Transit Systems Studied for Attack Vulnerability

Bay Area rail and bus systems carry 1.3 million weekday passengers, making them vital economic arteries--and an inviting target for terrorists.

“Terrorists clearly have identified public transportation ... as a killing field,” said Brian Michael Jenkins, a security expert who co-wrote a new international study to glean the best counterterrorism tactics from Bay Area, London and Tokyo transit systems.

Issued by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University, the study praised BART’s readiness for attacks but criticized the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s light rail and bus lines for being “less concerned with the thought of a terrorist threat than such issues as fare avoidance and graffiti.”