Bay Area Rapid Transit
| Bay Area Rapid Transit | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Locale | San Francisco Bay Area |
| Transit type(s) | Rapid transit |
| Began operation | September 11, 1972 |
| System length | miles ( km) |
| No. of lines | 5 |
| No. of stations | 43 (1 under construction) |
| Daily ridership | 339,359 (avg. weekday exits, FY2007)[1] |
| Track gauge | 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) |
| Operator | San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District |
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) is a heavy rail public rapid-transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The acronym BART is pronounced as a word, not as individual letters.
BART today
System details
BART comprises miles ( km) of track and 43 stations. The system uses a 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad rail gauge, as opposed to the 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge predominantly found in the United States. The broad gauge was selected to provide greater stability in part due to the planned Golden Gate Bridge route and to provide wider seats, aisles , and a smoother ride for the lightweight aluminum and fiberglass cars.[2] Others allege political, regulatory and economic considerations.[3] Some critics point out that the broad gauge has very little technical merit, but does act as a very effective barrier to use for any other rail system, freight or passenger.[4] However, dual gauge axles would allow both passenger trains and freight trains built to the BART loading gauge to run on both track gauges.
Most heavy and light rail systems in North America operate with lightweight cars on standard gauge track (some exceptions: Philadelphia Market–Frankford Line & Toronto subway and RT). The non-standard gauge makes new fleet procurement extremely expensive because the trains (and even the track-building equipment) must be custom-built instead of using common designs for standard gauge ; for example, it is 40 percent less expensive to procure a TGV trainset (which includes additional amenities such as restrooms and a cafe) than it is to procure a proprietary BART trainset of the same capacity.[5]
Trains can achieve a centrally-controlled maximum speed of 80 mph (128.7 km/h) and provide a systemwide average speed of 33 mph (53.11 km/h) with twenty-second station dwell times. Trains operate at a minimum length of three cars per California Public Utilities Commission guidelines to a maximum length of 10 cars, spanning the entire feet ({{formatnum:{{rnd/+|700*0.3048
|Expression error: unrecognised punctuation character "{"|}}}} m) length of a platform.[6] At its maximum length of feet
({{formatnum:{{rnd/+|710*0.3048
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the United States. The system also features car widths of feet ({{formatnum:{{rnd/+|10.5*0.3048
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feet ({{formatnum:{{rnd/+|394*0.3048
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Current is delivered to the trains over a third rail, the position of which alternates relative to the context of the train. Inside stations, the third rail is always on the side furthest away from the passenger platforms. This design feature eliminates the danger of a passenger either falling directly on the third rail, or stepping onto it to climb back to the platform should they fall off . On ground-level trackways, the third rail alternates from one side of the track to the other, providing breaks in the third rail to allow for emergency evacuations across trackways.
Underground tunnels, aerial structures and the transbay tube have evacuation walkways and passageways to allow for train evacuation without exposing passengers to easy, inadvertent contact with the third rail, which is located as far away from these walkways as possible. The voltage over the third rail is 1,000 V DC; as a result, there are notices throughout the system warning passengers of its danger. In addition, BART posts notices inside each train car warning of the third rail and the four paddle-like rail contact shoes protruding from the underside of each car by the rail wheel trucks.
Many of the original system 1970s era BART stations especially the aerial stations feature simplistic Brutalist architecture.
Hours of operation and frequencies
The BART system consists of five lines, but most of the network consists of more than one line on the same track. Trains on each line typically run every fifteen minutes on weekdays and twenty minutes during the evenings, weekends and holidays; however, since a given station might be served by as many as four lines, it could have service as frequently as every three to four minutes. As of 2006, BART service begins around 4:00 a.m. on weekdays, 6:00 a.m. on Saturdays, and 8:00 a.m. on Sundays. Service ends every day near midnight with station closings timed to the last train at station. Two of the five lines, the Richmond and Fremont lines, do not have night (after 7 p.m.) or Sunday service, but all stations remain accessible by transfer from the other lines.[8] All-Nighter Network service is available when BART is closed. All but six BART stations are served (as well as eight Caltrain stations). BART tickets are not accepted on these buses, and each of the four bus systems charge their own fare, which can be up to $3.50; a four-system ride can cost as much as $9.50 as of 2007.[9]
Current lines
Unlike most other rapid transit and rail systems around the world, BART lines are generally not referred to by shorthand designations. Although the lines have been colored consistently on BART system maps for more than a decade, they are only occasionally referred to officially by color names, and only rarely referred to in this way by members of the public (e.g., the “Red Line”).[10] Each line is generally identified on maps and schedules by the names of its termini (e.g., “Richmond – Daly City Line”). Although terminal stations have seldom changed over the years, referring to routes by termini has contributed to rider confusion, as each incremental onward extension changes the line name.
