Grace Crunican

Prior to his appointment at BART, Powers worked as an executive for the Seattle Department of Transportation and the Baltimore City Department of Transportation. In addition to his experience in other cities, Powers has seven years under his belt working at BART. 

Starting Monday, Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART, began to enhance public safety by mandating police and fare inspectors to work extra hours in the service’s busiest areas in order to “bolster their visible presence and enhance public safety,” according to a BART press release.

The board voted to update its 1,500 analog surveillance cameras in stations, parking lots and garages to high-definition digital models. These updates would cost approximately $15 million and take 4 1/2 years to install.

Hoping to avoid a repeat of BART labor strikes that immobilized the Bay Area in 2013, union leaders and BART officials announced a tentative labor agreement Monday — more than one year before the current contract expires.

In light of the death of two BART workers last year, the state division of occupational safety and health, or Cal/OSHA, has fined Bay Area Rapid Transit $210,000 for three “willful and serious” violations of worker safety.

BART and labor unions met Monday to discuss the costs of a medical leave proposal in the contract they agreed upon earlier this month, following BART’s statement on Friday that it intends to return to the bargaining table to review this provision.

BART’s two largest unions voted on Friday to approve a contract agreement that would both increase workers’ wages and make changes ensuring the transit system’s financial sustainability.

BART officials and unions reached a tentative agreement late Monday evening, bringing a four day strike to a close and returning the daily commute of about 400,000 riders back to normal.

BART workers announced they will go on strike Friday, after they were unable to reach an agreement on a new contract during negotiations with the Bay Area transit system.

Unions representing BART employees continued to negotiate with BART management late into Wednesday night, failing to come to an agreement as of press time but temporarily averting a transportation logjam that would have forced about 400,000 Bay Area commuters to find alternative transportation on Thursday.