San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system this week announced positive results from enhanced efforts to combat fare evasion. A BART spokesperson told reporters that new fare gates have not only increased revenue but reduced disorderly behaviour, saying: “The people that were doing this type of damage to our stations have either just stopped doing that type of damage or they’re not coming into our stations at all.”
Late last month, the New York Times reported that homelessness appears to be declining, even in Los Angeles and other notorious hotspots. The decline coincides with anti-street homelessness efforts cities have taken in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision Grants Pass v. Johnson, which greenlit enforcement.
The Great American Vibe Shift has therefore not been reversed, at least when it comes to norms around disorder. Of course, Republican midterm prospects don’t look great. In multiple recent elections, from the 2025 Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial contests to one earlier this month over a Texas state Senate seat, the GOP has been racking up losses. Meanwhile, the Trump administration this week announced the end of its high-profile ICE surge in Minnesota.
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Stephen Eide is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
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