Once again the public are being hit with another BART increase. If you will recall, voters already approved a $3.5 Billion BART bond in November 2016. The bond came after the BART board agreed to a 10.8% pay hike in April 2016. Between exorbitant salaries and benefits, BART employees are already amongst the highest paid transit employees in the world. For those of you have traveled, the BART system doesn't stack up against any of the other systems throughout the world. I have been on systems in Singapore, Shanghai, Moscow, Paris, Tokyo, etc. which are all much nicer than BART, and much more affordable. What are we getting for our high cost?? Filthy, noisy cars, urine in elevators, gate agents with attitude, etc. I guess we should all be grateful though as BART is the first Sanctuary Transit system!! If BART is an example of how the high speed train will be managed and operated, we are all in trouble.

I second everything "long term res." said above. I've used subways in Beijing, London, Paris, Berlin, & Atlanta, so I also have some perspective. The BART Board is very generous with other people's money, namely we the users of BART. Also, BART is user unfriendly to the extreme; there is no available parking for people that want to use BART during the day. BART expects you to get to them on a bus or using Uber. It's $12- to $16- round trip from San Ramon to Dublin BART using Uber!, then you still have to pay for the BART ticket to ride a filthy noisy train.

Easy solution... do what I did a few years ago, buy a car and commute. Having a car..... gas, registration, insurance etc. is cheaper and my commute is quicker, cleaner, smells better and is extremely safer than BART. To say that BART is a health hazard is an understatement, it can pretty much be deadly on any given day (especially BayFair). Now the bond is a huge disappointment that was voted in, seems every year a new BART bond is added costing all taxpayers more. BART.... get tax money from the now legal pot. Haven't they promised new Bart cars for several years, yeah those will be nice...... some year.

Enjoy the stench and crime BART riders, sucks you have to pay more for it

BART tries to hide crime on their system this is well documented because they dont want the public to be informed. Here is the source of my claim:

Web Link

One of their customers decided to take matters into his own hands for the public good:

Web Link

As a regular and reasonably satisfied BART rider (except for that perpetually out-of-service elevator at Montgomery), by all means stay away. It's a briar patch - much better and more bile-inducing to be stuck in traffic, burning time and fuel, and paying tolls, all as entertained by AM talk radio.

BTW, 2.7% is exactly how much the local Consumer Price Index increased in 2017. In real terms, we're just paying the same amount as before.

@brer
Spoken like a public employee union member. BART is a cesspool.

TomT - "othering" me will get you nowhere. I am a professional with multiple graduate degrees. I have my own business and belong to no union. I'll wager, without knowing for sure, that I've ridden BART many more times than you have, unless you've been riding it twice every weekday for 25 years (and then some).

Trying to make me one of "those people" as a substitute for considering an alternative viewpoint is divisive and a lazy alternative to actual thought. Weak.

@Brer.

I rode BART about four times a year going from the east bay to SFO and additionally to Pac Bell Park (yes, I still call it that) perhaps four more times.
My wife has been harassed by a fine patron that wanted her to pay for "poetry" that he forced on her. I have a next door neighbor that has had his car broken into three times in 2017 even though in not one case was there anything of value to steal.
BART has bloated salaries (see the Janitor story) BART hides crime on their system and I will never ride it again. More for you so be happy.

TomT: with luck like yours, I don't think I'd even want to ride in a car with you. ;-)

@Bre
My neighbor is the one that had his car hit not me but take a look at what some of your fellow riders just discovered when they came back to their cars from BART:
January 8 2018, 8 cars on West Dublin/PTown station broken into:

Web Link

Also a patron was assaulted on the same day for laptop theft.
This happens all the time at BART.

More crime on BART just yesterday. Must be more unlucky people....

Web Link

Confirmation bias. Web Link

Malmquist bias. Web Link

Small sample bias. Web Link

@Brer
Why then would BART make it so difficult for patrons to see actual data they are already gathering? Why did they withhold video footage of "youths" committing a takeover and robbery/assault of a train? Why do they pay a janitor 270K even though his lack of work ethic has been documented. For some strange reason you seem to be VERY protective of BART......

You caught me - I am guilty of a sustained dislike for sloppy thinking that morphs into conspiracy theoratrics.

@Brer

And I am guilty of contempt for those that live with their head in an improper position.

More crime on BART Jan 12 edition:

Possession of Concealed & Stolen Firearm
West Oakland - 1801-0625
Officers responded to a report of a man in possession of a gun while sitting inside the train. Officers arrested the subject (Ricardo Romero, 25, San Francisco) for possession of a concealed gun, which also turned out to be stolen. TSA-01-01026-18.

Fruitvale - 1801-0635
Two male juvenile suspects snatched a laptop computer from a patron, dropped the property, and then forcibly wrestled it away from the victim a second time, before dropping the property a second time and fleeing. Officers detained both suspects. One was cited to his parent for theft from a person, while the second was booked at juvenile hall for robbery.

Looks like the Coliseum station is quite active. I wonder why..............

Jan 15th crime on BART:

Coliseum - 1801-0730
A patron had her IPhone X stolen by a suspect on a Fremont train which was stopped at the Coliseum Station.

Coliseum - 1801-0726
A patron had his laptop stolen by suspects on a Daly City train which was stopped at the Coliseum Station.

Let's just call BART what it really is, a mobile homeless shelter. If this is any indication of how the high speed train is run, Southwest Airlines is in great shape!!

I don't ride BART often, but the past few times I have experienced knife fights, stench from homeless people whom obviously relieved themselves in their pants, and load noises as the train passed under certain sections of Oakland. Certainly not a quality experience even though we are all paying top dollar for it. Don't forget, it isn't only the BART tickets. We all pay an additional 1/4% sales tax and BART supplements on our property tax. The sales tax suppliment was implemented in the late 1960s as a temporary tax until BART started running and could fund itself. With the exorbitant salaries and benefits, I guess we are still waiting!