To Build a Better BART Federal and Local Partnerships Must Lead

now conducted hundreds

of community presentations

to educate attendees on

the importance of BART

to the Bay Area and what

investments are needed to

maintain and improve the

regional rail system. This

outreach has allowed scores

of groups and communities

to share their perspective

and provide input on what

they prioritize to help BART

improve its system.

Federal partnerships are also important to BART’s goals to shore up its

critical infrastructure. The potential partnership with the FTA to participate

in the Capital Investment Program as a “Core Capacity” project is one such

priority. To increase rider capacity, BART has applied for a grant that would

expand its rail car fleet, help attain a new train control system, add traction

power, expand the Hayward Maintenance Complex (HMC), make specific

station improvements to enhance capacity, and prioritize track improvements

BART is making progress on funding these improvements, but has only

identified half of the amount needed. With funding for transit infrastructure

always in short supply, BART must work on two key fronts to build strong local

and federal partnerships to help fund its significant reinvestment needs.

Local partnerships must be where BART looks first for support, and has taken

actions including asking the MTC and local counties to be partners to help

fund additional train cars, local stations, and access projects.

BART may also seek a multi-billion dollar local bond measure for the November

2016 election to support these critical capital projects. But this local support

and resources won’t just automatically come. BART must first prove our worth

and value and that means educating the public about BART’s reinvestment

needs and assuring

the public that our

goals and plans are the

right ones. Reaching

out to civic, business,

environmental and

senior organizations as

well as city and county

agencies, BART has

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District • 2016 Report to Congress ———————————————————————————––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-—————––––––- 1

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District • 2016 Report to Congress ———————————————————————————––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-———————— 6

2016 Federal Goals

BART’s highest priority – to replace aging

rails cars with a Fleet of the Future – requires

continued congressional support for full formula

funding and ﬂexible procurement capabilities.

The BART Board of Directors has approved the

following goals involving federal transportation

policies in 2016:

1. Monitor and participate in FAST Act

implementation – including proposed new safety

regulations

2. Seek continued support for BART Capacity Grant

application

3. Seek appropriation levels/funding opportunities

that assist BART Goals – including State of Good

Repair, transit security funding and security

cameras

4. Educate BART Congressional Delegation on its

Big 3 priorities and funding needs

5. Seek and encourage additional workforce

development funding

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District

300 Lakeside Drive • Oakland, CA 94612 • www.bart.gov

Printed on recycled paper.

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District • 2016 Report to Congress ———————————————————————————–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––————————— 5

San Francisco

Bay Area Rapid Transit

2016 Report To Congress

Antioch

Livermore

Warm Springs

19th St/Oakland

Lake Merritt

West Oakland

Fruitvale

San Leandro

Hayward

Castro Valley

West Dublin/

Pleasanton

South Hayward

Union City

Coliseum

Rockridge

Orinda

Lafayette

Walnut Creek

Pleasant Hill/

Contra Costa Centre

Concord

North

Concord/Martinez

Ashby

Downtown Berkeley

El Cerrito Plaza

North Berkeley

El Cerrito del Norte

South

San Francisco

Glen Park

24th St Mission

16th St Mission

Civic Center/UN Plaza

Powell St

Montgomery St

Embarcadero

San Bruno

Colma

Oakland

International

Airport (OAK)

San Francisco

International

Airport (SFO)

Bay Fair

12th St/Oakland City Center

MacArthur

Balboa Park

Pittsburg/

Bay Point

Dublin/

Pleasanton

Richmond

Fremont

Daly City

Millbrae

EAST BAY

SAN FRANCISCO

PENINSULA

SAN JOSE

MON-FRI before 8pm

MON-FRI after 8pm

SAT-SUN all day

Transfer Station

Pittsburg/Bay Point – SFO/Millbrae Line

Dublin/Pleasanton – Daly City Line

Richmond – Fremont Line

Oakland International Airport (OAK)

