Bay Area Rapid Transit received $850,000 in federal funding on Friday to upgrade lighting in its stations.
U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, announced the grant at a news conference Friday before touring BART’s Downtown Berkeley Station.
The funding contributes to an ongoing lighting retrofit project, into which BART has already invested $2.5 million. Simon’s funding would support nine stations being re-lit with LED bulbs instead of fluorescent ones. According to BART engineer Myat San, the new fixtures will be three times brighter.
Simon said the decision to push for BART funding draws from her own experience as a legally blind BART rider.
“I am one of tens of thousands of folks who will use BART today who are disabled and thinking about lighting, thinking about wayfinding, thinking about making our stations across the five counties more accessible,” she said.
But even for sighted riders, station lighting is an issue of safety, too, said station agent Cheryl Vida. Brighter stations make it easier to see tripping hazards and criminal activity, according to Vida.
There’s also a psychological effect: “When you get on and off a BART station, oftentimes you know you’re on your own. The increased lighting at these stations make the stations more welcoming,” Simon said.
But not everyone was as excited for the changes. “I feel like BART is already bright,” said rider Alina Liu. The upgrades feel unnecessary, she said.
Upgrades come with budget pressures
The grant was approved as part of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Community Project Funding program. Although BART is facing a $376M operational funding deficit this fiscal year, transit infrastructure grants under Community Project Funding can only be used for capital projects, according to the House Appropriations Committee’s guidelines.
But the lighting improvements would help the agency’s bottom line, which ultimately makes BART more efficient, said BART General Manager Bob Powers.
“We’re in a fiscal cliff right here. It’s fiscally responsible,” he said.
Simon said she does not believe the announcement of new funding would lessen voters’ sense of urgency when they head to the polls this November, when a sales tax to support BART and other transit agencies is on the ballot.
“I actually think that it is a celebratory commitment from myself and every other elected official around the Bay Area that we are all stomping the pavement to resource this amazing system,” said Simon, who has endorsed the ballot measure.
The Connect Bay Area measure will impose a .5% sales tax on Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and a 1% sales tax on San Francisco. The ballot initiative was certified earlier this month as having enough signatures to appear on the California general election ballot.
Access to public transit is crucial to connect residents to local resources, Simon said.
“We’re fighting for health care,” she said. “If our folks can’t get to it, what’s the point, right?”
“We’re not going to see any of these goals from our healthcare goals, our environmental justice goals, our educational goals if we don’t have a transportation system that is connecting with people,” Simon said.
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