BART's “unacceptable” service quality unlikely to be revived by dollars alone

In the SF Chronicle, Emily Hoeven explains why even the most avid transit advocates are becoming disillusioned with BART: With insane delays and safety concerns both regular aspects of the experience now (reminiscent of Opp Now co-founder Christopher Escher's recent pot and pee-ridden episode), most residents are doing anything to avoid taking a train to work.

Recently, however, riding BART has become an exercise in waiting for something to go wrong.

These days, my trains are rarely on time. Scheduled trains have been abruptly canceled, leaving me stranded. And the increasing prevalence of homelessness, mental health and substance abuse issues on BART has frequently made me feel unsafe. One night, my train ground to a halt for nearly an hour as medical workers and police tried to help a person in crisis who had intentionally entered the tracks.

I’m not alone in these feelings: 78% of employers recently surveyed by the Bay Area Council said they were either somewhat or very concerned about their employees’ personal safety when taking BART or other transit systems to work. And BART’s most recent data reveals a sizable decline in service: From October through December 2022, just 71% of daily trains were on time — a precipitous drop from the 87% rate it achieved during the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, the number of canceled trains nearly tripled from 2021 to 2022, swelling to more than 10,000....

Still, BART’s quality of service is unacceptable. Congestion on some Bay Area highways and bridges has nearly returned to or surpassed pre-pandemic levels, while BART ridership is stuck at about 40% of pre-pandemic levels. Many prefer to sit in traffic than ride an unreliable service that makes them feel unsafe.

This article originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. Read the whole thing here.

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Image by Wally Gobetz