BART schedules 'telephone town hall' meeting for FY2016 budget

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) plans to hold its first-ever telephone town hall meeting and webcast later this week for the proposed fiscal-year 2016 budget.

To take place on May 7, the meeting will allow participants to ask questions via telephone or submit written questions from a computer. BART officials will also conduct a few polls to gauge the public's priorities and provide an overview of a planned 3.4 percent fare increase scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2016.

"Earlier this year we held a Twitter Townhall and it proved to be a great medium to quickly provide answers to some of our most frequently asked questions," said BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost in a statement. "A telephone townhall is another way to provide easy and convenient access to BART staff."

BART's combined operating and capital budget for FY2016 is nearly $1.6 billion, BART officials said.