The groundbreaking, youth-driven Not One More initiative that addresses harassment and violence on BART expanded with the launch of Phase II in August 2023 with new strategies to build a culture of supporting youth and families when riding transit. Read about Phase I of the campaign.
Not One More is an initiative in partnership with community-based organizations and BART to end violence and harassment. The second phase of the award-winning initiative places emphasis on enabling people to have a greater sense of empowerment in a harassment situation and exhibits tools that fellow riders can use to provide support when harassment occurs.
The new tools being offered to the public are the product of a partnership between BART, The Betti Ono Foundation, and The Unity Council’s Latina Mentorship and Achievement Program, who worked together to engage local high school and college students about their experiences on transit and their ideas for action-based strategies to enhance safety and support people experiencing harassment on transit.
The approach for the second phase of Not One More is to deepen the reach and impact of the ongoing work to increase safety at BART.
The Betti Ono Foundation, led by Anyka Howard, developed an Arts & Civic Engagement Fellowship, offering paid opportunities for transitional-age youth (ages 16-24) to guide this phase of the initiative and to amplify the voices of youth. The fellows attended design workshops in Spring 2023 and curated the theme, “Our Story of Courage,” for this phase of Not One More to educate the public about safe bystander intervention as a method of preventing and interrupting harassment and other safety tips for riding BART.
Phase II includes:
- 3 distinct art posters outlining safety tips.
- 300 train car posters and 60 station posters.
- New bystander intervention cards are now available to riders to discreetly pass to people to prompt bystander intervention actions and report harassment when it is taking place.
- These cards are now available at all Station Agent booths and are being distributed by community partners.
- On September 11, 2023 BART began to size trains for safety and run shorter trains to eliminate empty cars, where youth and other riders fear being targeted for harassment and assault. The schedule change also increased service on nights and weekends, so riders spend less time waiting on platforms.
Empowering Local Youth
“A big part of harassment is the devaluing of another person,” said Karol Suarez, a senior at Oakland School of the Arts. “And in this culture, we often don’t value people’s voices.”
This past spring, Suarez served as a youth fellow guiding this latest phase of Not One More and helped develop the theme, “Our Story of Courage.”
“This project understands the importance of making people feel comfortable on public transit, a place that is meant for everyone,” said Suarez. “Being a part of this has made me hopeful; it shows me we’re not that messed up as a society. Even this small group is making a big impact.”
The Unity Council, under the leadership of Gabby Guzman, helped connect BART with youth and offered social-emotional support to the fellows throughout the process.
BART’s Chief Communications Officer Alicia Trost and BART Art Program Manager Jennifer Easton led the effort for BART and began the process of internalizing the initiative at BART to involve frontline workers, including Station Agents, Train Operators, Ambassadors, and Crisis Intervention Specialists.
The Not One More initiative first launched in 2021, and rider survey data has indicated the project is helping reduce harassment and improve the perception of safety on BART. The launch of the second phase of the initiative coincides with BART boosting its safety presence on trains as a direct response to rider concerns.
New Art Posters to Educate the Public
The latest phase includes a powerful new art campaign by local artist Safi Kolozsvari Regalado that appeared throughout the BART system, including onboard trains and in stations. Regalado worked with youth fellows to conceptualize and design the artwork, which was inspired by the long tradition of Chicano-style ballpoint pen art. The posters depict steps people can take if they witness or experience harassment and promote the use of the BART Watch app for reporting, Train Operator call boxes on every train car, and suggestions, such as sitting in the first train car near the Train operator.
Oakland-based artist Mike Nicholls brought a cohesive graphic art design to all Phase II collateral and digital media assets for the campaign.
Sizing Trains for Safety
During youth and public engagement, BART received feedback that when train cars are empty or near empty, it makes people feel less safe as it encourages anti-social behavior and targeted harassment and crime. BART recommends people who feel unsafe sit in the first car near the Train Operator.
Beginning September 11, BART began to reduce the likelihood of empty cars by running the typically least crowded trains shorter. The concept of active spaces as safe spaces will help enhance the safety of all riders and will increase the presence of BART safety staff as there will be fewer cars on each train.
Framework to Evaluate Safety Metrics
BART partnered with the Alliance for Girls, one of the original leads of Phase 1 of Not One More, in 2023 and 2024 to develop the first youth-informed evaluation framework focusing on rider safety as it pertains to harassment and assault prevention and intervention on BART. A series of Community Learning Exchanges with intergenerational (youth and adults) participation from vulnerable communities were held in 2024 to guide the framework. The work is rooted in how youth define safety in Alliance for Girls’ research, and draws from learnings, input, and recommendations from youth themselves on how best BART can collect data and measure impact of its initiatives to create actionable and effective policy and processes around sexual harassment and assault presentation and intervention.
Model for Other Transit Agencies
Not One More, first launched in April 2021 in collaboration with Alliance for Girls, the Betti Ono Foundation, Black Girls Brilliance, and the Unity Council’s Latina Mentorship and Achievement Program, is recognized within the transit industry as a model for other agencies to follow to address harassment and assault through a community-led process. The actions BART took during the first phase of the initiative are now considered best practices for working with youth, cultural strategists, and community partners to tackle harassment in a space outside of law enforcement.
