WASHINGTON (DC News Now) -- Metro has installed more secure faregates as part of an effort to prevent fare evasion. The project started in July 2023 and since Metro said it has installed more than 1,200 five-foot-tall gates and taller fences were installed in all 98 stations across the Metrorail system. Metro said the changes have caused an 82% drop in fare evasion. “We have seen incredible results from the taller faregates,” said Clarke. “We are never going to completely stop fare evasion, but these go a long way in addressing the problem.” WATCH: Metro workers install updated faregates at Dulles Metro station Metro also recently finished installing new fareboxes across all 1,500 of its buses. According to surveys done by Metro, fare evasion is one of the biggest concerns for customers as they say it makes them feel unsafe as well as they feel it's unfair for those who pay the fares. The transit system said it had a loss of $40 million of fare revenue a year due to the increase in fare evasion, during the pandemic. “Tackling fare evasion has been one of the Board of Directors top priorities,” said Metro Board Finance and Capital Committee Chair Matt Letourneau. “Not only does fare evasion cost us badly needed revenue, it is fundamentally unfair to all our customers who pay their hard-earned money. Metro to close stations, alter service for construction So far this year, Metro Transit police said it has written over 10,000 fare evasion citations which is almost three times the number of tickets written around the same time last year as well as 2,000 more citations than all of 2019. “By cracking down on fare evasion through new faregates and better enforcement, we’ve also been able to make our system safer by deterring those with bad intentions from riding. The Board appreciates the hard work of staff to address this issue and improve our system.” Since the start of 2024, the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) has arrested more than 250 people who have been stopped for fare evading and have been found to have open warrants. MTPD has also recovered 16 guns.