Trains are merely referred to by their destination or destinations by train operators and BART personnel (for example, “Richmond train” or “Richmond-bound train”). Electronic destination signs add “San Francisco” to the destination of any westbound transbay train or eastbound train west of San Francisco to make it clear that it will be passing through the city, and “SFO Airport” (or just “SFO”) is added to any train going to the airport. This can cause quite cumbersome destination descriptions, such as “San Francisco/Daly City train”, “San Francisco/SFO Airport/Millbrae train”, and “San Francisco/Pittsburg/Bay Point train.” Perhaps the longest such description is for trains leaving Millbrae, which say “SFO Airport/San Francisco/Dublin/Pleasanton.” With the exception of the front car electronically flashing the destination, the rest of the exterior of the fleet does not provide obvious indication regarding the line to which the car belongs. Cars from various rail yards throughout the system are intermingled to form a train. However, newer legacy cars that have not undergone refurbishment may have a diminutive color decal that indicates its car number and its historical line membership. Since all station platforms are equipped with displays indicating the destination of each train, as well as voice announcements as trains approach the station and begin boarding, this does not pose a big problem.[citation needed]
BART makes aggressive use of interlining, where multiple lines merge and share the same stations and tracks. Four lines share the Transbay Tube, all San Francisco stations, the Daly City Station and West Oakland Station. As a result, there are times of significant congestion during peak hours as multiple lines vie for shared resources. Only a maximum frequency of 4½ trains per hour per line can be achieved after headways and dwell times are accounted for. The lack of passing tracks or sidings throughout this quadruple-interlining section makes for very challenging recoveries from traffic delays. San Francisco- and Peninsula-bound trains from the East Bay must ensure that proper sequencing is maintained prior to entering the merged section for operations to remain smooth and without significant delays.
Defunct lines
In 1996 when the I-680/Highway 24 interchange in Walnut Creek was overhauled for construction, BART added temporary commuter train service during rush hours, which ran between South Hayward and Concord stations. The service ceased when the interchange was finished.
At the time when the BART-SFO Extension opened on June 22, 2003, there was a Millbrae - SFO Line, a shuttle line that operated every 20 minutes between Millbrae and San Francisco Airport, formerly depicted as a purple line. This line has been defunct as of February 2004. It has since been replaced by the Dublin/Pleasanton - Millbrae line that stops at SFO Station on its way to Millbrae. As of the latest service changes approved by BART's board, this service will be completely eliminated; passengers traveling from points south to the airport would have to board a train at Millbrae, travel to San Bruno, and then take a different train back to the airport.[11]
Rolling stock
BART operates four types of cars, built from three separate orders. The A cars and the B cars were built from 1968 to 1971 by Rohr Industries, an aerospace manufacturing company which had only recently made its foray into mass-transit equipment manufacturing, touting yet untested space-age design techniques. The A cars were designed as leading or trailing cars only, with a fiberglass operator's cab housing train control equipment and BART's two-way communication system. The A cars are distinguished by their aerodynamic leading edge extending feet ({{formatnum:{{rnd/+|5*0.3048
|Expression error: unrecognised punctuation character "{"|}}}} m) longer than their B- and C-car siblings. The A car can
comfortably seat 72 passengers, and under crush load, 150 passengers. B cars have no operator's cab and are used in the middle of
trains to carry passengers only; B cars have the same passenger capacity as the A cars. Currently, BART operates 137 A cars and