In 2022, SB 1161, authored by Senator Dave Min and sponsored by Stop AAPI Hate, was signed into law requiring the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University to create a survey tool to be made available to California transit agencies to measure rider demographic information and experiences with safety, including street harassment on transit. Phase I of BART’s Not One More initiative was cited as an inspiration for the legislation, and in 2023, BART volunteered to be a pilot agency for the Street Harassment on Transit Survey being developed. View the results of the street harassment survey on our data page.
Cultural Strategy to Disrupt Harm
Not One More uses youth participatory action research, cultural strategy, art, and policy change to create means of empowerment and dismantle the systems that have enabled violence and harassment.
Quotes from leaders of Phase II of this Initiative:
Anyka Howard, founder and CEO of the Betti Ono Foundation:
“We recognize that talking about these issues with the public is going to challenge the status quo, it’s going to challenge norms, and it’s going to challenge our culture – in the Bay Area and beyond. This is a shared issue and experience that affects not only those targeted, but also the people perpetuating that harm, as well as the people who witness it, hear about it, or see it. We want to break up these harmful systems and replace them with a worldview of humanity. Our goal is to evolve and transform the culture of ridership on BART, and through this project, other transportation systems.”
Gaby Guzman, Latinx Mentoring and Achievement Coordinator of Youth Services with The Unity Council:
“Youth voices are consistently silenced, particularly when speaking on issues impacting them.. Youth leading this conversation is essential. Empowering them to take up space and to use their voice will not only support the overall goals of Not One More but generate a sense of transformative agency in their own lives.”
Safi Kolozsvari Regalado, Betti Ono Artist-in-Residence, San Francisco based artist:
“I hope that the realness of this campaign and my artwork help the viewer relate to the illustrations and maybe even see themselves or someone they know in them. All my work is done by hand, and every person in the campaign artwork are actual members of the community – the girls were all high school students in Oakland, for example, and the Train Operator is a BART Train Operator. I’ve enjoyed comic art since I was a kid, but I landed on the comic aesthetic for this project because of the feedback I received from youth in our design workshop. They said it would be cool if I could give the girls and women depicted in the artwork a sort of superhero quality, and my mind instantly went to comics.”
Franchesca Rodriguez, Betti Ono Transit Justice Community Engagement Facilitator and graduate student at UC Berkeley’s Department of City & Regional Planning:
“My journey into transit justice has stemmed from witnessing transformative power by providing young people with the tools they need to succeed, including advocating for a safe and reliable transportation system. I wanted to be a part of Not One More because I believe that the safety and security of every individual should be a nonnegotiable priority. Not One More is a call to create a world where youth can freely move without fear or deep hesitation while using public transportation.”
Alicia Trost, Chief Communications Officer at BART:
“As BART is working to rebuild ridership and gain trust within the communities we serve, focusing on the safety of youth helps us explore ways to improve the safety for all riders. When speaking to students during this phase of engagement, we frequently heard the youth had never used BART because their parents wouldn’t let them. It gets to the deep-rooted fears people have about transit. As mobility providers, we must do better. We can’t be successful if we can’t meet the basic needs of our most vulnerable riders. This work is pivotal for ridership recovery as we reimagine service and roll out new data-driven approaches to safety.”
Jennifer Easton, Art Program Manager at BART:
“The ability to craft this initiative with artists playing a key role in giving voice to the work of the youth and to bring the message to our community of riders is a central tenet of the BART Art Program, which brings artists to the table as problem solvers. Whether the question is rider safety, enhancing station environments and access, connecting with local communities, or looking at sustainability with a creative lens, artists can serve a critical role in delivering important solutions for transit. Collaborating on the Not One More initiative with community partners that understand the importance of art as a tool for achieving the critical goals around safety for youth demonstrates the value of nontraditional strategies.”
Measuring the Effectiveness of Phase II Posters
To measure the change in awareness of harassment and understand the impact of Phase II of the Not One More campaign on BART riders, BART conducted an online random sample survey between October 26, 2023, and November 6, 2023. 7,598 current riders were invited to participate in the survey via email and 1,997 responded (26% response rate).
- 30% recalled seeing the posters
- 49% said they are more aware of harassment violence
- 55% said they know what to do if they witness harassment on BART
- 47% said they know where to get help if they experience harassment on BART (the poster that advises reporting inappropriate behavior on BART Watch scored the highest at 51%)
- 44% said they know more about harassment impact on people
- 28% feel safer riding BART
- Based on demographics: posters successfully increased awareness among male, non-white, younger, and lower income riders
- Females, POC, younger riders are more likely to experience gender-based harassment
What riders recalled about the posters
- Don't hassle women?!
- Women Safety Suggestions
- The anti-sexual harassment comic
- Unacceptable behavior
- Story about us
- Our story of courage
- Sexual harassment (help a friend)
- The one about helping the girl that needed help