B. R. Stokes

{{Short description|Mass transportation specialist and advocate (1924-2013)}} '''Bill "Billy" Richard Stokes''' (February 20, 1924 – May 15, 2013) was a mass transportation specialist and advocate most famous for being the General Manager of the [[Bay Area Rapid Transit|San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit]] (BART) District during the initial construction and start of service of BART.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart>{{cite web|url = https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2013/news20130517|title = BART's first employee, former General Manager B. R. Stokes, passes away|last = Healy|first = Michael|publisher = [[Bay Area Rapid Transit]]}}</ref><ref name=stokes-obit-sfgate>{{cite news|url = http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/B-R-Stokes-ex-BART-general-manager-dies-4548996.php|title = B.R. Stokes, ex-BART general manager, dies|last = Nolte|first = Carl|date = May 25, 2013|accessdate = June 14, 2017|newspaper = [[San Francisco Chronicle]]}}</ref><ref name=stokes-obit-wapo>{{cite news|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/br-stokes-transportation-specialist-dies-at-89/2013/06/06/ebcf75d2-cdea-11e2-8f6b-67f40e176f03_story.html|title = B.R. Stokes, transportation specialist, dies at 89|date = June 6, 2013|accessdate = June 23, 2017|newspaper =[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref name=stokes-obit-ebt>{{cite news|url = https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2013/05/29/barts-first-employee-former-general-manager-b-r-bill-stokes-dies-at-89/|title = BART's first employee, former General Manager B.R. (Bill) Stokes, dies at 89|newspaper = [[East Bay Times]]|date = May 29, 2013|accessdate = June 23, 2017}}</ref><ref name=stokes-obit-apta>{{cite web|url = http://www.apta.com/Pages/APTA-First-CEO-Dies.aspx|title = APTA First CEO Dies|publisher = [[American Public Transportation Association]]|accessdate = June 24, 2017}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==

Stokes was born in 1924 to Robert A. and Ethel Stokes in Anadarko, Oklahoma. His father was a traveling salesman dealing mostly in insurance. The family moved to Oklahoma City when Bill was small then to Shawnee, Oklahoma where he attended school, graduating from Shawnee High School in 1941 and was senior class president. After serving as an Ensign in the navy aboard a destroyer in the Pacific<ref name=stokes-obit-ebt/><ref name=stokes-obit-bart/> he attended the [[University of Oklahoma]] then the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name=stokes-obit-ebt/>

== Career ==

=== Before BART ===

During [[World War II]], he worked in the [[United States Navy]] on a destroyer.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=divided-loyalties>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NsRgNh35XPEC|title = Divided Loyalties: Whistle-blowing at BART|author = Robert Morris Anderson| year=1980 | isbn=9780931682094 }}</ref>{{rp|34}} The destroyer he worked on was involved in the Japanese surrender at [[Sasebo, Nagasaki|Sasebo]], [[Japan]].<ref name=stokes-obit-ebt/>

From approximately 1946 to 1958, Stokes worked as the Urban Affairs writer for the ''[[Oakland Tribune]]'', where he wrote articles about transit, city planning and urban affairs, some of which argued for a better mass transit solution for the San Francisco Bay Area.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=stokes-obit-sfgate/><ref name=divided-loyalties/>{{rp|34}}

=== Bay Area Rapid Transit ===

Stokes joined the Bay Area Rapid Transit District as its first employee, in the role of Director of Information. In that role, his primary responsibility was to develop and carry out a comprehensive information program about BART's rapid transit plan and its benefits for the Bay Area.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/> His information campaign has been credited as a contributing factor to the BART construction and funding plan being approved by voters in the three-county Proposition A referendum on November 6, 1962.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=stokes-obit-sfgate/><ref name=stokes-obit-ebt/>

In 1963, Stokes became General Manager of the BART District, an appointment that would generate controversy due to his lack of technical and engineering background.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=divided-loyalties/>{{rp|33–35}} A disorganized and inexperienced Board of Directors led to Stokes having relatively free rein in his initial years of running BART, and he was supported by Adrien Falk, a San Francisco businessman and the first BART Board President. In particular, Falk's support helped Stokes thrive at his job despite the controversy over his lack of technical background.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=stokes-obit-sfgate/><ref name=divided-loyalties/>{{rp|35–38}}

In 1969, under the leadership of Stokes, BART was able to get the California state legislature to approve BART's request for an additional $150 million in funds, by levying a 0.5% sales tax in the BART counties.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=bart-begins>{{cite web|url = https://www.bart.gov/about/history/history2|title = A History of BART: The Project Begins|accessdate = May 28, 2017|publisher = [[Bay Area Rapid Transit|BART]]}}</ref>

BART began service on September 11, 1972, initially only serving the East Bay, while Stokes was still General Manager.<ref name=sfgate-blog>{{cite web|url = http://blog.sfgate.com/parenting/2011/05/19/the-birth-of-bart-photos-from-the-1960s-and-70s/|title =The birth of BART: Photos from the 1960s and 70s|last = Hartlaub|first = Peter|date = May 19, 2011|accessdate = June 13, 2017|publisher = SFGate}}</ref><ref name=bart-40-years>{{cite web|url = https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/40thFactsheet_v1.pdf|title = Forty BART Achievements Over the Years|accessdate = June 14, 2017|publisher = Bay Area Rapid Transit}}</ref><ref name=stokes-obit-bart/> A few weeks later (on October 18, 1972), Stokes accompanied United States President [[Richard Nixon]] and his wife [[Pat Nixon]] on a ride from [[San Leandro station]] to [[Lake Merritt Station]].<ref name=sfgate-blog/><ref name=stokes-obit-bart/>

