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BART Increasing Police Patrols on Trains to Address Rider Safety Concerns

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Bay Area Rapid Transit is redeploying more officers to ride its trains in an effort to encourage more people to use its service.

The hope is more uniformed patrols will make people feel safer and help reverse the agency's plummeting ridership, BART officials said.

"I think everyone feels safer when they see a patrol guard," BART rider Kevin Conway said. "Some people do. I do."

Teams of non-sworn BART ambassadors and safety patrols have been actively riding trains for the last several months between San Francisco and Oakland with the goal of reversing the perception that riding the train is not safe.

BART rider Anel Renteya said an increase in unhoused people on the trains over the last couple years makes her feel unsafe. Renteya said she likes seeing the three-person safety teams walking through the trains, especially when she is riding on a BART car alone.

BART police Chief Ed Alvarez at a Monday news briefing said he will also add more of his armed officers on trains.

"We are removing seven of our traditional vehicle patrols per shift and redeploying those officers inside trains, which also includes our K-9 unit," Alvarez said.

The change means between eight and 18 additional patrol officers per shift will be added to the 10 officers currently deployed on each shift. This all comes as BART is struggling to attract riders back to the system.

According to BART's own figures, ridership on the trains is still down by 60% because of the pandemic. BART leadership is trying to do everything possible to try and get riders back.

Bay Area Rapid Transit held a workshop Tuesday in Oakland aimed at helping visually impaired riders better navigate the system. Velena Jones reports.

Business leaders said many employees who are returning to the office avoid BART because they do not feel safe," according to a recent survey the Bay Area Council.

"If BART doesn't get ridership back up, the system could go bankrupt and shut down," Bay Area Council COO John Grubb said. "To get revenue back up, we have to get people back on BART and paying those fairs."

The riders we talked with say increasing uniformed patrols helps. But they also voiced specific concerns about safety at the 16th and 24th Street and Mission stations in San Francisco.

Riders who spoke to NBC Bay Area on Monday voiced their frustrations about seeing people constantly jumping the turn styles. The BART Board of Directors will be deciding on how to address that issue at its next meeting.

"We've received three bids from companies that have worked internationally with transit systems," said Bevan Dufty, BART's District 9 director. "And we are very excited to have fair gates that will not be permeable, and you won't be able to vault over them."

The BART police redeployment is also expected to be targeted with additional officers focused on specific hotspots. BART police is also dealing with staffing issues, so it is also trying to recruit more officers.

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