Fremont – Daly City Line

Richmond – Millbrae Line

Transfer Station for Service to

Oakland International Airport

Future BART Service – Approved

or Planned

Service between Coliseum & Oakland

International Airport Stations

Approx 3. 75 x 3.75

with eBART station and

Warm Springs

Go to Fast Act – Page 4

Go to Better BART – Page 5

Better BART Better Bay Area

From page 1

Better BART Better Bay Area

From page 5

Building Better Rider/Station Relationships

Aside from wanting to make sure the trains are reliable and run on time,

regular BART riders usually agree that the system’s 45 stations are what

they most care about. Riders know their stations. The most common

rider/station relationship begins at the station nearest his or her home

and includes the routine destination station. In the bi-annual Customer

Satisfaction Survey, BART riders voiced their strong opinions about station

cleanliness, station state of good repair, grafﬁti, landscaping and safety.

BART is moving forward with a long term program that will eventually

improve many aging stations in the BART system. Now in the second

round of its “Station Modernization Program,” BART will invest resources

into existing core stations and surrounding areas to help advance the

transit ridership eperience and enhance the quality of life around the

stations. As part of this effort, BART is now progressing with design and

construction estimates for three important “gateway” stations in three

counties: El Cerrito del Norte in El Cerrito, 19th St. in Oakland, and

Powell St. in San Francisco.

Estimated to be under construction beginning in summer 2016, and

ending in late 2017, the goal is to upgrade and modernize the stations’

function, safety, capacity, sustainability, appearance, and ultimately

improve important rider/station relationships.

El Cerrito del Norte – El Cerrito

Powell St. – San Francisco

19th St. Oakland

1

To Build a Better BART

Federal and Local Partnerships Must Lead the Way

Even though at the end of last year Congress was able to ﬁnally pass a $305

billion ﬁve-year surface transportation authorization bill, the Fixing America’s

Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), the inability to secure a long term

and reliable funding source to ﬁnance public transit into the future remains

troublesome.

This is important because there continues to be two divergent paths in

this country involving improving public transportation. The ﬁrst path is the

dramatic growth in recent years of Americans using public transit in major

metropolitan areas – which is good! The second path is less positive. The

large metropolitan rail systems in the nation, like BART, provide more than

half of the nation’s passenger trips, but are ﬁnding it extremely difﬁcult to

keep up with this growth and are experiencing severe deterioration of their

transit assets and state of good repair.

The slight funding level increases in the FAST Act are indeed an achievement

in the present political environment. But the uncertainty of long term and

consistent federal funding for surface transportation has put into question

whether the valuable transit assets of our riders can be maintained. Last

October, a survey and report released by the Metropolitan Rail Discussion

Group (MRDG), which represents twelve of the largest urban transit agencies,

FAST Act is Welcomed –

But Nation’s Passenger Rail

Needs Long Term Funding

CA State Audit Veriﬁes BART High Capital Needs

During BART contract negotiations in 2013, several state legislators

sought, and the legislature agreed, that a state audit of BART’s

ﬁnancial status and workers’ compensation practices should be

conducted. In spring 2015, the California State Auditor issued her

report which found that BART needs billions of dollars in funding

to “repair and replace infrastructure,” but that the “availability of

funding is uncertain.” No signiﬁcant issues were identiﬁed with

how BART administers workers’ compensation processes or claims

ﬁled by employees.

Among the other ﬁndings were:

• BART’s past financial projections “have generally proved

accurate” because it uses modest ﬁnancial growth assumptions.

• BART’s rail car funding efforts face funding shortfalls.

• No evidence was found that union employees were being

replaced with contract labor or not allowed to return to their

original positions following an injury.

• With BART facing cash-ow challenges for other projects, and

capital needs projected to cost over $9.6 billion, the transit

agency will need to seek voter approval for additional capital

funding.

The State Auditor’s report conﬁrmed the ﬁnancial planning and

stewardship of BART, but raised concerns about the agency’s effort

to secure critically needed capital funding going forward.

The BART System

Cont. – page 6

June 19, 2015, was a day to remember for Bay Area residents – especially for those on their way to the Golden State Warriors NBA Championship

Victory parade in Oakland. It was a day that resulted in 548,078 riders on BART, the second busiest day in BART history! This was only one of several record

breaking days of late for BART. But as good as accolades are, a growing concern exists that BART’s ridership numbers have created a capacity dilemma. The

challenge continues to grow as the typical weekday ridership in the Bay Area now moves beyond 440,000 – or more people than now drive across the Bay

Bridge. This is up almost 25% in the past five years!

After almost 44 years of operation, BART is in need of major system reinvestment. The

Better BART Better Bay Area

program is the District’s ongoing plan to

repair and replace the deteriorating tracks, train control equipment and other aging infrastructure. This all-encompassing effort will not only help to maintain

BART’s excellent safety record and increase train reliability, but also reduce traffic and protect our environment by keeping hundreds of thousands of cars off

the road in the decades to come.

The price tag is high to increase BART capacity and reinvest in needed repairs. BART’s Asset Management Program (AMP) provides a detailed look at the age

and condition of each and every one of the 200,000 pieces of equipment and assets in the BART system. Based on data generated from the AMP, it is estimated

that it will cost $9.6 billion to build a better BART and ensure a “state of good repair” (SOGR).

to allow closer train headways. Importantly, BART was notified last August

that its application for the Core Capacity Grant Project could move into the

next critical “Project Development” phase.

In the meantime, the BART Board of Directors has addressed the capacity

challenge and many of the issues raised by customers in the latest Customer

Satisfaction Survey. They put 30 more train cars in service during peak

periods and 16 train trips each weekday, and assigned additional BART

employees to specific functions that add additional capacity under growing

ridership demands.

Increased local and federal support will be needed to keep BART running.

Without a strong partnership with its Congressional Delegation, BART

will have little chance to secure funding opportunities from this critically

important grant and meet the challenge of welcoming additional riders on

to the BART system.

Seeking More Public Input

Building on several new public outreach strategies implemented last year

to better engage and educate Bay Area riders, BART plans to continue a

variety of new outreach efforts in 2016. The 2015 methods included a

Q & A Twitter town hall on BART operations with then Board President

Thomas Blalock and maintenance engineers, a telephone town hall on

BART’s FY16 Budget priorities with over 400 participants, and a live web

forum on the summer Transbay Tube shutdown and service disruption. In

the coming year, BART will engage the public with additional new and

innovative web, mobile, and app based strategies.

Warm Springs Expected Opening

The Warm Springs/South Fremont Station will be BART’s 46th station and

add 5.4 miles of new track from the existing Fremont Station. It will feature

an at-grade island platform with an overhead concourse, access to Valley

Transit Authority (VTA) and Alameda-Contra Costa Transit (AC Transit) buses,

as well as taxi and “kiss and ride” passenger drop off areas all via Warm

Springs Boulevard. The new station will also provide approximately 2,000

parking spaces. As with all BART stations, the Warm Springs/South Fremont

Station will be fully accessible to pedestrians and bicyclists, and will include

bike lockers, elevators and escalators, Braille signs and a tactile sight path to

aid riders with disabilities.

When open for passenger service the extension will mark a major milestone

in the Bay Area’s collective effort to extend BART service to Santa Clara

County/Silicon Valley. Currently under construction by VTA, the Silicon Valley

Berryessa Extension project will extend BART 10 additional miles with two

new stations. Expected completion is 2018.

Fleet of the Future

In 2016, BART’s first 10

pilot cars are scheduled

to be delivered for

comprehensive testing

on the BART system.

During this project

phase, BART and its car

builder, Bombardier, will

verify and validate train

car performance prior to

full scale manufacturing.

Upon successful completion of initial testing, these pilot cars will be

put into revenue service at the end of 2016 and delivery of production

cars begins in mid-2017. Total cost for 1,000 rail cars is estimated at

$3.3 billion.