Stokes came increasingly under fire for BART safety issues and financing problems. In February 1972, three engineers went public with safety concerns they had about BART's [[automatic train control]] (ATC) system that had been contracted out to [[Westinghouse Electric Corporation]], after several months of raising the issues internally. In March, the three engineers were fired, with Stokes believed to have been the key decision-maker in the firing.<ref name="Ethics Center">{{cite web |url= http://www.onlineethics.org/Topics/ProfPractice/Exemplars/AwardWinners/BARTcase.aspx |author= Stephen Unger |title= The BART Case |publisher= The Online Ethics Center for engineering and science |date= April 29, 2010 |accessdate= March 15, 2017 |archive-date= July 28, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200728224138/https://www.onlineethics.org/Topics/ProfPractice/Exemplars/AwardWinners/BARTcase.aspx |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref name=engineering-ethics>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OAwkDwAAQBAJ|title = Engineering Ethics|accessdate = June 15, 2017|last = Davis|first = Michael| date=15 May 2017 | isbn=9781351940153 }}</ref>{{rp|118–143}}

Subsequently, some of these concerns would prove well-founded as BART had a number of ATC-related accidents and near-accidents, leading to investigations by the California Public Utilities Commission, the National Transportation Safety Board, a separate blue ribbon panel, and others.<ref>{{cite book|title = Safety Methodology in Rail Rapid Transit System Development: Special Study|publisher = [[National Transportation Safety Board]]|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=a7b8vQAACAAJ|date = August 1, 1973|accessdate = June 14, 2017}}</ref><ref name=ota-atc-rrt>{{cite web|url = https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk3/1976/7614/7614.PDF|title = Automatic Train Control in Rapid Rail Transit|date = May 1, 1976|accessdate = June 14, 2017|publisher = [[Office of Technology Assessment]]}}</ref><ref name="KPFA documentary">{{cite web | url = https://archive.org/details/pra-BC1167 |author= Bill Northwood |title= What is BART, and why are we saying such terrible things about it? |publisher= KPFA Pacifica Radio |page= 5 min : 00 sec |date= November 29, 1972 | accessdate = March 15, 2017 }}</ref><ref name="nytimes Dec1972">{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/10/archives/troubles-beset-transit-system-in-san-francisco-bay-area.html |title= Troubles Beset Transit System in San Francisco Bay Area|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|date= December 9, 1972 | accessdate = March 15, 2017 }}</ref><ref name=divided-loyalties/>{{rp|233–235}}

In May 1974, against a backdrop of low ridership, financial difficulties, and safety-related controversy, Stokes resigned from his position at BART after legislators made his departure a precondition for providing additional funding for BART.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=stokes-obit-sfgate/><ref name=stokes-obit-wapo/><ref name=stokes-obit-ebt/>

=== Subsequent work in mass transit ===

After leaving BART, Stokes became executive director of the newly founded [[American Public Transportation Association]] (APTA) (initially known as the American Public Transit Association) headquartered in [[Washington, D.C.]] in 1974.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=stokes-obit-apta/><ref name=stokes-obit-wapo/> This was at a time when many American cities were considering building mass transit systems similar to BART, and the [[National Mass Transportation Assistance Act]], that would provide federal funding to cover part of the operating costs and construction costs of mass transit, was just becoming law (building on the [[Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964]] and [[Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1970]]). Under the leadership of Stokes, APTA pushed for cities to build out their mass transit systems and lobbied governments to provide funding for transit.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/> In recognition of his work, APTA inducted Stokes in 1996 into its Hall of Fame.<ref name=stokes-obit-apta/>

After leaving APTA in 1980, Stokes worked for nine years at American Transportation Enterprises.<ref name=stokes-obit-wapo/> He then became Director General of Saudi Arabian Public Transport Co.,<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=stokes-obit-wapo/> where he opened bus service in seven cities in [[Saudi Arabia]] and intercity service for four more.<ref name=stokes-obit-sfgate/>

== Death ==

Stokes died on May 15, 2013, at his daughter's home in [[Sammamish, Washington]], at the age of 89.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=stokes-obit-wapo/><ref name=stokes-obit-sfgate/><ref name=stokes-obit-ebt/> The cause of death was reported as congestive heart failure.<ref name=stokes-obit-wapo/> He was pre-deceased by his wife Joan (who died in 2011 in their home in [[Reston, Virginia]]) and survived by four children and six grandchildren.<ref name=stokes-obit-bart/><ref name=stokes-obit-wapo/>

== See also ==

* [[Richard A. White]] * [[Thomas Margro]] * [[Dorothy Dugger]] * [[Grace Crunican]] * [[Carole Ward Allen]]

== References ==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, B. R.}} [[Category:Bay Area Rapid Transit]] [[Category:1924 births]] [[Category:2013 deaths]]