On the bright side, these negotiations being over with means that my colleagues and I can now move on to other initiatives/priorities – many of which had to be placed on hold throughout the lengthy negotiation period. Below are a few priorities that I intend to push forward in 2014, as well as a "status update" to a few you may already be familiar with...
wBART:
Immediately after getting elected, I moved full-speed ahead in my effort to have a wBART study initiated. As a reminder, wBART is not a technology- or alignment-specific project; it is a generic project and study title for assessing how best to connect the broader West Contra Costa County sub-region with existing BART services using some form of high-capacity transit option(s) in the Interstate 80 corridor, one of the most highly-congested corridors in the state.
Although I believe that a majority of the residents in West Contra Costa County support addressing the congestion issues along the I-80 corridor with a transit option, the process of building political consensus has proven to be much more complex than I realized. In reflection/retrospect, I think a lot of this had to do with my being new to the political environment and facing a new-born personal challenge: balancing between my nature of aggressively pursuing what I find best for my constituency and needing to build and foster political relationships. To this end, I appreciate the support I am receiving from Eric Zell, with
Zell & Associates, who has been working with me closely to move this process forward in a productive manner. Eric has long-established relationships in West Contra Costa County, is a long-time BART consultant, and has a long history of moving complex transportation studies/projects forward successfully.
In conclusion, I remain cautiously optimistic that a comprehensive study of high capacity transit options (wBART) will get kick started during the first quarter of 2014. You can learn more about what wBART is and why it’s important to study through my website.
West Oakland Development:
The West Oakland BART Station's station area is likely the single most-underutilized station area in the BART system when it comes to transit-oriented development (TOD) potential. With one train every 3.75 minutes on weekdays (every 2.6 minutes during commute periods), the BART service frequency at this station is equivalent to the frequency in Downtown San Francisco. But much of the station area is consumed of either parking lots or empty lots. In addition, most of the individuals who park at the station are non-locals who elect to drive to the foot of the Bay Bridge before accessing BART rather than utilizing their local station, bringing undue traffic congestion and pollution to the local area. These are individuals who are niether residents nor persons who bring commerce to the local area. They're not there to live, work, or play; but merely come to
West Oakland to take advantage of the transit intensity available there rather than accessing BART in their local area. Not only does this insult the local residents of the area; it unnecessarily reduces BART's revenue by discouraging riders from utilizing their local station to access BART.
As BART and the City of Oakland continue to work together on the West Oakland Specific Plan, I look forward to supporting bringing greater vibrancy to the area, with particular interest in economic- and entertainment-based developments. It's a long shot, but BART ideally needs a new consolidated headquarters, where administration, police, and the Operatons Control Center (OCC) can co-exist. West Oakland would be ideal for this purpose and such development could be a catalyst to the development needs of this area.
We currently have a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) bid out (link) and hope to be able to move many steps forward in 2014 with the planning for development in this area.
BART/SFMTA "A" FastPass:
The "A" FastPass arragement between BART and MUNI affords San Francisco residents with unlimited rides on both BART and MUNI within San Francisco. As I discussed in a previous e-newsletter and detail on my website, this program is funded through fare cross-subsidies by both BART and MUNI riders. In addition, it is a program that relies on an assumption that subscribers to the program use the FastPass for integrated travel on both BART and MUNI: an assumption that I find dubious, at best.
In 2013, staff were asked to perform an analysis about actual user behavior with this pass and to ascertain the actual cost savings or expenses that BART, MUNI, and the users of this program actually experience with this program in place. That analysis was put on hold in 2013 but will hopefully move forward in 2014 and allow BART and the SFMTA to make more informed decisions about the future of this program.
“Other” Labor Issues:
As I’ve mentioned in previous e-newsletters and find important to always reiterate, while BART’s unions and I did not, do not, and likely will not agree on economics; I do intend to support other legitimate concerns they have as it relates to worker safety, workforce efficiency, and the like. Here are some examples of things that I have already initiated over this past year and will continue to sponsor moving forward in 2014:
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Investigating the potential of installing urinal detection devices in our elevators: As a rank/file member brought to my attention, Atlanta’s MARTA transit system recently made an investment to install urinal detection devices in their station elevators. These devices are able to alert police in real-time when someone is relieving themselves in a station elevator, thus allowing police to apprehend the subject “red handed.” BART executive staff have indicated that they “are aware of the urine detection device installed in an elevator at MARTA in Atlanta and are in the process of looking into its potential for [at BART].” This idea was, again, brought to my attention by an SEIU rank/file member.
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Ending needless outsourcing of routine services:
Throughout 2013, when contracts and other discussions came before the Board for consideration, I regularly questioned why certain routine services are outsourced rather than internalized. There were some examples, such as the maintenance and operations of the Oakland Airport Connector, in which I was offered a reasonable explanation. In that case, the contract with the manufacturer requires them to maintain and operate the service for a period of time because the technology is new and we wanted the manufacturer to stand behind their product. But there were also a few instances in which I was not provided a reasonable explanation, including the outsourcing of power washing BART stations. With my making the amended motion, the BART Board unanimously agreed to award the power washing contract when it came before the Board a few months ago, but directed staff to
provide a report on the option of internalizing such work in time for that to be considered before the power washing contract expires.
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Introducing an Employee of the Month/Year Program: Many transit agencies (and other public agencies) have Employee of the Month and Employee of the Year programs that allow employees in different classification groups to be recognized for their excellence or beyond-the-call-of-duty service. I was surprised when I learned that BART does not have such a program. I have directed management to research into the potential of instituting such a program at BART and hope that it can be implemented over the next while.
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Addressing the cleanliness at BART stations and on-board BART: Cleanliness on BART is a never-ending complaint that we receive from patrons. It’s also a common complaint we receive from our workforce, particularly in light of our System Service Workers in recent years having to assume more cleaning responsibilities with fewer staff. This is a difficult problem to address because the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in recent years demanded that all transit operators improve their efficiency (i.e., reduce their operating costs) without reducing their service volume. This unfortunately resulted in system cleanliness being among the first things compromised because it was among the few areas that could be sacrificed without reducing service volume. Nonetheless, finding a way to resolve this is an interest of all members of the Board of
Directors.
Evening Board Meetings:
One of my colleagues, Rebecca Saltzman, has had as a priority of hers making the BART Board of Directors more accessible to the public. As a part of this, she is interested in having BART Board meeting times (at least some of them) changed to an evening time rather than at 9:00AM on Thursdays when most of our riders are at work. I have been a strong supporter of this effort of Director Saltzman’s and look forward to continuing to be her key backer as she moves ahead with this effort.
