Bay Area Rapid Transit is a privately owned company

As a San Franciscan, i have ridden bart countless times, and seen many freaky things. As a photographer and filmmaker, i have been hassled by the bart cops since the 9-11 law went through as have others. Why a private company uses peace officers instead of security guards is odd to me, since we pay both for the maintenance of the grid, the actual fare and then pay these police officers to harass and annoy us. I am not certain how many other private companies are allowed to do this. Check out this website, http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_cznqfc.
It shows that B.A.R.T. is a private company, also when I called the office of B.A.R.T., I got the run around forever until I was able to talk to someone with guts and honesty who admitted that this was true. Most people do not know that this is true so it is a pretty big deal.

Category:

News & Politics

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• analysis
• train
• bay
• area
• rapid
• transit
• police

[MrTroydninja]

@BuckViddy2 How do you know that?

[BuckViddy2]

Private companies are contracted by governments all the time. It's not unusual or uncommon.

[mikokat]

Yeah...BART is classified as a "Special-Purpose Transit District" and is funded through tax and fare dollars and government grants.

[XDvision]

Umm yeah dude it's not a private company..it's public transportation... I'm 16 and everyone knows this... Are you from around Here??

[jazzman1970]

Yes they can do it stupid ! They are the Popo just like Sfpd.

[kp1985]

So tell me, why does someone who tries to come off as being so smart say something so stupid? BART is NOT a privately owned company. It is a government entity, and is funded by cities, counties, the state, and even the federal government. I dont know of many "private businesses" that are funded that way. The BART Police department has the same authority as any other police department in the State. They can "harrass" you on or off BART property...

Agree with it/like it or not, its a fact.

[funkrev]

BART police always used to issue me parking citations when I parked my car at the Balboa Park BART station.. those punks!! Can't remember if they gave me a ticket.. not sure if they were allowed to do that or not.