- A woman attempting to skip the fare at a San Francisco BART station ended up trapped face down on the floor underneath one of the transit system's newly installed full-height fare gates in a video that has since gone viral.
- A BART employee filmed the incident and is heard saying 'This is terrible' and 'We can't even open it without harming you now' as the woman remained pinned beneath the gate.
- The new full-height gates are part of BART's four-year, $90 million investment to reduce fare evasion across all 50 of its stations — and BART Director Liz Ames said revenue is already up roughly $10 million since the gates were installed.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Just over two months after a California woman made national headlines after being arrested at the end of her wedding night in a case that raised major questions about how police treat the public, California is back in the news — this time with a story that is equal parts embarrassing and satisfying depending on which side of the fare gate you are on. A woman tried to slip through a San Francisco BART station without paying. The gate had other plans.
Stuck. Face Down. On Camera.
The video, posted by the Instagram account @bartactivities, shows the woman lying flat on the floor of the BART station, her body wedged underneath one of the system's newly installed full-height fare gates. She is completely unable to move. A BART employee can be heard filming and reacting in real time.
"This is terrible," the employee says.
Then, assessing the situation further: "We can't even open it without harming you now."
The woman was eventually freed. No serious injuries have been reported.
The Gates Are Working
The incident is awkward for the woman involved, but it is exactly what BART hoped its new infrastructure would prevent — or in this case, literally catch.
BART Director Liz Ames did not hold back when asked about the viral clip.
"I hope she wasn't hurt and I hope she received a nice ticket to pay for fare evasion," Ames told NBC Bay Area.
Ames added that the new gates have had a measurable impact on the system's finances, with revenue up roughly $10 million since the barriers were introduced. If that trend holds, the agency's $90 million investment in the gates could pay for itself in less than a decade.
Former BART Director Debora Allen, who helped push the project forward, was equally direct in her praise.
"I think it's great," Allen said. "I think it's the best thing we've done at BART in many, probably decades."
A $90 Million Fix for a Decades-Old Problem
BART has struggled with fare evasion for years. Riders jumping over or ducking under the older, shorter barriers became a routine sight at stations across the system, and the financial toll was significant — the agency estimated it was losing tens of millions of dollars annually because people found ways to board without paying.
The full-height gate project, which spans all 50 BART stations, was designed to close those gaps entirely. The new barriers are tall enough that jumping over them is no longer practical, and as one woman discovered this week, trying to go underneath them is not a viable option either.
BART has not released additional details about the specific station where the incident occurred or whether a citation was actually issued.
To view more cases of crimes and viral moments caught on camera, check out our video here:
