77 percent of BART cameras are fake, not working

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- There has been a startling admission from BART. The transit agency acknowledged 77 percent of the cameras on board its trains are fake or not working.

The decoy cameras were installed in the 90's to deter crime.

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Of the boxes that are functioning, BART says many of them a loaded with VHS cameras.

"Even knowing that, I do still feel relatively safe on BART trains," BART passenger Cynthia Santos said.

In January, a man was shot to death on a train pulling into the West Oakland BART Station, but BART did not have video from the onboard camera. Pressure from the media forced BART to divulge the truth.

"It makes the tactic of deterrents ineffective. So we're going to have to evolve," BART Spokesperson Taylor Huckaby said.

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BART is now preparing to spend $1.4 million to install about 470 real train cameras.

About 200 train cars won't get new cameras because BART is phasing them out next year. However, within seven years all of the train cars will be replaced by a new fleet already equipped with functioning surveillance cameras.