BART officials are hoping a new ambassador program launching today will provide riders with a sense of added security and help curb inappropriate behavior aboard trains.
Starting today, 10 BART Ambassadors wearing distinct uniforms will walk trains in teams of two along the agency’s busiest routes, BART officials said.
The six-month pilot ambassador program will cost the transit agency $690,000 and was approved last month in response to concerns about safety aboard trains.
The ambassadors were recruited from the ranks of BART’s police community service officers. They completed de-escalation and anti-bias training on Friday, BART officials said.
“This team will be police employees and trained to provide a sense of safety and security for our riders on-board trains and deter crime,” BART Police Chief Ed Alvarez said in January after the BART Board of Directors
approved the program.
The unarmed ambassadors will ride trains from 2 p.m. to midnight seven days a week, with extra coverage on Saturdays.
The program will focus on the most heavily traveled route — the transbay corridor between the 12th Street Oakland and San Francisco Civic Center stations.
During the busy evening commute, the ambassadors will walk trains on other portions of BART routes, including Oakland Coliseum to Union City, and Walnut Creek to Pittsburg/Bay Point.
The ambassadors are trained to answer riders’ questions and will have radios to report security issues and biohazards.
When police are needed, the ambassadors will call an officer, BART officials said.
QUESTION: Do you think this’ll work?
Fat chance that will happen here in Bay Area with all the liberals, entitlement crowd and nanny state mentality. Vote no on Measure J as it is just another money grab that is worded to confuse the voters as usual just like 13 is worded. Money is never used for what they say and just another means to suck the true tax payer dry and take away what they have truly worked hard for to support the other causes.
This is a joke!!
These “ambassadors” will probably be assaulted and not a thing will be accomplished!
I wish the ambassadors are a great deal of luck.
I think it’s a great idea.
I hope they can carry defensive weapons.
LOL!
Biohazard, how about calling it what it really is.
Hmm. No. Fare jumpers do it in plain sight of a station agent, w/o fear of arrest. I’m pretty sure criminals have BART in their control (thanks John Burris). I hope I’m wrong.
Exactly – they are like the security guards at the mall I work in- completely useless. The criminals and the always-present ill-mannered will just treat them as they did substitute teachers when they grew up.
well barts first sentence tells you how they really feel and what they think of riders
BART officials are hoping a new ambassador program launching today will provide riders with a (sense) of added security
so yeah welcome to your world
you voted all these years for a party that wants nothing to do with you accept during November
bart is a democrat system and they are pissed they have to fork over money that could go in their pockets
for your supposed safety …
stop riding bart start carpools for a month or so and watch them bend the knee
they have sold you on socialism and this is how it works ….you get nothing
everyone has to deal with crap and your thoughts or concerns or even humanity is none of their concern
they openly neglect riders and jack up the fares lol and now you have to pay to park lol
because they have you knotted into the system ….you made this happen …enjoy it
wow communist socialism is great right
sorry for all of those who died to make America ….
took only 50 years to hand over the country and make it like the rest of the world ….
a bunch of socialist beholding to a single party platform and government
nicely done ….entitle the masses and have them screw themselves …actually voting in socialism and taking away their freedoms
sad times ….the wordls beacon of hope and freedom is crushed …always wondered how the people could let a ruler take over and hold them down by the neck …..
I realize now it was self inflicted by allowing them to do it to themselves …brilliant strategy by the democratic party ….
they will be paid nicely for turning you and the country over to socialist
now wonder de slacker truned form friendly bartender to Pelosi nursemaid
his bank account reflects our demise …….
democrats slap you with diversity and bully words and you accept their narrative and bow before them …..
what have YOU gotten for it …….??????
and what have they gotten for it ????
If nothing else, this will provide a great learning experience. Hope nobody dies.
Those who have been chirping for more staff in the stations and trains are getting their wish.
A BART Police Community Service Officer is defined at https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/jobs/Community_Services_Officer-PE076-06.doc They can write parking citations but apparently can’t cite people for misbehavior. They presumably could do a citizen’s arrest much the same as any of us can.
There is usually a pool of people who want to get into police work. Getting a Community Service Officer job is one of the pathways that’s shown some success to later getting accepted to a police academy. Nearly all law enforcement agencies run Community Service Officer programs. It allows the agencies and people to see if they are a good fit for law enforcement.