303 B cars. BART's livery has remained effectively unchanged throughout its history.
The C cars were built by Alstom between 1987 and 1989. The C cars have a similar fiberglass operator's cab and control and communications equipment as the A cars, but unlike A cars, do not have the aerodynamic nose design, thus allowing them to be used as middle cars as well. The dual purpose of the C cars allows faster train-size changes without having to move the train to a switching yard. C cars can comfortably seat 64 (4 seats were lost compared to the A/B cars by eliminating one row of seats to accommodate the operator’s cab and 4 additional seats were lost by eliminating one pair of seats next to the left-side forward door on each side to provide space for wheelchairs) and under crush load accommodate 150 passengers. The latest order, from Morrison-Knudsen (now Washington Group International), was for C2 cars, which are essentially the same as C cars, but feature an updated, third-generation interior with a blue/gray motif, in contrast to the previous blue and brown colors. C2 cars have flip-up seats near the left-side forward door to accommodate passengers in wheelchairs, and red lights on posts near the door to warn the hearing-impaired when the doors are about to close. C2 cars can comfortably seat 68 passengers (including the flip-up seats), and under crush load can carry 150 passengers. Since the purchase of C2s, the original C cars are also referred to as C1 cars. Currently, BART operates 150 C1 cars and 80 C2 cars.
In 1995, BART contracted with ADtranz (acquired by Bombardier Transportation in 2001) to refurbish and overhaul the 439 original Rohr A- and B-cars, updating the old vintage brown fabric seats to the less-toxic and easier-to-clean [12], light-blue polyurethane seats in use today and bringing the cars in general to the same level of interior amenities as the C2 fleet. The seven-year project was completed 2002. All BART cars have upholstered seats and nearly all cars have carpeting except for one that is being used on a trial to accommodate bicycles and other maintenance purposes. Because one of the original design goals was for all BART riders to be seated, the older cars have fewer provisions such as grab bars for standing passengers. Newer cars are more accommodating in this area; however, unlike many other urban transit systems,[citation needed] hand straps are not found on BART trains. Flip-up seats (found in C2 cars) were excluded from the refurbishment (reducing seating capacity from 72 to 68), in order to provide designated areas for luggage, wheelchairs and bicycles. Consequently, the original C (or C1) cars have the oldest interior design, as they have not been refurbished and were not purchased recently enough to have the "newer" convenience features; for example, they lack vertical grab bars in the middle of the car and do not have the in-post red lights to warn of closing doors.
The A, B, and C cars were all given 3-digit numbers originally, but when refurbished 1000 was added to the number of each individual A/B car (e.g. car 433 would become 1433). The C2 cars are numbered in the 2500 series; the C/C1 cars still have 3-digit numbers.
The cars, which all have just two doors on each side, often cause extended wait times at stations as passengers must negotiate groups of standees in order to exit or enter the train. To speed up service, BART has considered introducing new, three-door cars.[13]
Governance
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District is a special governmental agency created by the State of California consisting of Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and the City and County of San Francisco. San Mateo County, which hosts six BART stations, is not part of the BART District as its voters opted to exclude itself in the 1960s. It is governed by an elected Board of Directors with each of the nine directors representing a specific geographic area within the BART district. BART has its own police force.
While the district includes all of the cities and communities in its jurisdiction, some of these cities do not have stations on the BART system. This has caused tensions in places like Livermore which pay BART taxes but receive no BART service. In areas like Fremont, the majority of commuters do not commute in the direction that BART would take them (many Fremonters commute to San Jose, where there is currently no BART service). This would be alleviated with the completion of a BART-to-San Jose extension project.
However, some cities and towns are near enough to cities with BART stations that residents commute via a bus or car to the nearest BART station. Emeryville, for instance, has no BART service, but has a free shuttle service, the Emery-Go-Round, that takes passengers to the nearby MacArthur station. For those wishing to drive their cars to the stations instead, many BART stations offer many kinds of parking options.[14]
Cost and budget
BART's initial cost was $1.6 billion, which included both the initial system and the Transbay Tube. Adjusted for inflation, this cost would be valued at $15 billion in 2004.
