Until this year, some passengers on MBTA commuter rail trains to South Station would sometimes play a small game of chance to save a few dollars.

Would this be a day when a conductor came through the car to check their ticket? Or in the hustle and bustle of rush hour, could passengers get away with not activating their ticket and ride for free?

Many passengers activated their tickets anyway and paid their dues—others didn’t.

However, after fare gates were installed next to South Station’s commuter rail platforms in December, it became more difficult to dodge payment. Passengers must now scan their mTicket app, CharlieCard or other pass to enter and exit the platforms.

The gates appear to be paying dividends. The MBTA and commuter rail operator Keolis reported a roughly 33% increase in passengers activating their tickets when traveling to and from South Station this year compared to last year. On-board ticket sales have also jumped 15%.

“I do think it makes people a little more honest,” said Amy Bell of Canton as she waited to board a commuter rail train Thursday afternoon. “It forces their hand.”

Similar gates were installed at North Station in 2022 and at Ruggles in August. The T plans to add them at the Back Bay station early next year.

After adding fare gates at North Station, ticket activations increased by a similar amount, according to Keolis.

At Ruggles, ticket activations are up 44% from last year.

In 2019, the MBTA estimated it lost $10 million to $20 million in annual revenue from uncollected commuter rail fares, or 4% to 8% of potential revenue. The industry standard is 3%, even in “the most airtight gated systems,” the agency said.

About 90% of commuter rail journeys in 2019 passed through North Station, South Station and Back Bay, the MBTA said that year, as it explored installing fare gates at the stations’ commuter rail platforms.

The agency expected the gates to “significantly reduce ticketless travel from the current level,” officials said at the time.

Julia Racin, an executive assistant from Medway who has ridden the commuter rail for 15 years, said she used to notice several conductors who rarely checked tickets on board.

“I was like, ‘Why am I getting the monthly pass?’” she said.

But amid the T’s push to root out fare evasion, conductors have become more diligent, Racin said.

Matt O’Brien, a Harvard Law School employee from Rhode Island, said conductors would historically “quickly look” at tickets as they walked the train aisles.

“Now, they’re looking much more thoroughly,” O’Brien, 31, said.

The increased focus on enforcing fares “is much more fair,” Racin said. “I think for all of us.”

That argument was central to MBTA General Manager and state Transportation Secretary Phillip Eng’s pitch to riders when he announced the South Station fare gates last summer.

“The public has a right to expect us to do our part and to ensure revenue is collected,” Eng said.

Still, particularly at rush hour, many riders can slip through the fare gates without paying.

“To be honest, it’s just as easy to walk up behind someone,” a man named Eric said Thursday while waiting for a train home to Wickford Junction in Rhode Island.

When his train pulled up, riders surged toward the platform. One rider scanned his ticket and passed through; another followed behind him before the gates could close, and then another. As more passengers slipped through, the gates remained propped open.

During especially busy times, MBTA or Keolis staff may leave some gates open to keep the crowd flowing.

Finding an open gate is often possible, one passenger said. “You need to get lucky.”

Like some other passengers, O’Brien’s chief complaint was the inconvenience of scanning a ticket each time he entered or exited the platform. At morning rush hour, hundreds of passengers disembark trains at once. In the afternoon, crowds congregate in South Station waiting for an announcement of their train’s platform. When it pops up on a screen, riders bottleneck at the gates as they head for the train.

“In practice right now, in rush hour it’s a nightmare,” O’Brien said.

Other passengers complained about the redundancy of conductors still checking tickets on board.

The open-air commuter rail concourse at South Station has presented an unexpected challenge — weather.

After installing them at South Station around the New Year, MBTA and Keolis staff found the gates struggled in rain and snow. With its new design and high, arched ceilings, the open-air commuter rail concourse has a wind tunnel that pulls rain and snow toward the fare gates.

Some of the gates must be covered “out of an abundance of caution to protect the equipment during rain and snow,” Jake O’Neill, a Keolis spokesperson, said.

A portion of the gates has been covered about 10% of the time since February. On those days, they remain open for passengers to pass through without scanning a ticket.

Still, O’Neill said, conductors on board are checking tickets to ensure passengers have paid their fare.

The weather issue doesn’t occur at North Station or Ruggles, where the gates are indoors.

As for the weather-plagued South Station fare gates, “the MBTA and Keolis are working with vendors on options for potential solutions,” O’Neill said.

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