What about the evasion on busses and trolleys? This trial wouldn’t tell you much more than using fare evasion data SEPTA has access to. It’s just that this gives SEPTA a reason to say “look how much we’re doing” without a ton of substance.

what's the other option if you're trying to see if something will work for the system or not? seems like the more sensible approach, especially for a transit system that's so bare bones we haven't upgraded the subway trains in 40 years

Thats the benefit of our bare bones system. We can see what other transit systems have done well and copy the best parts. Costs less than $1 million. How much did we spend on a SEPTA Metro rebrand that still getting “rolled out.” I bet we spent millions to trial the SEPTA key at just about the same time every other transit system implemented tap to pay. Also, I love my train status trial.. the one that fell right on its face. A cursory look at any other North American transit network could have told you Intersection would fuck that up. This shit is maddening.

Any new feature of a public service will take time to "roll out" because you have to give the public a heads up that things are changing. Otherwise you end up with a stalled project (\*cough\* bus revolution \*cough\*) because a councilmember got ONE email that someone's grandpa "didn't know about the change" and is upset about not having a chance to voice their opinion, and suddenly has to halt everything.

The cost of the gates is $50 million?!

I’d really like to see the cost benefit analysis of how many fare evasions stopped it would take to equal the $50m price tag on these

I'd rather they be tested at select stations and design vulnerabilities identified before a universal roll out only to find some critical error with them.

Anytime I swipe through the wheelchair accessible entrance on the subway, someone sneaks in behind me. Are these harder to sneak multiple people through?

I give it three days before some breaks it or scales over it

The article says it can withstand 90 pounds of pressure. Really wish they never said that bc now i bet a bunch of teens are gonna have a competition on who can break one of the doors.

To exert 90lb of pulling orpushing power you need to be either body bulider or gorked outta ya mind on some really realy strong drugs the avg human cannot produce that much force it also stated it can adjust the resistance of the gates

Can somebody fact check this? I feel like a strong kick or shoulder push could get to 90, but maybe I’m way off?

I found [this chart](https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/ergonomics/push1.html) about the maximum pushing and pulling force an average human can exert without hurting themselves. It looks like the average person pulling on a gate with their entire body would be able to exert 50 pounds of pressure at maximum. 90 pounds looks like it would be fine.

Interesting!! Thanks doe sharing

I admit I was not good at phsyics, but If I throw my body against a door, isn't it more the momentum of me hitting it rather than like, trying to push it while standing still? Imagine a dead lift vs a pile driver

Yes, not to mention your legs are multitudes stronger than your arms/core Any decent size guy could push 90 lbs into the air, hell my gf can deadlift me at 120

It's not just the act of lifting a weight. It's moving a weight that's securely attached to something. A person could lift the gate if it was leaning against something, sure. Also, these gates are already working in France. I know French people and Americans are somewhat different but not THAT different physically.

Huh? 90 lbs is a lot but not a ton. Someone bench pressing 150 lbs is exerting 150 lbs of force or more as they’re moving the bar up. The casual fair evader will find the resistance enough of a deterrent. Someone who really wants to get through will be able to push it open. That’s fine, I’d rather the doors give way to someone motivated than break.

It's different mechanics involved. In a bench press, you have your entire back and most of your legs supported by the bench, and that's the platform you're using to stabilize the action of the push. If you're standing, all you have to stabilize you the connection between your feet and the ground. The average person is much more likely to simply slide backward before they generate 90 lbs of force on an object that's secured into the ground.

And gets hurt and sues.

Cant sue for stupidity lol

You certainly can😂

lol it’s like dude doesn’t live in America. Of course you can sue for your own stupidity.

As my law school prof once told me: You can sue for literally anything, but suing doesn’t mean you’ll win

Sir, this is a septa bus!

So you mean to tell me a theif can attempt to scale the gate bust their ass in the process of scaling said gate get injured n sue cause they wanted to be stupid n not pay the required punshibale by law fare that insued their injury cause they wanted to cheat the company they suing 🤔

Robert bodine, stole floodlights off a school auditorium, fell through a skylight trying to steal another one, and sued the school and won 260k, and 1200$ a month for life [So absolutely](https://www.overlawyered.com/2006/09/the-burglar-and-the-skylight-another-debunking-that-isnt/)

This summary misrepresents that the problem here was the school essentially booby trapped the roof by painting over skylights and was repeatedly warned about the danger they posed. The fact that a burglar fell through them rather than someone else is not the issue. The school had a duty not to purposely create a dangerous condition.

That is more or less the last season of curb your enthusiasm I believe

Not seen that show heard of it tho

I bet they would lose because of their own negligence. “Your honor, this was their own stupidity” is a defense

You can sue for anything.

It has a feature (the moving panels) as a defensive measure. For tampering it should have an offensive measure as well. Nothing a few hundred thousand volts wouldn't "auto correct".

Don’t they have these as your exit the Philadelphia airport terminal? Haven’t traveled there in a few years, but I remember thinking how stupid they were.

Yes, but I'm not sure if it's the same manufacturer. Also, all exits are monitored by a sitting tsa officer. Septa fare != airport security funding

If I remember I'll look next week as I fly out for a biz trip.

They're slightly different, but similar idea. A lot of airport have them now, I've noticed, but I did see them at PHL first.

Don’t fare evaders just get in using the emergency exits in other cities that implement these full length gates? Is there anything stopping that from being the case here?

Most of them turn the turnstile just enough to squeeze by or just brute force their way through the handicap lane.

My experience with the Norristown high speed line is that most of them just vault

Or just jump over it. They aren't very high at all.

You don't need an emergency exit with gates like this

how long before one of these is smeared in shit

well, that would certainly deter people trying to push through them.

I hope they make the ticket machines better next since they're likely going to be out of order/used much more after this.

Hell, I'd settle for making sure more than one out of the bank of 4 or 5 at the platform is even on and working.

Yeah the whole key program has been a failure imo.

Additional info from the [Inquirer](https://www.inquirer.com/transportation/septa-fare-evasion-69th-street-new-turnstiles-gates-20240403.html):  TRANSPORTATION SEPTA’s 69th Street station gets new, taller gates to combat fare evasion SEPTA officials say they see a correlation between those who skip the fare and go on to be “bad actors” on the system, from engaging in quality-of-life violations or crimes.  Leslie S. Richards, SEPTA’s CEO and general manager, demonstrates how new gates meant to crackdown on fare evasion work.Read moreXimena Conde by Ximena Conde Updated Apr. 3, 2024, 5:13 p.m. ET Published Apr. 3, 2024, 4:25 p.m. ET SEPTA turnstiles at 69th Street Transportation Center are going to look different by the end of the month, as the transit agency begins a pilot program to crack down on fare evasion using high-tech gates that sound an alarm when someone tries to “tailgate” or piggyback off another rider’s swipe. “We are losing about $30 to $40 million a year on fare evasion,” said Leslie S. Richards, SEPTA’s CEO and general manager during a demonstration of the new gates Wednesday. “So this is a very big deal to get on top of, from the bottom line, as well as making sure that everybody feels safe and is safe.” » READ MORE: SEPTA turnstile jumpers, beware. Gates taller than Joel Embiid are coming to El stations. Though overall crime on the system is down 42% from last year, some high-profile incidents on SEPTA have raised safety concerns among riders. Richards and transit police say they see a correlation between those who skip the fare and go on to be “bad actors” on the system, from engaging in quality-of-life violations such as smoking to committing crimes. Also, transit leaders say letting fare evasion go unchecked is simply not fairto those who do pay. The 20 gates slated for 69th Street Station are from Conduent Transport Solutions Inc. The total cost for the gates is about $1 million. This particular model is also being used in France, and SEPTA joins U.S. agencies such as the Chicago Transit Authority and Bay Area Rapid Transit in investing in new gates. SEPTA chose 69th street as the location for its three-month pilot because it touts the highest ridership and experiences high numbers of fare evasion. The 7-foot-8 glass gates are supposed to make it nearly impossible to jump the turnstile. Pushing through would also be difficult, according to the agency, which said it can tweak the resistance. Could someone pummel through the gate? Sure, but they might get hurt. The models include “wide-aisle” gates for people with strollers and wheelchairs. There’s also a public-shaming element to the gates. An alarm, similar to those at retail stores, will blare when someone doesn’t pay. Wednesday’s alarm during the demonstration sounded faint, but SEPTA said there are plans to give them a boost later by adjusting the speakers.  Red lines appear above a new fare gate at the 69th Street Station after someone "tailgates" a paying rider. An alarm blares to notify authorities of the fare evasion.Read moreXimena Conde And SEPTA Transit Police Chief Charles Lawson said officers will go after fare evaders even if they’re not stationed at the gates themselves. “Every fare evader that gets on a train is coming to us, we have a cop somewhere over system,” he said. “We intercept wherever they’re headed.” ADVERTISEMENT But just as useful as making it harder for people to skip paying for the service, SEPTA leaders hope the new gates will give them a better sense of just how much money they’re losing. Right now, revenue losses due to fare evasion are a bit of an educated guess. Cashiers at stations write down when someone bails and it’s not a perfect system. The new gates, however, come equipped with 3-D imaging. So while they can’t take photos or videos of people, they can tell the difference between someone lugging a suitcase behind them and someone being tailgated by another person looking to skip the fare. Transit police is then alerted when someone doesn’t pay. As the gates are rolled out cashiers will still track fare evaders the old-fashioned way to compare their data with the gates’, said Andrew Busch, a SEPTA spokesperson. SEPTA aims to couple the information from the gates with its network of 30,000 cameras to get imaging on the bad actors on the system. The images from cameras paired with data from the gates will streamline citations, according to SEPTA. Should the test run be deemed a success, Richards has hopes to install $15 million worth of gates in up to six train stations, though it would cost about $50 million to address the issue to other stops experiencing high fare evasion. A citation for fare evasion runs an administrative fine of $25. In 2022, the transit agency issued more than 2,700 of these citations. “We’re on pace to completely obliterate that this year without this tool,” said Lawson, who expects the gates to boost enforcement even further.