In 2005, BART required nearly $300 million in subsidies after fares. About 37% of the costs went to maintenance, 29% to actual transportation operations, 24% to general administration, 8% to police services, and 4% to construction and engineering. In 2005, 53% of the budget was derived from fares, 32% from taxes, and 15% from other sources, including advertising, station retail space leasing, and parking fees.[15] BART's farebox recovery ratio of 53% is considered very high for a US public transit agency operating over such long distances with high frequency. It is often favorably compared to the ratio of the nearby Caltrain diesel commuter rail operation and is presented as an argument for an extension of BART all around the bay. However, much of it has to do with BART's fare structure, and lack of unlimited use pass.
Fares
Fares on BART are comparable to those of commuter rail systems and are higher than those of most metros, especially for long trips. The fare is based on a formula that takes into account both the length and speed of the trip. A surcharge is added for trips traveling through the Transbay Tube, to San Francisco International Airport, or through San Mateo County, which is not a BART member. Historically and up until only recently, passengers have used refillable paper-plastic-composite tickets, on which fares are stored via a magnetic strip, to enter and exit the system (a similar magnetic strip ticketing system is used on the Washington Metro in Washington, D.C). The exit faregate prints the remaining balance on the ticket each time the passenger exits the station. A paper ticket can be refilled at a ticket machine, the remaining balance on any ticket can be applied towards the purchase of a new one, or a card is simply captured by the exit gate when the balance reaches zero; multiple low value cards can be combined to create a larger value card, but only at specific ticket exchange locations which are located on some BART stations.[16] BART relies on unused ticket values, particularly of patrons discarding low-value cards, as a source of revenue, approximated by some to be as high as $9.9 million.[17]
A trial program using thin refillable plastic farecards valid for many rides, called the TransLink smart card, is currently in underway, with system wide rollout expected in 2007. The program was launched to the public in fall 2006 with rollout on AC Transit, Dumbarton Express, and Golden Gate Transit lines. The cards are not expected to be fully implemented on BART until sometime in 2007.[18][19]
The BART minimum fare of $1.40 is charged for trips under miles ( km), such as a trip between two adjacent Berkeley stations.[20] The maximum one-way fare including all possible surcharges is $7.65, the miles ( km) journey between Pittsburg/Bay Point and San Francisco International Airport. The furthest possible trip, from Pittsburg/Bay Point to Millbrae, costs less because of the additional charge added to airport trips.[21] Passengers without sufficient fare to complete their journey must use an AddFare machine to pay the remaining balance in order to exit the station. Because of the amount of the base fare, traveling between BART stations in downtown San Francisco on BART is 10 cents cheaper than the city's own light rail system, the MUNI Metro, which is generally slower in covering the same distance. However, MUNI permits around two full hours of riding, including transfers to other MUNI vehicles, whereas BART charges $1.40 for a single journey. There are various quirks in the fare system due to a subsidy being provided to riders traveling between some outlying stations. For example, for a trip from Dublin/Pleasanton to Fremont, it is less expensive to exit the station at the transfer point, Bay Fair, and re-enter the station, instead of staying on the platform, because you would get charged two $1.40 base fares instead of a $3.90 fare from end to end.
BART uses a system of five different color-coded tickets for regular fare, special fare, and discount fare to select groups as follows:[22]
- Blue tickets – General: the most common type, includes high-value discount tickets
- Red tickets – Disabled Persons and children aged 4 to 12: 62.5% discount, special ID required (children under the age of 4 ride free)
- Green tickets – Seniors age 65 or over: 62.5% discount, proof of age required for purchase
- Orange tickets – Student: special, restricted-use 50% discount ticket for students age 13-18 currently enrolled in high or middle school
- BART Plus – special high-value ticket with 'flash-pass' privileges with regional transit agencies, including
MUNI 's buses. - EZ Rider – (a new plastic "smart chip" debit card program that will eventually merge with the TransLink Phase II Program in 2007)
Unlike most transit systems in the United States, but like the MRT in Singapore, BART does not have an unlimited ride pass available and riders must pay for each ride they take. The only discount provided to the public is a 6.25% discount when "high value tickets" are purchased with fare values of $48 and $64, for prices of $45 and $60 respectively. Capitol Corridor trains sell $10 BART tickets on-board in the café cars for only $8,[23][24] resulting in a 20% discount. A 62.5% discount is provided to seniors, the disabled, and children age 5 to 12. Middle and high school students 13 to 18 may obtain a 50% discount if their school participates in the BART program; however, these tickets are intended to be used only between the students' home station and the school's station and for transportation to and from school events. However, these intended limitations are not enforced in any way and students are expected to behave on the honor system. The tickets are only usable on weekdays, a restriction that is enforced by the faregates. BART Plus tickets enjoy a last-ride bonus where if the remaining value is greater than $.05, the ticket can be used one last time for a trip of any distance. Most special discounted tickets must be purchased at selected vendors and not at ticket machines. The Bart Plus tickets can be purchased at the ticket machines. In particular, the middle and high school tickets are usually sold at the schools themselves.
