☆ Public transportation experts: BART's “reimagined” scheduling plan smart, but needs follow-through

 
 

Transit commentators analyze BART's initiative, rolled out this Monday, to run frequenter—but shorter—evening trains. Biggest potential hurdles to cost-effectiveness? Extra costs of hiring more drivers, and lack of transparency with the public—though the plan appears a step in the right direction. An Opp Now exclusive featuring Marc Joffe (Cato Institute policy/transit researcher) and Rich Crowley (previously on a Bay Area transportation work group).

Marc Joffe, transit researcher, Cato Institute policy analyst:

Running more frequent service with shorter trains is a good way to attract more riders while conserving costs. BART could go further by emulating Honolulu, Vancouver, and Montreal, which are making heavy use of driverless trains. If BART could reduce labor costs, it should be able to establish five-minute service on all lines throughout the day, which would take the issue of waiting time out of the equation for potential riders who might otherwise use another mode of transportation.

Rich Crowley, former Bay Area transportation work group member, Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility vice president:

I’m not concerned about BART trying new things, but somehow, they always seem to neglect sharing key information with ratepayers about the results. They rarely tell us how long they will try a new plan, who will judge if the new plan is working or not, and when we will get the results. We always hear from BART that they're going to try out a bunch of stuff; they seem to come out often with big announcements of their latest programs; but we rarely hear if it was a success or not—or we simply hear that “our numbers didn't really increase,” and they leave it at that. There's no accountability there because the BART Board doesn't allow itself to be held accountable. BART's long-suffering Inspector General recently resigned because a vast majority of the Board of Directors didn't even listen to his improvement recommendations.

So, what's my response to increasing evening service and shortening underused trains? I think it's great that BART is trying something new. But if it fails, they should explain why and if we're moving on to a different strategy. There's not much room for error: BART has continued failing the last couple years, yet they continue hiring people (for which they may not have sufficient financing).

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