BART goes on about their best-in-class on-time arrival performance. But what they don't tell you is that they self-report and that they define a train as on-time if it is less than 3 minutes late. Hello? New math, anyone?

And, simply put, BART lies to the public regularly. They went on this big campaign about how they were going to increase service by running trains every 15 minutes in the evenings rather than every 20 minutes. But what they neglected to tell the public was that in order to do that, they SHORTENED RUSH-HOUR TRAINS. In particular, they shortened trains running toward Richmond from Fremont during the morning commute. Why that line in particular? Simple answer: that line has the highest percentage of non-white riders plus the lowest per-capita income of all the BART lines. Simply put, poor people don't have as much political clout. And, believe me I know what I'm talking about b/c I live in San Leandro and I monitored the system when they made this "improvement" -- the Richmond-bound trains which were traditionally 8 cars transformed into 6-car trains starting the week that the "additional" night-time service began! The Richmond trains were already standing-room-only by 8AM north of the Coliseum station, when they were 8 cars. After shrinking them to 6 cars, the train crowding has become dangerous.

I actually contacted BART customer service about this and THEY ADMITTED IT TO ME. When I told them that they are creating a dangerous situation and might be legally liable, they told me that rider behavior was not their liability.

Postscript: due to budgetary issues, BART has ended their "expanded" night-time service. Trains now run every 20 minutes at night like they used to. But guess what: the Richmond-bound trains are still only 6 cars during rush hour, and there is a huge fare hike going into effect this summer.

All of this while the trains remain dangerously crowded despite the local economic downturn... and yet, the freeways seem to be moderately less clogged now.

Nice work BART. Here is another fed-up commuter who is now driving to work for his own safety and peace of mind. Way to go, Bay Area Rapid Transit. Buncha lying bitches.