Family members of BART employees, however, receive special BART passes and can ride free-of-charge upon showing their pass and photo identification to the BART station attendant. Employees of airlines that take BART to work at San Francisco International Airport receive a fare discount of 25%, but non-airline employees who do the same receive no discount.
Fares are enforced by the station agent, who monitors activity at the fare gates adjacent to the window and at other fare gates through closed circuit television and faregate status screens located in the agent's booth. All stations are staffed with at least one agent at all times. Despite this, fare fraud occasionally occurs, usually as a result of people entering and exiting through the emergency exit gate, which are permitted for non-emergency use by passengers with bikes, in wheelchairs, and carrying luggage. It also occurs using elevators, which in some stations lead from the ticketed area to the unticketed area.
There is little fare coordination between BART and surrounding agencies. Some agencies accept the BART Plus pass, which at a
fee of between $38 and $71 per month, permits pass holders to use BART and connecting buses. Most notably, AC Transit dropped out of the program due to the small amount of reimbursement they received from BART.
Another fare coordination program permits adult monthly pass holders of the
Proposals to simplify the fare structure abound. At one extreme, a flat fare that disregards distance has been proposed by BART director Joel Keller. The lesser extreme involves the implementation of a simplified structure that would create fare bands or zones. The implementation of either scheme would demote the use of distance-based fares and shift the fare-box recovery burden to the urban riders in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley and away from the suburban riders of East Contra Costa, Southern Alameda, and San Mateo Counties, where density is lowest, and consequently, operational cost is highest.[26]
Automation
BART was one of the first US systems of any size to have substantial automated operations. The trains are computer-controlled via BART's Operations Control Center (OCC) and headquarters at Lake Merritt and generally arrive with regular punctuality. Train operators are present to make announcements, close doors, and operate the train in case of unforeseen difficulties.
As a first-generation system, BART's automation system was plagued with numerous operational problems during its first years of service. Shortly before revenue service began, an on-board electronics failure caused one empty 2-car test train, dubbed the Fremont Flyer, to run off the end of the platform at its namesake station into a parking lot, though there were no injuries.[27] When revenue service began, "ghost trains", trains that show up on the computer system as being in a specific place but don't physically exist, were common, and real trains could at times disappear from the system, as a result of dew on the tracks and too low of a voltage (at 0.6 volts rather than the industry standard 15 volts) being passed through the rails for train detection.[27] Under such circumstances, trains had to be operated manually and were restricted to a speed of 25 mph (40.23 km/h).
The signaling technology used to control the trains is SelTrac, a product of Alcatel.