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District • 2016 Report to Congress ———————————————————————————––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-—————— —— 2

Partnerships are Key to Rebuilding BART in the Bay Area

Members of Congress and Staff:

This year’s Report to Congress highlights critical partnerships for BART.

If we expect to succeed in rebuilding our 44 year old system to meet the growing demands of an increasing ridership

it will take many partnerships at the local, state and federal levels. Looking ahead, I am optimistic that we will succeed

because I have seen real and effective partnerships forged out of necessity to help make our system safer, more reliable

and accessible for all of our riders. Three speciﬁc examples stand out:

The ﬁrst important partnership was on display last year when BART undertook two critical maintenance jobs requiring the Bay Bridge to be closed

on two busy weekends with riders needing to cross the Bay via bus bridge. It was quite an experience, and the article on page 3 highlights the

importance of BART working with all our regional transit agencies for the beneﬁt of all Bay Area citizens.

Second, our work on those dates also demonstrated the core ongoing partnership between BART management and its workers. And it showed

that working together we could get it right! Nearly 19,000 total feet of rail in the Transbay Tube and on the aerial section between West Oakland

Station and the downtown Oakland tunnel was replaced by our dedicated track workers. And thanks also goes to the Station Agents, Train

Operators, cleaning crews and others who worked almost 600 shifts totaling 3,000 hours. BART Police and other local law enforcement helped

keep everyone safe. We will continue to draw upon the shared commitment by workers and management to keep BART safe and reliable for years

to come.

Finally, as we move forward on our

Better BART Better Bay Area

campaign, and a potential local ballot measure in 2016 to fund infrastructure

improvements, we look forward to a potential federal partnership with FTA that would help build greater capacity into our system. Through our

Core Capacity grant application and with congressional support, we are doing just that – and hope we can advance projects that will provide at

least a 10 percent increase in capacity to help relieve crowding on the overcrowded BART system.

By partnering with our regional transit systems, increasing collaboration between management and workers, and maintaining close relationships

with federal funding partners, BART can continue to “get it right” for travelling Bay Area residents long into the future.

Last year, BART temporarily shut down service to conduct vital repair work. Over

several weekends through April and June, BART closed a section of aerial track

between Fruitvale and Coliseum Stations – known as (track area) A-25. And again

for one weekend in August and over the Labor Day weekend, BART stopped service

at West Oakland Station and through the Transbay Tube, undertaking BART’s biggest

maintenance project to date, referred to as (track area) M-15.

During the weekend closures, BART provided a “bus bridge” for customers without

other transit options. This effort required a tremendous amount of coordination to

minimize the inconvenience to the riding public. The Transbay Tube closure was truly

a regional effort and could not have been a success without our partner agencies.

AC Transit, SFMTA, Golden Gate Transit and SamTrans all provided buses and drivers.

SF Bay Ferry provided additional ferry service and CalTrans kept freeways and BART

trafﬁc moving.

A-25 (April through June)

• 1,000 wooden ties were replaced and 3,000 feet of worn rail within the seven-

mile affected zone. The new track will provide a smoother, safer, softer and swifter

ride for our passengers.

• Switches and interlockings under the greatest operational stress were repaired.

These are critically important as they allow trains to rapidly change direction and

location as passenger demand increases or decreases.

M-15 (August & September)

• A total of 18,500 feet of rail was replaced in the Transbay Tube and on the aerial

section between West Oakland Station and the downtown Oakland tunnel.

• All rail in the Tube on both tracks was ground down for a quieter ride.

• 300 third-rail insulators were cleaned to prevent arcing, a potential re hazard.

• 25 ties were installed and the track bed ballast was replaced for a smoother ride

into Oakland.

• BART continued to refresh the West Oakland Station including painting, tile repair,

installation of pigeon abatement, and tree trimming.

Additional BART stafﬁng was also on hand during these efforts, including extra

customer phone representatives, Station Agents, BART Police, local law enforcement,

and hundreds of personnel not usually in the ﬁeld, who blitzed key stations wearing

yellow vests to give a personal touch to travelers navigating the shutdown.

