Score: +5 (6/2/1)

Contra Costa County Grand Jury • 2019-2020

Contact: Anne Granlund Foreperson

Published: June 30, 2020 13 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings and Recommendations 8 findings

Customer Satisfaction Surveys reveal that Contra Costa County riders are increasingly dissatisfied with safety, cleanliness, and fare evasion on the BART system.

No recommendations for this finding

BART is actively addressing safety and cleanliness.

No recommendations for this finding

BART has no published strategic plan beyond 2020.

Related Recommendations (1)

The BART Board of Directors should consider publishing an updated strategic plan to address improvements to safety, cleanliness, and fare evasion over the term of the plan

Fare inspectors alone are not effective in deterring fare evasion.

No recommendations for this finding

BART has not allocated the funds to complete the fare gate modification program.

Related Recommendations (1)

The BART Board of Directors should consider continuing to modify or replace fare gates and establish a timeline and funding for implementation

County riders want more police officers throughout the system – inside and outside the stations, and on trains.

Related Recommendations (2)

The BART Board of Directors should consider reconfirming its plan to add 19 police officers per year over the next five years, with 66 of them on the trains,

The BART Board of Directors should consider constructing station booths and staffing the booths with agents at the Pittsburg Center and Antioch eBART stations

Contra Costa County’s revenue contribution to BART is increasing while overall fare collections are decreasing.

No recommendations for this finding

There is no evidence that BART has attempted to systematically survey non-riders.

Related Recommendations (1)

The BART Board of Directors should consider developing a plan to systematically survey non-riders by county by December 31, 2021, and implement that plan along with the 2022 Customer Satisfaction Survey.

Agency Responses 1

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

Bay Area Rapid Transit District

December 31, 2021 • 8 pages • 13 responses • Score: +5 (+6, 2, -1) View Details ▾

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13 responses to findings and recommendations

Customer Satisfaction Surveys reveal that Contra Costa County riders are increasingly dissatisfied with safety, cleanliness, and fare evasion on the BART system.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Agree with clarification NOTE: Our assumption is that "safety" as referenced in this Report refers to personal security in the BART system and not the safety of the trains themselves. BART's Customer Satisfaction Surveys are noted as the source document for several conclusions and findings contained in the Report. For this reason, we offer the following comments on the data and /or its interpretation: 1. On page 5, the report states that satisfaction decreased to a low of 54% in 2018. This figure is 56%. 2. For the attributes rated on the questionnaire, a 1 - 7 scale is used, and only numbers ...

The BART Board of Directors should consider publishing an updated strategic plan to address improvements to safety, cleanliness, and fare evasion over the term of the plan

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

Given the unprecedented financial uncertainty created as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, BART is currently assessing whether adequate resources are available for this effort. If adequate resources are identified, BART may initiate an update in Calendar year 2021. BART's existing mission and goals do support focus in these areas which are ongoing priorities for the district. In the interim, the currently adopted Strategic Plan remains in place.

BART is actively addressing safety and cleanliness.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Agree BART appreciates the Grand Jury's recognition of our considerable efforts over the last several years in focusing on safety, cleanliness and other quality of life issues. Since Fiscal Year 2014, BART has invested an additional $60+ million on ongoing and new programs to address safety and security, fare evasion, homelessness, and enhanced cleanliness. These efforts have occurred in tandem with an accelerated capital rehabilitation program and an unprecedented growth in ridership during the FY14-FY20 time period. BART Response to 2019-2020 Contra Costa County Grand Jury Report Page | 1

The BART Board of Directors should consider continuing to modify or replace fare gates and establish a timeline and funding for implementation

Response: Requires Analysis

Score: 0

, the faregate modification program was always envisioned as a regional responsibility mirroring the strategy used to fund the first generation faregate replacement program years ago. BART typically works with the county-level transportation authorities to partner in funding regional projects, but these funding packages rely on county-level funding opportunities. As one example, in March 2020, Contra Costa voters failed to pass a sales tax measure that included $120M in funding for a "Cleaner, Safer BART" category that could have been used as the Contra Costa share to improve fare gate reliabi...