During this initial shakedown period, there were several episodes where trains had to be manually run and signaled via station agents communicating by telephone. This caused a great outcry in the press and led to a flurry of litigation among Westinghouse, the original controls contractor, and BART, as well as public battles between the state government (advised by University of California professor Dr. Bill Wattenburg), the federal government, and the district, but in time these problems were resolved and BART became a reliable service.[27] Ghost trains apparently still persist on the system to this day and are usually cleared quickly enough to avoid significant delay, but occasionally some can cause an extended backup of manually operated trains in the system.[28] In addition, the fare card system was easily hackable with equipment commonly found in universities, although most of these flaws have been fixed.[29]
Connecting rail and bus transit services
BART has direct connections to two regional rail services – Caltrain, which provides service between San Francisco, San Jose, and Gilroy, at the Millbrae Station, and Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, which runs from Sacramento to San Jose, at the Richmond and Coliseum/Oakland Airport stations. A third Capitol Corridor connection at the Union City station is planned as part of a larger Dumbarton Rail Corridor Project to connect Union City, Fremont, and Newark to various Peninsula destinations via the Dumbarton rail bridge.[30] BART is the managing agency for the Capitol Corridor until 2010.[31]
BART connects to San Francisco's local light rail system, the Muni Metro. The upper track level of BART's Market Street subway, originally designed for the lines to Marin County,[citation needed] was turned over to Muni and both agencies share the Embarcadero, Montgomery Street, Powell and Civic Center stations. Some Muni Metro lines connect with (or pass by) the BART system at the Balboa Park and Glen Park stations.
A number of bus services connect to BART, which, while managed by separate agencies, are integral to the successful
functioning of the system. The primary providers include the
BART is connected to Oakland International Airport via AirBART shuttle buses, which bring travelers to and from the Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART station. These buses are operated by BART and accept exact-change BART fare cards in addition to exact change. BART also connects to the San Francisco International Airport, though in this case the train actually enters the airport directly and no shuttle is necessary, although connections are available to AirTrain for those not departing or arriving from the international terminal.
Other services connect to BART including the Emery Go Round (Emeryville), WestCat (north-western Contra Costa County), Benicia Transit (Benicia), Union City Transit (Union City), and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA, in Silicon Valley).
The bus service connecting the University of California, Berkeley to the Berkeley BART station was once called Humphrey Go-BART, a spoonerism of the famous actor and director Humphrey Bogart. It has since been replaced by a number of regular AC Transit bus routes and shuttle bus routes operated by the university.
Other connecting services
BART hosts Car Sharing locations at many stations, a program pioneered by City CarShare. Riders can transfer from BART, and complete their journeys by car. BART has started to offer long-term airport parking through a third party vendor[33] at most East Bay stations. Travelers must make an on-line reservation in advance and pay the daily fee of $5.00 before they can leave their cars at the BART parking lot.
Casual carpools have formed at North Berkeley station and the area around El Cerrito Del Norte station. The lots are convenient since most carpoolers use public transit back to their final destination. However, because of how BART charges for parking, passengers cannot park at most BART lots without paying a fare.
BART history
Origins and planning
The idea of an underwater electric rail tube was first proposed in the early 1900s by Francis "Borax" Smith. It is no coincidence that much of BART's current coverage area was once served by the electrified streetcar and suburban train network called the Key System. This early twentieth century system once had regular trans-bay traffic across the lower deck of the Bay Bridge. By the 1950s the entire system had been dismantled in favor of automobiles and buses and the explosive growth of highway construction.
Proposals for the modern rapid transit system now in service began in 1946 by Bay Area business leaders concerned with increased post-war migration and growing congestion in the region. An Army-Navy task force concluded that an additional trans-bay crossing would soon be needed recommending a tunnel; however, it was not until the 1950s that the actual planning for a rapid transit system would begin. In 1951, California's legislature created the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission to study the Bay Area's long term transportation needs. The commission's 1957 final report concluded the most cost effective solution for the Bay Area's traffic woes would be to form a transit district charged with the construction and operation of a high-speed rapid rail system linking the cities and suburbs. Nine Bay Area counties were included in the initial planning commission.[12]
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District was formed by the state legislature in 1957, comprising the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo. Because Santa Clara County opted instead to first concentrate on its Expressway System, that county was not included in the original BART District.
By 1961, a final plan for the new system was sent to the boards of supervisors of each of the five counties. The system's initial plans were for four lines connecting Concord in the east, Richmond in the north-east, Fremont in the south-east, Palo Alto in the south-west, and Novato in the north-west. However, in April 1962 San Mateo County made the decision to opt out, citing high costs, existing service provided by Southern Pacific commuter trains, and concerns over shoppers leaving their county for stores in San Francisco. Marin County followed soon thereafter in May, citing engineering reports concluding the Golden Gate Bridge may not be capable of rail traffic, and the much higher cost of an undersea alternative.[34] The BART plans were finally approved by the voters of each participating county in 1962.