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District • 2016 Report to Congress ———————————————————————————––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-———————— 3

Transit Must Mean Opportunities and Jobs

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District • 2016 Report to Congress ———————————————————————————––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-————————— 4

BART Works to Encourage a New

Generation of Transit Workers

Increasingly, in this age when young professional are seeking

jobs in the booming high tech industry, the public transit sector

often gets overlooked for potential employment opportunities. Yet,

creating careers in transit remains a priority for BART – as its aging

system and growing regional population present new maintenance,

engineering and operational challenges.

In August 2015, BART was chosen to receive a $750,000 Department

of Transportation grant through the Transit Career Ladders Training

(TCLT) Program, to help create direct and accessible employment

pathways for students to more easily enter the transit industry.

In order to foster a culture of innovation, BART will partner with

Workforce Investment Boards and community colleges in the Bay

Area. The TCLT program will primarily promote transportation

careers in low income areas, communities with high unemployed

and underemployed populations, and among minorities, veterans,

and women. The TCLT program will also support and enhance

existing technical programs at local colleges through real-work

interaction with BART.

The federal grant will allow BART to reach out to potential

candidates and train them over 23 months with the goal of

attaining certiﬁcates as electricians, electrical engineers, and train

control electronic technicians. Young people in the Bay Area will

now have more opportunities to enter into a career in a growing

transit industry and BART looks forwards to promoting new talent

and increasing expertise in its workforce.

Congressional support from Bay Area Representatives Speier, Lee,

Honda, Swalwell and DeSaulnier helped bring this employment

effort to the BART counties.

BART Promotes College and

Career Readiness through

Summer Internship Program

BART’s 2015 Summer Internship Program hosted more than 30

interns from the Oakland and San Francisco Mayors’ ofﬁces and

other local community organizations. The goal and mission of the

program is to provide Bay Area youth with real life career experience,

promote the completion of high school and college, and introduce

diverse career opportunities and paths available through public

transit and at BART. Staff from over 15 BART departments served

as mentors and gave interns a glimpse into daily BART operations

and the skills needed to be an effective employee. In addition to

their department placement, interns had the opportunity to attend

career readiness workshops on such topics as time management,

interviewing, and public speaking.

Coming to BART in 2016!

Working to Keep the Bay Area Moving

Rust, Dust, and Rails–BART’s Two

Biggest Maintenance Projects to Date

2015 Summer Interns

At the same time that new stricter state and federal goals were being

implemented to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, BART sponsored

legislation to allow the District greater access to direct sales of renewable

energy for its transit energy needs.

Authored by State Senator Mark Leno (SF) and signed into law by Governor

Brown, SB 502 allows BART to increase its use of renewable energy by

purchasing wholesale electricity directly from renewable sources and

thus reduce the carbon footprint of hundreds of thousands of Bay Area

commuters.

“Our trains are 100% electric with more than half the power coming from

clean hydroelectric and solar power – but there is more we should do,” said

then BART Board President Thomas M. Blalock. “This new law will allow us

to seek new sources of clean renewable energy and encourage suppliers to

offer it to BART at better prices.”

BART Pushes for Greater

Renewable Energy Use

made signiﬁcant ﬁndings with respect to BART and the other passenger

rail SOGR long term needs. The MRDG coalition used this information on

Capitol Hill during consideration of the FAST Act seeking higher levels of

SOGR grant funding. The report concluded that:

• The growth of ridership on these systems and the severe deterioration

of their physical assets are trends that are not sustainable over the long

run.

• The state of good repair backlog for these agencies is $102 billion

and the annual replacement need is $13 billion, which is driven by the

capital intensive needs of the rail systems.

• This dilemma is of national signicance because these systems are key

to economic growth in their areas.

• A federal commitment to substantial investment is needed to bring

America’s major transit systems into a state of good repair and then

sustain them.

from page 1

FAST Act