Report: Violent crime on BART increased by 115 percent over last 5 years

MILLBRAE, Calif. (KGO) -- A new report has revealed some alarming statistics about BART. The Alameda County Grand Jury found violent crime, including robberies and aggravated assaults, increased by 115 percent over the last five years.

The percentage did not surprise BART rider Jen Ulrich. "No it does not surprise me at all," Ulrich said.

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BART has also lost 8 percent of its ridership since its 2016 peak.

"It's so easy for people to get in to the system that haven't paid," Ulrich said. "Something needs to be done about that."

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Ulrich's complaint was identified as one of four major issues that discourage people from riding. The other problems include homelessness, cleanliness, and security.

"It really depends on where you take BART from," Manav Shah said. "There's some stations that are a lot more dangerous, I feel, than others."

"I rarely see BART police in the stations or in the cars," Steve Schultz said.

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"Yeah, just like some sort of authority in a car so you know there's someone you could go to," Chetana Ramaiyer said.

ABC7 News did see officers at the Millbrae BART station on Tuesday morning, but the report found BART's police staffing insufficient to meet crime levels. Riders said they want to see more outreach.

"Probably do interviews with people," Peter Lewis said. "This is the first time someone has talked to me about it."

BART does conduct a Customer Satisfactory Report. The grand jury wants to see the agency create a method to track and report concerns.

There were some positives in the report. Property crime is down and auto burglaries of cars parked at BART stations have significantly decreased.

RELATED: More than 400 reports of electronic items stolen on BART since Jan. 1

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