Warning to SJ: downtown BART stations likely to increase crime, drug dealing & use
Image by Cora Middleton
While the debate about whether to extend BART to downtown SJ and Santa Clara gets more and more controversial, the unfortunate link between mass transit and increased drug crimes/use becomes progressively more poignant. Reporting from Planetizen, LA Times, and SF Gate below.
From Planetizen:
[Per the L.A. Times,] "Since January 2023, 22 people have died on LA Metro buses and trains, mostly from suspected overdoses — more people than all of 2022. Serious crimes — such as robbery, rape and aggravated assault — soared 24% last year compared with the previous,” according to an article by Rachel Uranga for the Los Angeles Times.
The article has been the talk of social media all week, with advocates and public officials weighing in on either side of the issue. The article suggests that ridership on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is suffering as a result of the perceived public safety risks on the system—particularly on the system’s rail lines.
The article also provides details about the fentanyl crisis in Los Angeles and the ongoing debate about how best to react. In the meantime, transit is in the midst of a crisis of multiple dimensions—with ridership, funding, policing, operator shortages, and public perception, just to name a few.
Read the whole thing here.
From SFGate:
Busy Powell Street Station sits at the junction of the Tenderloin and tourist-heavy Union Square and is frequented by vagrants, panhandlers and pickpockets, as well as tourists, shoppers and commuters.
And Powell is the BART station with the most total crime…A Chronicle analysis of BART crime statistics over the past two years found that while crime is spread around the 44 stations in the regional transit system, it’s not always the worst, or best, where you’d suspect. The analysis looked at 10 months of crime statistics, January through October, provided by the BART Police Department at The Chronicle’s request.
Powell Station, one of four BART stops beneath Market Street in downtown San Francisco, is not only among the system’s busiest stations, it also has the most crime. Powell ranks high in several categories of crime reports. The station recorded more violent crimes than any other station in the system as well as the most calls to police in both 2013 and 2014.
When the number of passengers passing through each station is taken into account, however, Bay Fair, Hayward and Fruitvale stations in Alameda County and Concord and North Concord/Martinez stations in Contra Costa County top the list of stations where riders were most likely to encounter violent crime.
Bay Fair station, on the southern end of San Leandro, sits next to the Bayfair Center mall and has a transit hub for AC Transit buses. Like Powell, it’s also home to a BART police substation.
Jennings attributed the high crime numbers at Bay Fair, as well as at the other stations in the Hayward, San Leandro area, to Band Camp, a gang that rode BART and committed crimes in the area during the summer months.
Read the whole thing here.
Related:
Expert: VTA Eastridge expansion makes no sense fiscally nor environmentally
Amid looming $1 bil shortfall, BART board won't entertain service reductions
Opinion: Keeping BART ahead of the game means pursuing driver-less technology
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