Report: Crime on Muni decreasing year over year - SFGate

Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle

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A train approaches the Coliseum BART station on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, in Oakland, Calif.

Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle

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A security camera hands at the Coliseum BART station on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, in Oakland, Calif.

Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle

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A woman leaves the Coliseum BART station on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, in Oakland, Calif.

Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle

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BART has $3.5 billion to spend. Here's what we think they should fix first...

Photo: Michael Short / San Francisco Chronicle

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10. Install train time boards by the ticket machines

How many times have you needed to add $5 to your ticket but weren’t sure when the next train was coming? We get it; you can pull out your phone and look it up. But wouldn’t it be nice if there was a big departures board when you walked up to the station so you could check right there? It’s not a necessity, but it sure would be a nice convenience.

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10. Install train time boards by the ticket machines

How many times have you needed to add $5 to your ticket but weren’t sure when the next train was coming? We get it; you can pull out your phone and look it

... more

Photo: Michael Short, The Chronicle

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9. Add more hand-holds and poles

Shorter BART riders would especially appreciate more hand-holds on trains. Poles up top are too high for some, and the looped hand-holds are few and far between. Last year, BART voted to increase the number of straps from 30 to 80 on each car but, as regular riders can attest, the actual number of straps varies widely from car to car.

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9. Add more hand-holds and poles

Shorter BART riders would especially appreciate more hand-holds on trains. Poles up top are too high for some, and the looped hand-holds are few and far between. Last year, BART

... more

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

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8. Weatherproof the system

If there’s even a hint of rain, it seems like BART is delayed 10 minutes. There’s got to be a way to prevent the entire system from slowing down every time it sprinkles.

8. Weatherproof the system

If there’s even a hint of rain, it seems like BART is delayed 10 minutes. There’s got to be a way to prevent the entire system from slowing down every time it sprinkles.

Photo: James Tensuan, Special To The Chronicle

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7. Guarantee that the security cameras are actually working — and real

The Chronicle revealed in January 2016 that less than one-third of BART cars had real and functioning cameras. BART promised to remedy that ASAP, but a third of cars still don’t have security cameras. BART’s sworn this project will be done by July, and we’ll be keeping an eye on this one. It’s a major security issue.

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7. Guarantee that the security cameras are actually working — and real

The Chronicle revealed in January 2016 that less than one-third of BART cars had real and functioning cameras. BART promised to remedy

... more

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

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6. Grind the rails so that we don’t lose our hearing every time we go through a tunnel

You may not actually go deaf riding BART twice a day, but it sure isn’t pleasant to listen to the trains squeal through the Transbay Tube. Rail-grinding machines smooth the rails and reduce the noise of steel wheels on steel rails, a maintenance project that BART should commit to on a regular basis to keep things quiet.

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6. Grind the rails so that we don’t lose our hearing every time we go through a tunnel

You may not actually go deaf riding BART twice a day, but it sure isn’t pleasant to listen to the trains squeal through

... more

Photo: NOAH BERGER / SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

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5. Add late-night Friday and Saturday service

Who among us hasn’t had to cut short weekend plans to try to catch the last BART train? Unfortunately, because BART has to shut down at night for maintenance — the single-track nature of the system means there's no way for regular operation and maintenance to happen simultaneously — there can't be 24-hour service. But at least a few more hours on a Friday or Saturday night would be great.

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5. Add late-night Friday and Saturday service

Who among us hasn’t had to cut short weekend plans to try to catch the last BART train? Unfortunately, because BART has to shut down at night for maintenance —

... more

Photo: Stephen Lam, The Chronicle

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4. Replace or fix the escalators and elevators

Does anyone remember the last time the Powell St. escalators were all operational? How about any of the elevators? Old escalators and elevators simply need to be replaced; spot-fixes clearly aren’t cutting it. Bond money has been set aside to replace escalators in six heavily trafficked stations, but we'd like to see reliable people-movers everywhere. Clean, operational elevators are especially crucial for disabled riders, who have no other way of getting to and from platforms without them.

