BART to Nix Late Night Service Experiment?
After what seemed like decades of riders begging BART to increase late-night service, the transportation authority looked to have finally relented by saying they would conduct a little experiment by shifting Friday service one measly hour from 12:30am to 1:30am.
However, this time change also required them to push back Saturday morning service from 6am to 7am so that there would be a 5-hour break for maintenance. But a recent study shows that this new time-frame will detrimentally affect low-income and minority riders.
This means that things do not look good for the experiment to go forth as planned. The federally required civil rights study has shown that the plan “would have a disproportionately high and adverse impact on minority and low-income riders.” And this demographic is the one who needs public transportation the most.
Well, that dream was short-lived. Whenever I think of public transportation systems in cities like New York, Paris and London and then compare them to the paltriness that is BART I am just plain shocked. We need late night service!
According to the SF Appeal, “BART will consider whether or not to proceed with the pilot program at its next meeting this Thursday. If they want to continue, the board will have to demonstrate that the benefits of the change are worth the impact it has on the riders losing service, or to come up with an alternate plan to keep their minority and low income riders from being affected.”
For more, go here.
Photo credit: BayRail Alliance
I am low income person and have been so for many long years. I’m also disbaled. Do to those facts and the early bed time for BART, I have not gone to any events in the east bay since I stopped driving out of my neighborhood. I can’t drive across the bridge any longer so good bye to fun nights in Oakland and Berkely. There are so many good music clubs, great black box theater and dance events in the east bay which I either ignore or bemoan the fact that BART goes off service way too early for me to make it back from a night out there. Full usage of the service should go until 2:30 or 3:00 so people who have gone to a club can have time to make to BART from the club and not have to risk doing the bridge while possibly inebriated. Let’s get to full urban status like an east coast city.