BART ridership is still down nearly 70% from pre-Covid levels

Post by prawn » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 12:23 AM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #31

I think BART is the perfect storm of commuter railroads that aren't going to recover. San Francisco is tech heavy, and tech still seems pretty work-from-home heavy. A problem I always wondered about is whether or not BART was the right system for San Francisco, as it seems a lot of the big companies are out in the suburbs and never had public transportation. I walked from the Mountain View train station to the Google…

Post by TheBigSalad » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 12:25 AM UTC

jandrese wrote: post #19

bquinlan wrote: post #10

In my social circle there is a perception that the BART is increasingly unsafe and some people who previously used the BART to commute from East Bay to SF are now driving. Their perception seems to be born out by the data: From the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department [1] Aggravated Assault (2019): 112 Aggravated Assault (2022): 114 Relative increase (2019 -> 2022) adjusted for ridership: 114/112/0.3 = 3.39x [1]…

Is it possible that the amount of assault is relatively unrelated to total ridership? Like the number of criminal assholes in the community is about the same regardless of how many people use mass transit?

Post by c_crank » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 12:26 AM UTC

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #54

camel_gopher wrote: post #35

The core problem is assholes on the trains. People stopped riding because there’s either someone dangerous, someone crazy, or someone tweaked out. Literally on every Bart car, probably 2/3 of the time I ride. I end up using the Bart watch app to report this stuff every other time I ride. One guy tried to light a seat in fire. Another tailgated me through the gates and proceeded to push past me. Another was slumped ov…

Cops are expensive. You can run a bus line all day for the cost of 3 officers. If you want cops everywhere, aside from the fact that the HN demographic is much more open to this than lower income folks, you're gonna have to deal with a much more expensive transit system which will cost taxpayers more. The disconnect is frustrating though. Middle and low income people do not trust the police. Don't believe me? Just li…

Post by Karrot_Kream » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 12:27 AM UTC

c_crank wrote: post #75

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cops are expensive. You can run a bus line all day for the cost of 3 officers. If you want cops everywhere, aside from the fact that the HN demographic is much more open to this than lower income folks, you're gonna have to deal with a much more expensive transit system which will cost taxpayers more. The disconnect is frustrating though. Middle and low income people do not trust the police. Don't believe me? Just li…

A lot more of the lower income segment is more pro-cop than higher income segments. Those individuals may not trust the police, but they still typically prefer their presence to a lack of it.

Post by rexkwondo » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 12:29 AM UTC

jonathankoren wrote: post #51

jb12 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that with a constant amount of assaults, and fewer potential victims, you are more likely to be a victim.

Only if you assume random victims of assault. That’s a pretty big assumption