BART is about to get slower, you guys

Photo by TJ Gehling

New safety procedures put in place after the death of two BART maintenance workers last year have already brought the system’s on-time rate down. And things are about to get even worse for riders. Matier and Ross have the details:

Operators were also required either to slow down to 27 mph or bring their trains to a halt until work is complete, depending on the circumstances. In some cases, trains in both directions are switched to a single track, allowing them to be rerouted around job sites.

Those safety measures, according to BART, have caused the district’s overall on-time service to decline in recent months from 94.4 percent to 92.1 percent.

“It doesn’t seem like a lot … but riders are feeling it,” says BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost.

And the delays are likely to get worse.

New state and federal regulations set to become effective this May will “mean longer and more frequent train delays,” according to BART officials.

And here I was under the impression that it was Muni’s job to be slow.

So, safety=good; longer waits=bad?

Read the entire M&R post on SFGate and let us know your thoughts in comments below.