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4. Replace or fix the escalators and elevators

Does anyone remember the last time the Powell St. escalators were all operational? How about any of the elevators? Old escalators and elevators simply need to be

... more

Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle

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3. Make all trains 10 cars during commute hours

With new trains on the way, there’s no good reason why all commute trains shouldn’t be 10 cars long. Anyone who’s tried to cram onto an eight-car train at 8:30 a.m. knows that this is a pressing need — and hopefully a very do-able change.

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3. Make all trains 10 cars during commute hours

With new trains on the way, there’s no good reason why all commute trains shouldn’t be 10 cars long. Anyone who’s tried to cram onto an eight-car train at

... more

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

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2. Or, barring that, add more commuter special trains

Pleasant Hill and Montgomery trains in between the usual commuter trains are a godsend. A commuter special every 10 minutes would be a huge improvement to the commute crush, even if they were just eight-car trains.

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2. Or, barring that, add more commuter special trains

Pleasant Hill and Montgomery trains in between the usual commuter trains are a godsend. A commuter special every 10 minutes would be a huge improvement to

... more

Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle

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1. More trains. Period.

There’s nothing that would increase rider satisfaction more than this. Particularly during peak hours, trains should be coming every five minutes. Sure, trains would still be full, but they’d be manageable. There's enough bond money to increase the number of trains from 23 to 30 per hour, but BART says it needs an extra $1.6 billion to order the 306 additional cars it wants. So if you thought you were done voting on BART measures, a new one may be on the horizon already.

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1. More trains. Period.

There’s nothing that would increase rider satisfaction more than this. Particularly during peak hours, trains should be coming every five minutes. Sure, trains would still be full, but

... more

Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

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The ultimate pipe dream: A second Transbay Tube

We get it. This one’s not happening. But how amazing would it be if when there was a problem in the tube, the entire system didn’t grind to a halt? Routing trains in and out of San Francisco by multiple tubes would circumvent so many problems.

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The ultimate pipe dream: A second Transbay Tube

We get it. This one’s not happening. But how amazing would it be if when there was a problem in the tube, the entire system didn’t grind to a halt? Routing

... more

Photo: Kim Komenich, SFC

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Fear has been higher on public transportation lately after a string of crimes on Muni and BART.

In March, a stranger set a 50-year-old woman's hair on fire while she rode the 9-San Bruno Muni line. A month later, a mob of teens swarmed a BART train at the Oakland Coliseum station, assaulting passengers and running off with their belongings.

After the violent mob attack, BART interim Police Chief Jeffrey Jennings declared a state of emergency for his department. The announcement came after a sudden spike in crime on public transportation, which has increased 22 percent in 2017 compared to the same period last year.

While San Francisco may be seeing a spike in incidents on public transportation, a report from SFMTA asserts that crime on public transportation has actually been decreasing in the past three years.

An interactive map shows an average of five police-reported crimes per 100,00 miles in March of this year (the last-reported month). Comparatively, 2014 and 2015 saw an average of 9.2 and 8.8 crimes per 100,000 miles. The data includes incidents committed both on and off Muni vehicles, a change in reporting methodology that was enacted in January 2013.

Larceny – the taking of personal property without the use of force – accounts for the majority of crime on public transportation from year to year, according to SFMTA.

The report claims that a "boost in police presence at stations and on vehicles" accounts for the decreased crime rates. SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose added that Muni has increased security with "data-driven policing, advancements in video technology, and our ongoing communication network between MTA staff and SFPD."

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While an op-ed in Streets Blog SF claimed that the decrease in crime could be chalked up to a decrease in ridership, the number of riders has actually risen by about 25,000 since 2013, according to figures supplied by Rose.

Although crime has decreased on Muni over the years, officials are still shaken by the slew of recent incidents. Following the mob robbery in April, BART added extra police controls and enacted emergency staffing levels.

As for how to nip this crime wave in the bud, many officials at an April 27 meeting called for a crackdown on fare evasion. Read The Chronicle's full coverage of the meeting here.

Read Michelle Robertson’s latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

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