Our TAP-to-Exit pilot program is expanding to the E Line’s Downtown Santa Monica Station on Tuesday, Sept. 3.  

The TAP-to-Exit program is where riders must tap their fare cards when exiting at stations. The goal is to increase fare compliance and to ensure that our system is used for legitimate travel needs by our customers.  

 Three things for riders to know:  

• If you tapped your card and fare was deducted when you started your trip, tapping out will confirm fare was paid and open the fare gates.   

• If you did not tap your card when you started your trip, your fare will be deducted when you tap out at the turnstiles. 

• There will be a 7-day grace period before citations are issued to riders who do not have a valid fare.  

We will have plenty of staff on site at Downtown Santa Monica to help riders purchase the correct fare and to answer any questions. There will also be staff from our Low Income Fare Is Easy (LIFE) program to help riders sign up for our reduced fare program that provides unlimited free rides for the first 90 days and then 20 free rides each month to qualified riders.  

We launched TAP-to-Exit at the B Line’s North Hollywood Station in May. In the time since, we’ve seen a notable increase in the number of customers paying fare, as well as a drop in crime and other issues reported by riders via Metro’s Transit Watch app.  

We surveyed customers at NoHo Station since we launched the pilot and found 91% reported feeling the station was cleaner and 86% thought it was safer. 

The expansion of TAP-to-Exit is part of several public safety initiatives approved by the Metro Board of Directors at their July meeting. After TAP-to-Exit is implemented at Downtown Santa Monica Station, we’re going to expand the pilot to our other end-of-line stations. Dates for that expansion are to be determined. Please stay tuned to The Source and our social media for updates.  

In addition to TAP-to-Exit, there were three other initiatives approved by the Board in July that we think will continue to improve public safety and make riding our system more comfortable:  

•We’re expanding our Elevator Open-Door pilot program from 21 elevators to 57. 

Keeping the doors open when the elevators are not in use helps discourage illegal or unwanted activity in the elevators.  

During this pilot, we’ve found that riders with strollers and bikes are having an easier time using the elevators — no more having to race closing doors. Equally important: we’ve also seen a drop in the number of times our cleaning crews are summoned to clean up big messes. 

•We’re going to expand our smart restroom pilot program at up to 64 stations over the next four years.  

In addition to our traditional restrooms at Union Station and several other locations, we launched our pilot restroom project last fall by partnering with Throne, a start-up firm that manufactures and operates restroom units that can be accessed via a code sent to cell phones. Throne restrooms — complete with running water and lights — have seen over 75,000 uses across 10 stations so far. The feedback we’ve received has been very positive.  

Lack of restrooms on our system (and other transit systems) has been a long-standing rider complaint, and traditional public restrooms have often been subject to inappropriate activity that create new issues by trying to resolve one. We’re pleased to be testing a quick-build, scalable solution that so far is offering our riders restrooms that are clean, comfortable and safe.  

• We’re going to pilot weapons detection systems at two rail stations starting later this year. 

Although we believe very few overall riders carry illegal weapons, we don’t want any weapons on our system that could jeopardize your safety. We believe the presence of these detection units will serve as a deterrent and discourage individuals from bringing weapons onto our system.