Millbrae City Leaders Vent Frustrations As BART As General Manager Visits Station
MILLBRAE (KPIX 5) -- Millbrae BART riders and city officials are frustrated with BART over dangerous and filthy conditions at the station.
"It's a tragedy how BART is treating commuters throughout this community," said City Councilmember Gina Papan in a face-to-face meeting with BART General Manager Bob Powers, who went on a listening tour of BART stations on Wednesday.
"I would disagree, but I appreciate those comments," Powers said.
City officials set up display boards to show Powers how bad things have gotten, including photos of dirty needles, homeless people sleeping on the floors and pools of urine that are not being
cleaned up.
"This station is heavily used, but it has not been well maintained. This concrete. This is what happens when people urinate over time," said Mayor Wayne J. Lee.
"Milbrae has been trying to communicate with BART and their staff for years now. And there's been no response. They don't care about any of these stations, they don't care about the commuters. They don't care about getting people on the trains or the convenience of the ridership," Ms. Papan said.
She pointed out that several of the ticket machines are out of order. Some of the riders who were there agreed.
But Powers said he's heard other comments from riders that are more complimentary.
"People love the new cars. Second thing is fare evasion and the homeless situation we have going on," he said.
Powers said BART is hiring 54 more officers and will be installing higher barriers to deter gate jumpers, but both of those are not quick fixes.
City Councilmember Papan--who is also chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission Board--said the whole thing was a waste of time.
"Transit agencies. They're just talking heads. There are no results, we need to go to the state legislature and make them accountable." She said for BART job one needs to be the health and safety of its riders.
Powers said he will schedule meetings with Millbrae officials next week.