In the 1980s planning was underway for extension south from San Francisco, the first step being the Daly City Tailtrack Project, upon which turnaround project the San Francisco Airport Extension would later build[35]
Construction of the initial system
BART construction officially began on June 19, 1964 with President Lyndon Johnson presiding over the ground-breaking ceremonies at the miles ( km) test track between Concord and Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County.
The enormous tasks to be undertaken were daunting. System wide projects would include the construction of three underground rail stations in Oakland's populated downtown area, four stations through San Francisco’s downtown beneath Market Street, three subterranean stations in Berkeley (which paid more to bury them, in contrast to the stations in neighboring Oakland and El Cerrito), the miles ( km) tunnel through the Berkeley Hills; and of course the miles ( km) Transbay Tube between Oakland and San Francisco beneath the San Francisco Bay. Constructed in 57 sections, The Tube is the world's longest and deepest immersed tunnel and cost $180 million. It was completed in August 1969.
Peter Hall, author of the book Great Planning Disasters, describes BART as one of the sensational planning disasters of the 20th century, alongside the Anglo-French Concorde and the Sydney Opera House.[36]
Operation
BART began regular passenger service on September 11 1972, reporting more than 100,000 passengers in its first five days of operations. The Transbay Tube opened two years later on September 16 1974, thus linking each of four branches extending to Daly City, Concord, Richmond, and Fremont.
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake gave BART an unequaled opportunity to shine as a star and major hero during the catastrophe. Transportation between San Francisco and Oakland was affected drastically, with the breakage of a section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the near-total destruction of the Cypress Street Viaduct. With most of the Bay Area's major freeways either heavily damaged or destroyed, BART trains, within six hours of the original earthquake, were again operational effectively becoming the sole mode of transportation throughout the area. Even with routine service interruptions following aftershocks for inspection of tracks, over- and under-crossings, and tunnels, BART remained operational.
Expansion to the original system was made possible by a region-wide agreement under which San Mateo County was to contribute $200 million to East Bay extensions as a “buy-in” to the system without actually joining the BART district. Funds also came from many east county residents who paid into the system for bart for many years. The North-of-Concord extension opened in two phases: service to North Concord/Martinez beginning on December 16 1995, and service to Pittsburg/Bay Point beginning a year later on December 7 1996. The first service south of Daly City began on February 24 1996, to Colma. A year later on May 10 1997, service began from Bay Fair to Castro Valley and Dublin/Pleasanton.[37] Although the Dublin/Pleasanton extension is now a main trunk line, it was not originally conceived as such, but rather a shuttle service between the Dublin/Pleasanton and Bay Fair stations.[38]
BART has a unionized work force that went on strike for two weeks in 1976 in solidarity with the BART Police Officers Association. During the 1970s, BART union workers received quarterly cost of living increases. With inflation running in excess of 18%, however, this policy became expensive. In 1979, there was a 90 day lockout by management, or a strike by Union workers, depending on which side one believes. Trains were able to run during this period because one of BART's current Unions, AFSCME, was then only an informal Association known as BARTSPA, and management and BARTSPA had enough staff to keep the trains running. One result of this strike is that the Cost of Living increases were greatly reduced to an amount far below the CPI, and that such raises are only received if no other raise occurs in a particular year.
For six days in 1997, a BART strike caused a complete system-wide shutdown. This resulted in a four year contract offering a 7 percent raise, and a one time payment of $3,000 to all employees in lieu of a raise the first year. Such one time payments are becoming more common as a way to prevent the effects of compounding on wages and salaries.
Unionized BART employees, particularly professionals, saw their wages and standard of living erode during the Silicon Valley economic boom that drove up real estate prices and salaries in the Bay Area in the 1990s. In addition, BART began large scale layoffs of rank and file workers, increasing the workload on those remaining. In its 2001 negotiations, the BART unions fought for, and won, a 24 percent wage increase over four years with continuing benefits for employees and retirees.[39] Another threatened strike on July 6 2005 was averted by a last-minute agreement between management and the unions. In this agreement, Union workers received a 7% raise over four years, and paid an increase in the cost of medical insurance. The net increase (3%) is well below the current rate of inflation, which is about 4% per year (or 16 percent over the four-year contract); and also below the average private sector raise, which was 4.6% for 2006.
