The BART Board will vote on on a proposal to rescind the ordinance that would have BART police ticket people who take up more than one BART seat. BART has limited police resources, and police should be focusing on serious crimes. This ordinance would increase BART delays, 17% of which are already caused by police interactions. And according to the BART Police Officers Association, this ordinance would likely target homeless people and increase use of force incidents.
BART should not criminalize etiquette violations. Instead Bart Board Chair Saltzman will be proposing an educational campaign to ask riders to use one seat.
The Board will also be voting on the Safe Transit Policy introduced by Directors Lateefah Simon and Nick Josefowitz, who wrote an op-ed this weekend about the policy:
“We understand how critical our system is for residents to get where they need to go. With more than 500,000 people living in the Bay Area without legal permission, we must ensure that all riders are protected when using BART in their professional and personal lives. Immigrants, including those who are undocumented, are an indispensable part of our community and economy, and their contributions to our cities are an important reality in the Bay Area.
“The policy would forbid BART from spending its resources to enforce federal immigration law and prohibit BART police officers and employees from questioning riders about their immigration status.”
There’s more on Thursday’s agenda, including approval of the annual budget, expanding the youth fare discount to youth 13-18 years old, and considering additional parking at the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station. Read the full agenda here.