St. Louis Metro cut incidents by 40% at the first 11 stations it converted to gated platforms, and it did so by refusing to flip a single systemwide switch. The Bi-State Development agency spent roughly three years and three deliberate phases converting 38 free-standing MetroLink stations from open platforms to fenced, gated ones tied directly into a new fare collection system — a pairing its legacy fare product could never have supported.

The Central Ohio Transit Authority took the same staged philosophy on the payments side: account-based ticketing launched at the end of 2021, and open-loop tap-to-pay followed at the beginning of 2026. Since that January launch, Masabi-processed ridership on the new system has grown 1% month over month without a single down month, according to COTA Product Manager Dani Sisson.

"We've consistently gone up 1% month over month since we launched in January — of Masabi ridership. We have not seen those numbers go down," Sisson said.

Why did St. Louis tie security to fare collection?

St. Louis Metro began designing its Secure Platform Plan in 2022, when the system logged 17 crime incidents per 100,000 riders, according to Kevin Scott, the agency's Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Security. The project added fencing, platform gates, a reconfigured closed-circuit television network and a real-time camera center at every station — access now metered only to paying riders.

"Our overall effort initially had a security focus," Scott said. "We certainly realize that the very basis of overall security is fare integrity."

All 38 free-standing stations now run autonomous platform gates integrated with the fare system. The 39th, at Mid-America Airport, comes online later in 2026. Scott is blunt that the old fare product made gating impossible: autonomous gate operation "would not have been possible" without the fare upgrade riding alongside it.

The rollout treated phase one as a beta test. Fencing, gates and validators went in at 11 stations first; issues got worked out there before scaling. Over $10 million of the project's funding came from private donations under a public-private partnership guided by CEO Taulby Roach, with the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Clair County, Ill. filling the remainder. HNTB held the design contract, funded through existing grants and federal stimulus money.

Masabi supplies the validator hardware, paired with new ticket vending machines and a mobile platform. Riders get tap-to-pay via smart device or card, fare capping, Transit app integration, the agency's RideOn! app, and Family Fare Share — one account letting a family administrator manage everyone's cards and balances.

There were bugs. The agency had to redistribute validator load across its servers after go-live — a cost Scott's counterpart in Ohio also absorbed.

What did COTA's phased build actually change?

COTA's 2021 account-based ticketing phase attacked an equity problem: cash-paying riders who couldn't front a monthly pass paid the most under the old fare structure. Fare capping ended that penalty, and COTA built a retail network where unbanked riders could load funds onto digital products.

The 2026 open-loop phase lets riders tap a debit card, credit card or mobile wallet while keeping smart cards and the app. Jason Yanni, COTA's Senior Manager of Project Management and Innovation, says the agency deliberately avoided forcing the switch — no "ripping off a band aid."

"It's satisfying. I think that we are moving in the right direction," Yanni said. "We still have some ways to go with some education and some of our ridership still holding on to the old way of doing things."

The phasing wasn't entirely COTA's choice. Yanni is candid that vendor timelines, not agency readiness, set the pace.

"The hardest part is coordinating with your external vendor on timelines that you want versus what they are developing towards," Yanni said. "We don't have a lot of control over what the third-party vendors do in public transit."

With many agencies nationwide making similar upgrades simultaneously, COTA found itself in line with everyone else for vendor capacity — and delays in other implementations could ripple into its own customer communications.

What's next on the integration front?

COTA is negotiating with major card payment processors and money-transfer platforms to expand options for under- and unbanked riders. Yanni cites two drivers: broader access to fare-capping benefits, and better protection of balances when a device or card is lost or stolen — money that simply vanished when it was cash. The agency is also reworking its TVMs to load fare into the Masabi system, not just vend passes.

The Ohio State University integration already shows results. Students can scan for rides from the university's own app under the student activity fee, and the campus bus GTFS feed now merges with COTA's. Since launching near the end of August for fall semester, 30% of OSU rider traffic comes through the app rather than the old Buck ID system.

What should other agencies take from this?

Both operators landed on the same lessons:

• Phase the rollout and treat phase one as a beta test — St. Louis proved the model at 11 stations; COTA spaced ABT and open loop five years apart.
• Budget server capacity before launch, not after — both agencies had to redistribute or expand capacity to handle validators and dual payment systems.
• Expect vendor timelines to set the pace, especially as demand from simultaneous national rollouts contends with supplier capacity.
• Invest in change management: retail load networks, patient communication and features like Family Fare Share meet riders where they are.

Scott's advice to peers cuts to the structural point: don't install fare gates alone. "Put in a security gated system that integrates with your fare collection system," he said. "You usually get one chance of doing it and one chance of doing it right."

Yanni's closing caution is operational: plan around how much change your customer base can absorb in the rollout window — and listen to them.

With Mid-America Airport's station activating later in 2026 and COTA's month-over-month adoption still climbing, both agencies will have fresh evidence this year on whether phased fare modernization keeps paying its way.