BART FARE INCREASE | Are you kidding, another fare increase and no restored evening service?
BART website says average fare going up five cents. However, it looks to be 10 cents. I wouldn't care if the passenger was getting something out of this for a change but I'm thoroughly annoyed because they haven't restored any evening service and service is still miserable after the 11:18 train out of Montgomery because they cut one train out and only run five-car trains.
If you're in SF for the evening, don't miss the 11:18!
Yesterday, I get to the platform. Someone is puking all over the platform. No BPD in site, station agent must not be watching the platform. Then I get on the train and some woman with an iPod with her ear buds gets on the train. I don't understand how she could listen to it that loud and not burst her ear drums. You can hear it for miles; even the song that's being played. Wow! I sit down, all I can smell is urine. SO GROSS and then I come home to a fare increase. When my commute is this miserable, the fare increase bothers me. If I had a nice commute, the fare increase would be fine.
Since parking is such a pain and BART has NO PLANS to help their patrons out with parking (despite expanded ridership and housing developments), why not help get bus service to and from the stations expanded? I can get up there okay on foot or take a bus but can't get back home at midnight. Pittsburg has no bike lockers and neither does North Concord.
Time to start looking for a job on this side of the bridge. Riding BART has become a very frustrating and depressing experience.
Every year we pay more and
Every year we pay more and more, and every year the service gets worse and worse.
They need to fix the stations so that fare evasion is harder, and they need to fire most of the Station Agents and replace them with interactive kiosks.
When the fare machines break
When the fare machines break down or jam, it's the Station Agents that are the first line of trouble shooting, just as the train operators can perform rudimentary repairs to get the trains moving again. I'm guessing you wouldn't be very happy if you arrived at a staion and found every fare machine inoperable. I totally agree that fare evasion should be made more difficult...that way only the truly naughty and conniving fare evaders would get to ride free.
What you get is well paid
What you get is well paid satisfied bart workers. This fare hike will probably help feed their bonuses and raises, while keeping keeping them working less and less.
The current employee contract
The current employee contract gave 0 (ZERO) % increases for 4 (FOUR) years. In addition to that, the workers gave consessions, such as giving up vacation days and layoffs. As in any company there are good and bad employees. I used to take company mail to a satellite US Post Office located in a shopping strip mall, and there was one employee there that was so slow they averaged one customer for every 3 the other employees handled...consistantly. Most employees take their jobs seriously and give 100%. When the West Oakland fire occurred this past week, I went there directly after my full shift and volunteered my services without charging. I came home tired and smelling like smoke, but did what I could to help. This is what happen behind the scenes that most BART riders never get to see. You don't keep a system as complex as this one operating with high levels of efficiency without some dedicated employees bustin hump.