BART has no published strategic plan beyond 2020.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Agree with clarification Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, BART intended to update the Strategic Plan in FY21. However, prioritization of other immediate needs has moved to the forefront in the face of this unprecedented public health and financial challenge. BART continues to follow the 2015 Strategic Plan Framework vision, mission, goals and objectives. While the strategies are associated with FY16-FY20, they will remain in place for FY21 and/or until the time that BART updates the Strategic Plan.

The BART Board of Directors should consider reconfirming its plan to add 19 police officers per year over the next five years, with 66 of them on the trains,

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

BART remains committed to increasing police officer staffing but must do so within a financial environment of extreme uncertainty in the wake of COVID-19. In the period FY19-20 through FY20-21, BART has hired 95 police officers, which filled 67 routine vacancies and 28 new positions, and we are currently recruiting and hiring for 16 vacant positions. This rapid hiring pace was made possible by several significant steps undertaken to speed up police officer recruitment and onboarding. BART has successfully negotiated with our police labor association to allow the outsourcing of background inves...

Fare inspectors alone are not effective in deterring fare evasion.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Agree As the finding suggests, fare evasion is a complex problem which does not lend itself to a one-dimensional enforcement solution. Due to a variety of factors affecting BART, including the size and scope of the system, relatively open design, changing social environment, and restrictions on enforcement, we have implemented a multifaceted strategy involving deployment of both human and physical capital to reduce fare evasion. Over the last several fiscal years, we've added funding for community service officers, dedicated fare inspectors, and additional police officers, as well as the commi...

The BART Board of Directors should consider constructing station booths and staffing the booths with agents at the Pittsburg Center and Antioch eBART stations

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

As part of the stations and operations planning and development process leading to the eBART extension, staffed station booths were considered. Ultimately, this option was not selected due to the increased capital cost of adding station booths, operating cost of staffing, and the limited return on what would require significant initial and recurring investments. BART Response to 2019-2020 Contra Costa County Grand Jury Report Page | 6

BART has not allocated the funds to complete the fare gate modification program.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

Disagree partially As explained in BART's response to Recommendation No. 2, the faregate modification program was always envisioned as a regional responsibility mirroring the strategy used to fund the first generation faregate replacement program years ago. BART typically works with the county-level transportation authorities to partner in funding regional projects, but these funding packages rely on county-level funding opportunities. As one example, in March 2020, Contra Costa voters failed to pass a sales tax measure that included $120M in funding for a "Cleaner, Safer BART" category that c...

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

County riders want more police officers throughout the system – inside and outside the stations, and on trains.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Agree with clarification BART recently commissioned a study by the University of North Texas to analyze and assess BART police staffing levels. The study recommendations included staffing increases and a layered deployment in order to increase officer presence inside and outside the stations and on trains. In response to the study (and with the support of our Board of Directors), additional officers will be deployed on trains and on cover beats. With the first increase of 19 additional officer positions, in January 2020 we created a Train Team of 10 officers, who are dedicated to riding trains...

Contra Costa County’s revenue contribution to BART is increasing while overall fare collections are decreasing.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Agree with clarification In the Report, Table 1 - Fare Collections 2017 to 2019 depicts a methodology of tracking fare collections which differs from BART practice. Our data acquisition system accounts for each entry and exit as a completed trip and assigns revenue to the destination station. Doubling this revenue to determine any jurisdiction's revenue contribution is at best a rough approximation that assumes that all trips are round trips, which is not the case. When allocating trips and associated fare revenue to geographic segments of the system, the correct way to BART Response to 2019-2...

There is no evidence that BART has attempted to systematically survey non-riders.

Response: Disagree Score: -1

Disagree In 2019, BART conducted two online surveys which included non-riders. One of these used a purchased panel of four-county residents which included both riders and non-riders and focused on opinions and perceptions of BART, and reasons for not riding among non-riders. The base was adults age 18+ in BART's service area. Including both riders and non-riders is preferable to a survey focused on non-riders only, as the data can be weighted to the overall population. The other survey was via a partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). This survey focused on work comm...