The BART strike is everything that is wrong with transit executives

According to figures provided to us under a state Public Records Act request, BART spent an estimated $1.2 million on outside consultants brought in to help management with the negotiations.

About a third of the consulting fees - $430,997 - went to Veolia Transportation, the firm headed by BART's lead negotiator, Thomas Hock. He wasn't around for the final deal - Veolia's contract lapsed before it was all over, and BART didn't renew once it became clear he'd somehow missed the infamous provision that would have granted workers six weeks a year of paid family leave.
The No. 2 consultant, Bruce Conhain from Gummerson and Conhain in Fairfield - who took the lead after Hock's exit - received $247,000. Three other consultants - Rumi Ueno, and the firms Beeson, Tayer and Bodine, and Bintelx Inc. - were paid roughly $100,000 each for services that ranged from legal work to creating budget models.
BART also paid $165,680 to a pair of outside public-relations types, Rick Rice and Sam Singer, to help sell the district's story.
BART picked up the wages for union negotiators because federal labor law requires it. Nearly three months after our initial information request, however, BART still can't tell us how much each of those 53 union negotiators was paid.
What we do know is that 28 of them worked full time on the talks during the final six months of negotiations. At an average salary of $70,000 a year, that would put the cost of their participation during that period alone at close to $1 million.
Even small items added up during the drawn-out talks. Agency records show that BART General Manager Grace Crunican and her in-house bargaining team spent $4,704 on takeout food - including one pizza order for $271.
The biggest winner: Nick's Plaza Cafe of Oakland, which got $2,598 in sandwich orders.
BART spent millions during 9 months of contract talks - SFGate