> There are approximately three first-world Western cities that have any business having faregates on their urban rail networks: London, Paris, New York. Even there, I am skeptical that the faregates are truly necessary.

Not sure I agree with this, Tokyo has well designed faregates and with contactless it's really fast. Since fare evasion is usually a minor crime and/or comes with steep penalties, I'd rather structurally reduce it instead of making it easier and punishing after the fact.