$690,000 for six months is a nice windfall for the BART PD. The program allowed them to hire ten more community service officers and call them ambassadors. I suspect every every public facing BART employee has already been told as part of their initial orientation that they are “ambassadors” and that the public’s perception of the agency rests on them.
Crime statistics are rarely correlated to actions by agencies. I’m wondering if the BART board of directors defined specific metrics that can be used to measure how successful this program is.
WC has it just right. Show me how you are going to measure success. Not in six months but now. Six months gives plenty of time to dredge up some statistic, Tell us right now what you will accomplish .
I think it will help, but I can’t get over the cost. Is this all labor of the ambassadors? If my math is right (maybe it isn’t) 10 presumably full time ambassadors for 6 months would be earning $66/hr? That seems quite excessive given the task of riding BART all day and tattling.
@Dave – I checked and your math is correct.
$690,000 Total cost for six months
10 Number of ambassadors
$69,000 Cost per ambassador for six months
1040 Work hours in six months (40 hours per week by 52 weeks in a year divided by 2)
$66.35 Program cost per hour
The CSO/ambassadors won’t be getting $66 per hour in their pockets as some of the that money will go to administrators and people who will be writing reports about the program. However, looking at the program as costing the public $66 per hour for someone to ride the trains is a good and easy way to look at it.
As CSO/ambassadors will be in training at times, on paid vacations, etc. the public will rarely, if ever, see all ten routinely deployed at the same time.
Actually, that’s a very good idea.
In your dreams maybe. Maybe they can hand out flowers while they’re at it. Big waste of money and time…
It’s a liberal feel good program so they don’t have to actually crack down on the crime on BART. These ambassadors are going to roam around and provide sternly worded warnings to people shooting up and harassing other riders.
They need BART police on all trains all the time. What are BART police doing that they can’t ride the trains?
BART has more trains than cops on duty. A cop stuck on a train can’t respond to anything elsewhere.
When will people get over Dem v Repub? None of us are happy with the way this is run, cant we just band together to try to enact real change rather than point fingers? Politicians on both sides have dropped the ball and its time we hold them accountable.
It will work about as well as having high school hall monitors.
Hubby & I were riding BART to SFO to take a red-eye home last January, and throughout the Oakland-to-SFO corridor, a bunch of young dudes were doing drugs right across the car seat from us. It told me they had zero concern for being caught (tin foil out, drug paraphanalia scattered on the seat).
Put BART LEOs on the trains, make them walk the trains, and actually do something when paying customers complain.
Not riding BART at night ever again!
It’s not just at night, it’s any off peak hours. I sat down on a train in the middle of the day a couple of weeks ago and a couple was shooting up next to me. When they got up and left in Oakland, 6 guys got on, took a freezer bag of weed out and started rolling blunts.
So does this relieve BART police officers from riding the trains, more time to sit around in their cars? Will they wake up the bums sleeping across the seats and make them move over to let someone sit? I doubt it.
My solution to 85% of the problems is to secure the system. Nobody gets into the system without paying. Do this and people that sleep on the trains all day will be gone, panhandlers will be gone, hypodermic needles will disappear, the smelly dude who wanted a warm comfy seat for a few hours will be gone. The beer and booze bottles will be reduced.
If only paying riders are on the train, I believe things will get better quick.
Well put, WC. I think you’re on to something.
Wow. A sense of security sure is expensive!
The real question is – what constitutes “bad” behavior on bart?
Is it the needle pusher who is getting his fix on?
Or could it be something more trivial like the snotty millennial girl who takes
up priority seating during the morning commute while seniors stand?
Both are violators, but where does the enforcement come in?
Really good observation.
Wonder what took so long?
Awesome! That’s kinda of like putting a bandaid on an atrial bleed. I’m sure it will help solve BARTs problems like crime, bums, beggars, criminals, predators and such. After all, California is now the state for criminals, illegal aliens and welfare lifers(and clueless infantile mentality snowflakes). The hard working honest responsible tax paying citizens get to work and pay for it all.
If they aren’t issued bullet proof vests they are foolish to take the job.
They’ll provide a “sense of security?”
If there’s a problem, they’ll call police?
Another feel-good boondoggle that won’t work. They need to crack down HARD on fare evaders.
Putting Meter Maids into hazardous situations will solve nothing and likely get them hurt.
108RS
Perhaps the ambassadors should all wear a Charles Bronson mask.
Seriously, the post above regarding properly securing the stations is really the only way to get rid of the riff raff.