BART begins fare gate replacement at San Francisco Civic Center station

BART began replacing fare gates on the concourse level of the Civic Center station in San Francisco on Thursday as part of the agency's attempts to prevent fare evasion.

Crews already successfully installed a new fare gate at the station's elevator entrance in April, and last December, BART debuted the new gate style at the West Oakland station .

While the first set of gates closest to the Seventh Street entrance at the Civic Center station is closed for construction, the other two will remain open. BART said crews will work on each set one at a time until all fare gates are replaced.

Construction is estimated to last several weeks per set of gates, according to a statement from BART.

The primary goal of the systemwide $90 million project is to prevent fare evasion with taller and sturdier barriers. Rather than the short orange barricades that exist at most stations today, the newer gates are 6 feet tall and clear.

After Civic Center, the next stations to get new fare gates will be Fruitvale, 24th Street Mission and Richmond.

BART hopes to have the new gates installed throughout the entire system by the end of 2025.