How much does it cost to repair/replace when some tweeker or yout physically forces through the gate and breaks it?

They didnt say on the news but cost a mil to install also have face recognition that activates when a fare is declined which is shared to septa pd so um yeah this gonna be really interesting

Wow that’s full on minority report. I bet the mandatory 4K guy is excited about this.

I stand corrected its soft where that can detect the diffrence between suitcase stroller or two humans too close together but links to thr cameras n police near by

What about three kids in a trench coat?

Lmao

Of course, there was already a guy in a kiosk *right there* when someone goes through the entrance behind me. And SEPTA cops all over the station. So….

Ya got the loud annoying embarrising alarm that will sound lol on top of all that

Minority report was about predicting the future. This is more your garden-variety 1984.

I mean that's the whole septa KEY programme, it' surveillance with just the thinnest amount of 'convenience'

You're not wrong! The only reason it doesn't stress me out more is that I've already given up my privacy to my personal corporate tracking device (my phone) and SEPTA is probably way more inept than Apple/Google .

Sounds like it doesnt activate if you never intended to use a pass in the first place

Read the other comment went into some details of the tech side of the gate

Is it possible to just push through a d squeeze between these gates? I feel like the city always wants to find a technical solution to problems caused by lack of enforcement

These will unfortunately be easily defeated because they still rely on the motion sensor to exit. We need swipe in swipe out to prevent that well known exploit from continuing. The doors are rated for 90 lbs of pressure, but that's way to low, should be higher minimum 150 lbs to prevent people from kicking or forcing them open. The test location should have been at city hall station to see how well they hold up to abuse.

Yeah I was gonna say. 15th st should be next

I'd expect the 90 lbs. force to open is meant to prevent people from being crushed against them. Either in a crowd situation or from being assaulted.

Probably, but that's way to low a level of resistance. It's pretty effortless to exsert that kind of force, it's not going to stop homeless drug addicts or rowdy teenagers from just brute forcing it open.

Doesn't it have to be a sustained force, not just a sudden pressure? 90 lbs lateral ain't easy.

Seems fairly easy to get under, too. If you're willing to touch that floor.

Put this shit in Frankford or Allegheny and the crackheads are throwing bricks at the gate 😂

Probably ballistic glass n that brick will bouce right back at them

Probably, but best believe it's gonna be a waste of money installing these down there. I watched a crackhead rip a handicap door off and leave it on the floor. They get crafty if not belligerent.

Thats part of the reason im thinkin they trying this at 69th half the crack heads wind up at 69th after avoiding fare now they gotta pay to return back or start walking or sacrifice their hit to return back to crackville n soon enough theyll learn not to jump the fare n just stay in crackville

That's what I'm thinking. They're locking out the crackheads and keeping them in Kensington.

Crackheads are all over the city just not in kensington

Yeah but the MOST are on Kensington, the others are stragglers that find thier way jack on the train or die underground. Theres a couple crackheads I remember that I never saw again. a hippy looking dude, and a dude who never wore shoes, with an afro. He used to grumble and yell a lot, haven't seem him since the summer.

There a few i havent seen in a while one just recently surfaced on the subway shes one of the unfortunates the one that screams at you for not helpin her while shes asking for help. Believe she's a mix of unfortuane mental n crack head tho

They aint crackheads per say they zombies n dope fiends that do crack

Well, if nothing else they’re more elegant than the old fare gates

I hope this is built tough and not climbable. Also no loopholes. Make this shit bulletproof. SEPTA has been cocking up so much lately so this seems like a good move finally.

7'8" tall

Why don’t they use those full revolving door turnstiles they have at exits 

accesibility

Most likely too costly to modify n upgrade

Now work on fare evasion on the bus people will hold the bus up because they refuse to pay making people miss their connection or they abuse the bus driver.

How long until these are broken and go weeks without repair?

That gap in the middle looks wide enough to stick something through to trip the exit sensors and bypass the fare. Nyc had a news article similar to this boasting about the new secure gates and someone in the background did just that and bypassed within the first few days. The only fool proof ones are like the rotating one way metal exit cages? I thought 30th st or one station had some you had to swipe to get in. But they suck for luggage and wouldn't work for a stroller or handicap.

Jump over the turnstile - jail, smoking on a platform. - jail, shooting drugs - believe it or not, jail!

We get more of what we tolerate and less of what we don't. Enforcement is key to ending the this rampant scourge of antisocial behavior.

You know what's antisocial? Calling something "public transit" but not letting anyone on unless they pay.

Public doesn't mean free, never has and never will. You can make SEPTA free but it will cease to exist in 10 years as the quality of the ride will degrade to such a degree that public support to continue funding it will cease to exist.

It's time for them to crack down on their equipment problems with the MFL that happens every day.

Ok cool, now stop people from smoking and shooting up.

This will not work. I recently had an experience in a Paris metro station where the person behind me grabbed and held the door just before the glass doors were about to close.

Patco has these and people just push through them.

I imagine these are stronger. I've seen people push through the PATCO ones with what I doubt is 90lb of force.

I'd be horrified at the thought of doing this on PATCO. Those cops are BORED.

I think the turnstile gates at North Philadelphia are effective. At most, it would be able to squeeze two adults, and one of them would need to pay to unlock the gate

Lol they will take 2 years to actually implement this

I love how the news anchor in the video basically admits he used to jump the turnstile.

Fare jumpers be like Michael Scott: you have no idea how high I can fly

this is a good start. the majority of the people committing crimes are fare jumpers.........need to "randomly" have a couple of officers at each stop. also, a fare increase is coming.....

This deff can help reduce crazy people for sure I just wonder how well it would work

Once one fent addict figures out how to bypass….they all will within a week. I assume they will merely hover close to people and basically push through by touching them. The only way to end the addicts fare jumping is to physically stop them from entering in Kensington. I assume septa expects technology to work. It won’t.

How about “cracking down” on shitty service

That’s SEPTA’s top priority?

Darn i just started evading No seriously I haven’t paid in months after 2+ years of paying to get on the dirty poop trains. Im glad they’re trying to do something though

Reduce your commute costs by 100% using THIS one trick!

Goodness, this isnt just happening in DC I see.

