BART responds to riders' questions and complaints

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- BART spokesperson Alicia Trost sat down Tuesday with ABC7 news reporter Leslie Brinkley to respond to questions from riders. There were hundreds to filter through following last weeks Building a Better Bay Area series examining complaints from passengers.

Jon A. wrote about his commute on the Fremont Richmond line saying, "It's so hard even standing around as people get on and off board because there is literally no room."

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Trost responded, "As we get more new trains into service it's basically letting us make other trains longer so if it wasn't 10 cars before it soon will be."

Another rider complained, "I don't like that they took out the extra seat. No one wants to stand for 45 minutes to get to work."

Trost said, "For every person who hates we took out the extra seats there are people demanding we take out even more seats. A lot of our riders are getting on and getting off and they just want to be able to fit on the train."

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Harvey F. from San Bruno wrote, "I worry about walking in the garage because I notice a lot of the overhead lights are burned out. Also, no one is cleaning the human feces. "

Trost responded, "That's definitely unacceptable, that's a safety hazard."

That kind of complaint BART says can be addressed in real time. Report things like burned out lights or waste or needles to the station agent or on the BART app. That will ping BART maintenance, they say they'll even board a train to take care of it. So by the end of the day, San Bruno should be resolved.

Dawna T. said, "Please tell us about the new BART stations that they're going to have the appropriate gates that don't allow people to just jump over them."

VIDEO: BART tests modified entry gates to stop fare cheats

BART said they are currently testing out retrofit ideas at several stations for the gates and are looking at other agencies as well. What will they look like? Recommendations on modifying gates or installing new ones will be unveiled on March 28 at the BART board meeting.

Check out more stories and videos about BART and Building a Better Bay Area.