But for Bay Area Rapid Transit, this is an embarrassing chapter in its recent, troubled relationship with the media and public. Apparently, in the wake of the ‘Unanimous’ protests at BART stations and the ensuing cell service disruption, BART hired a car service to ferry ‘supporters’ to press conferences, where they read from scripts and spoke out in favor of the actions taken by BART.
But my question is this: BART controls a massive public transit network. Why the privately operated car service?
From the Bay Citizen:
BART will no longer make plans to transport supporters to press conferences or write scripts for them to read from, board president Bob Franklin said Wednesday.
The Bay Citizen revealed Tuesday that BART recruited loyal riders, prepared a script and hired a car service to take them to and from a press conference intended to sway public opinion and media coverage in response to a planned Aug. 11 protest.
“I think it’s inappropriate and unnecessary,” said Franklin. “I’ve spoken to our general manager and we’re not going to do this again; we’re not going to transport people or script responses.”
Read the full article here.