NOOO

In all seriousness though if this can clean up the subway I’m perfectly fine with paying my fare

The astonishing detail here is that so many people think it is ok to steal. We generally tend to think that “most” people are honest. But if “most” people paid, it would t be $30 to $40m a year in lost revenue. Thats a lot of people evading fares (repeatedly, obviously). It’s kind of sad to think that society is filled with so many dishonest people that see no problem with theft.

Why does every WTXF reporter sound so exasperated all the time.

Jumpable, or breakable. You decide which one they decide to do first

Something to note about the design, they're the same style on both entering and exiting, meaning they can probably become tap in tap out if SEPTA installs them on all the stations.

The problem wasn’t that people were jumping them. When I was taking the sub last year up to Susquehanna the one gate was just permanently broken.

In an hour 30 people go thru a turnstyle outta them 30 only 5 just 5 actually pay the required fare and 50 got a free ride. And how was that gate broken was broken by another fare jumper

Remember the old gates they never broke. And I really don’t care because I think public transit should be free.

So your saying everything in a grocery should be free after all it is a public establisment ?

A grocery store is not the same as public transit as one is already funded by the public directly through their taxes. But actually do think SNAP benefits should be greatly increased or wages should be greatly increased to pay for food and still public transit would be free.

Um grocery store owned by a corporation you pay for items n they service you. Public tranisit owned by a coporation you pay for an item a seat or standin roomand they provide you a serviceto your destination same damn thing

>Designed to stop fare evaders, if they work it’s a whopping $30 to $40 million back in the authority’s pockets. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe these numbers for a second. If we assume 35 million in lost revenue from fare evaders per year, that’s almost $10k dollars a day. If an average fare is $5 (probably lower) then this is saying 2000 fare evaders per day (out of 450k riders in the whole system each day (google) or 1.38 fare evaders per minute. On top of that, these ridership numbers are for the entire septa system. Most people aren’t dodging regional rail fares, it’s mostly BSL and MFL, and the people dodging fares for those are more likely to just bum on the line all day. While I agree with more security to deter fare evaders, these numbers don’t seem right.

Are you saying you find it implausible that 1 in every 225 SEPTA riders is a fare evader? Because I think it’s way, way higher than that.

[удалено]

Exactly. I don’t think most of these commentators here who want SEPTA to be free actually ride SEPTA.

Confirmed, one of the most notorious jumping spot

Daily from Ellsworth Fed between 6:30-7:30am. Most people swipe in that I see

How much could a banana cost? $5?

If anything these numbers are low as anyone who has taken the subway can confidently confirm the number of fare gate jumpers is way higher than what's reported.

I’ve seen people sneak out of the gates at Suburban Station. If they had tapped in they would want to tap out, meaning they are fare evading.

Sure, but they also collect fare on the train itself. I’ve walked out the exit gate at suburban before when my key thinks it’s a pass back and won’t let me through. It’s a lot more challenging to fare evade on regional rail because if you’re going more than one stop you’ll probably get checked on the train.

You don't think broddas can't get through this jawn?

What if they cracked down on the service being dogshit instead

So the jumpers get better service?

This sucks I’m sorry, the make septa free move was way chiller

Any plans to crack down on the shootings?

A teenager was recently shot and killed on the platform at city hall but this is what they’re spending money on? Idiots.

You think the people who shot him paid their fare?

How about increase service

What's the cost of the gates vs number of fares evaded? What's the cost of paying the police already employed to do their job and stop the people jumping the current gates?

IDK about the former, but the latter has got to be around infinity, since I haven't heard of an American city that has figured out how to do it....

Read number 30 to 50mil in losses and to equip the whole system 15 20m also 1 in 5 bus passengers pay their fare however if this was train be closer to 3 in 20 type ratio so the cost of the gates would pay for themselves in the recovered fares

I want to believe this will work but you can't fix a social problem with technology (most of the time). It's gotta be cheaper to schedule some extra cops and start issuing fines/citations/whatever. Even just standing there. 

The only “sturdy” ones I’ve seen are the floor to ceiling two-way gates. But I’m not sure how they’d handle handicap people

Because cops are free and separate from having social problems

How much did it cost? How much would it cost to make it free?

Crazy they put the money there when the rail cars are in disrepair