BART Board to discuss changes to Fleet of the Future floor plan
The BART Board of Directors will meet Thursday, Feb. 26, at 5 pm to consider a range of topics, including changes to the floor plan of the new Fleet of the Future train cars to better accommodate people with disabilities.
The meeting will be held in the BART Board Room at the Kaiser Center, located at 300 20th Street in Oakland and will be streamed live at www.bart.gov/board. The full agenda is available to download as a PDF.
FLEET OF THE FUTURE
The Board will be asked to authorize changes to the proposed floor plan for the new train cars replacing BART’s aging fleet. The changes come after discussion with accessibility advocates concerned, in particular, about tripod poles near doors and their impact on wheelchair users.
In the modified design, wheelchair zones are moved from end doors to the middle door and the tripod pole near the middle door is removed to maximize accessible paths. Tripod poles remain in place at the end doors for people who need extra stability – something to hang on to – as the train starts and stops.
Bike accommodations have been moved from the middle to the end door. Bike racks will be tested on eight cars, with flexible open space tested on two cars. Large signs will be posted on the exterior of the train cars to identify wheelchair and bike spaces. The new design keeps the same number of seats, wheelchair areas and bikes areas as the previous layout.
BUDGET, CLIPPER CARD, PUBLIC SAFETY, QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE
The Board also will consider a number of informational items of interest.
BUDGET: The Board will review BART’s 2015 budget performance and look at priorities for fiscal year 2016, which begins July 1, 2015. The focus is on continued safety and reliability as ridership grows, straining our aging infrastructure.
CLIPPER: The Board will hear about Clipper, the regional smart card currently accepted on 13 Bay Area transit systems with plans to expand to more systems. New technology options for the future will be discussed, such as being able to use your your mobile device in lieu of a card.
PUBLIC SAFETY: BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey will discuss progress on public safety initiatives, including recruiting, training, station-by-station crime data and community-oriented policing practices.
QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORT: Finally, the Board will hear the Quarterly Performance Report – the “report card” that measures a number of important benchmarks such as on-time performance, cleanliness, escalator availability and customer complaints.
TAKE BART TO THE BOARD MEETING
The Kaiser Center is easily accessible by BART- exit the 19th Street BART station in Oakland and make your way two blocks east on 20th street / Thomas L Berkley Way.