"It is amazingly hard to understand why BART can't run more efficiently. The pay rates, especially when you include overtime, are ludicrous. From public information, it appears that many employees and police officers have benefits and pay in the $300,000 range. Well, could the BART deficit be due to this crazy amount of pay and overtime?"
"The simple solution is to cut the train frequency back in order to cut the overtime rates way back. The problem? The board has a vested interest in keeping the employees with such lucrative contracts in place. Don't get me wrong, I love the BART system and use it all the time."
"Fares are not enough to keep public transportation running effectively. We need new revenue sources to keep all of our Bay Area public transit running - public money for public transit. It is not a BART bailout."
BART operates inefficiently with excessive employee and police officer compensation packages reaching $300,000 when including overtime benefits. Despite increased train frequency, ridership has declined, suggesting the transit system maintains high service levels primarily to sustain expensive labor contracts. The proposed solution involves reducing train frequency to cut overtime costs significantly. While the system has improved in cleanliness and safety, the board maintains vested interests in preserving lucrative employee contracts. A separate citizens' initiative, ConnectBayArea/SB 63, seeks temporary revenue sources for Bay Area public transportation across five counties, emphasizing that fares alone cannot sustain effective transit operations.
#bart-efficiency #public-transit-funding #employee-compensation #bay-area-transportation #service-reduction
Read at The Mercury News
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