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Art on BART; New Train Schedule; Labor Day Success
September 17, 2015
Dear Reader:
I wanted to send you a brief update on a few noteworthy policy and service happenings at BART as of late.
Below, you will find highlights about an on-going discussion relating to an Art Policy at BART and my views about that; service improvements that went into effect with this past Monday's service schedule modifications; and the recently-completed West Oakland interlocking project that resulted in a closure of Transbay service over two weekends - one in August and one in September - and how this is not the end of such occurrences, but is demonstrative of our ability to work with regional transit partners to provide successful alternatives to such service closures.
Apart from the below, the BART Board of Directors also recently began discussions about the potential of re-opening restrooms in BART's subway stations. These restrooms have been closed since shortly after September 11, 2001 for security reasons that remain a concern to safety officials at BART. The discussion will likely return ot the Board in the coming few months.
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Art on BART
Over the last several months, the BART Board of Directors has been deliberating about how much to invest in a new art program that would potentially set aside a portion of the annual budget to fund art investments at BART stations. Already, as a part of the 2015-2016 fiscal year budget, the Board set aside more than $200,000 in the annual budget to pay for the salary and benefits of an Art Program Manager.
While I support the effort of beautifying our stations, there are many more important things for BART to focus its money on at present, especially as we’re considering asking taxpayers to pay more money to help us address the impacts of having an aging infrastructure and as riders have told us through the latest Customer Satisfaction Survey that we are lacking when it comes to system cleanliness. Last month, I put out an opinion piece
in the Bay Area News Group that explains my position more thoroughly. Quoting from that article: “while beautifying and modernizing the look of the system is something that may be worthy of long-term investment, such cosmetics mean little when the stations and trains that the art would be placed in can't be kept clean.”
Consistent with that, I voted in support of the Board of Directors’ action at the August meeting to adopt a governing Art Policy, but to not put funding towards the program right now. As San Francisco Chronicle’s Caille Millner accurately quotes me, “I gave my soft support to the policy … [because] … I support having art in BART in the long term … But I don’t support any financial commitments to it right now [because] I think we have bigger fish to fry at BART.”
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Service Improvements
As of this past Monday, September 14, BART has a new train schedule. Some noteworthy highlights include the following:
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The weekday hours of the Richmond to/from Millbrae line has been extended by one hour.
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Four additional short-run trips on the Pittsburg/Bay Point to/from SFO line have been added during commute hours.
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On the Richmond to/from Fremont line, midday trains will now always be scheduled to have at least four cars instead of just three.
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An additional graveyard shift of train mechanics has been put to work at the Daly City yard, which will increase car availability for longer trains (mainly on the Fremont and Dublin/Pleasanton to/from San Francisco lines).
Additional information about the service improvements are summarized in one of BART’s latest news releases. You can sign up for emails and/or texts about BART news, service delays, and more by clicking here.
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Transbay Service Over Labor Day: A Success
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As occurred during the first weekend of August, BART transbay service was closed over the extended Labor Day Holiday weekend for track repairs in West Oakland. I ended up volunteering some of my time to helping make the operation a success. With very high-frequency, show-and-go train service on both sides of the Bay, even higher frequency bus service to cross the Bay, shuttle service to/from West Oakland, and a great volume of workers out to help direct passengers to/from their transit connections, the effort proved to be very successful and appreciated by riders. In addition to those on the ground to help guide customers, this operation also required bus drivers, transit supervisors, and BART train operators to accept hundreds of overtime shifts or provide other flexibility in their normal working conditions (e.g., checking into work at a different location) to make
this a success. I’m glad to say that almost all of the feedback that BART (and me directly) has received has been very positive.
BART tried for many years to perform higher-profile track improvements with the mentality that shutting down the system is not an option and would be too catastrophic to do. But we eventually came to accept that there just is no way around needing a window of no service along different sections of track to get the job done right. Our – what turned out to be – “second-best” options were just that and did not provide longevity in reliability; the effectively resulted in mere band aids to the needed repairs. In addition, having a longer one-time shut down as opposed to several shorter closures that would result in single-tracking (service delays) is more efficient for both us and riders.
Up Next: As you may take from this, while the Transbay Tube closure was a major operation, it will not be the last section of track that will require a portion of train service to be suspended. In the coming several months, track work in San Leandro will require a similar operation with a bus bridge in that area.
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