In October 2004, BART received the American Public Transportation Association's Outstanding Public Transportation System Award for 2004 in the category of transit systems with 30 million or more annual passenger trips.[40] BART issued announcements and began a promotional campaign declaring that it had been named Number One Transit System in America.[41] In 2006, the same industry trade group presented BART with the token AdWheel award for 'creative approaches to marketing transit' in recognition for BART's development of an iPod-based trip planner.[42]
Incidents and accidents
BART has had relatively few accidents during its nearly four decades of operation. There have been no accidents attributed to brake failure. The following incidents are known to have occurred on the BART system:
- In 1974, shortly after the system opened, a train, dubbed the Fremont Flyer, failed to stop at the Fremont terminus station and ran off the tracks and into the station parking lot. However, it was only a test run and carried no passengers. There were no injuries.
- The tube was closed from 17 January to 4 April 1979, after a train caught fire while in the Transbay Tube, injuring dozens, killing a fireman, and damaging equipment.[43] Most of the injuries were caused by inhalation of toxic smoke from the burning polyurethane in the seats, leading to a $118,000 replacement program which was completed in November 1980.[12]
- On December 17, 1992, a BART train derailed south of 12th Street station and caused a five day closure of the line.[44]
- On March 9, 2006, debris on BART tracks between Montgomery and Embarcadero stations caught fire and caused a 1.5 hour system-wide shutdown. Frustrated passengers accused BART of mishandling the incident.[45]
- On March 28 and 29, 2006, BART experienced computer glitches in its system during rush hour, which left about 35,000 commuters stranded inside trains or stations while the problem was being resolved.
- On December 1, 2006, a BART train jumped the tracks near the Oakland Wye, between 12th Street and Lake Merritt stations. There were no injuries, but one train had to be sliced into two pieces in order to remove it from the tracks to repair the damaged tracks.[46]
San Francisco International Airport extension
The $1.5 billion extension of BART southward to San Francisco International Airport's (SFO) Garage G, adjacent to the International Terminal, was opened to the public on June 22, 2003. Ground was broken on the project in November 1997, adding four new stations including the SFO station, in South San Francisco, San Bruno, and Millbrae. The Millbrae station has a cross-platform connection to Caltrain, the first of its kind west of the Mississippi.[47] The airport extension operates with two motormen (train operator) — one on each end of the train — between the San Bruno and Millbrae stations to reduce dwell time at SFO during peak hours; the train enters the SFO stub-end station under the control of the primary motorman and exits in the opposite direction towards Millbrae controlled by the secondary.
The airport extension project added miles ( km) of new railway; miles ( km) of subway, miles ( km) of aerial, and miles ( km) of at-grade track. The launch point was the Daly City Tailtrack project, which extended the tracks further south of the existing terminus in San Francisco and was completed in the 1980s.[48][49]
The project has not been without problems, however. The SFO extension has drawn far fewer riders than anticipated causing BART officials to cease claims of remaining on track towards its target of 50,000 average weekday riders. One reason for the lower than expected ridership is that many prefer to take advantage of the faster, more direct service between Millbrae and downtown San Francisco offered by rival Caltrain—albeit at a slightly higher fare. Another significant problem of note had been the rocky relationship between BART and San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) which is not a part of the BART district, and does not pay directly into the district, leaving SamTrans responsible for the extension's operating costs. Fueled by the reality that the extension is not paying for itself, the acrimony between BART and SamTrans over changes and reductions in bus and train service are at a peak.[50][51][52] Thus, service along the extension has been changed four times with train service reduced from eight to four trains per hour.[53][54] Eventually SamTrans and BART worked out a deal in which SamTrans paid BART $32 million, plus approximately $2 million a year, and BART assumed all costs of operating the extension.[55][56]
The latest revision to the SFO service is scheduled to begin in January 2008 and will have Pittsburg-Bay Point trains running to SFO at all times. During peak times, Richmond trains will run to Millbrae, with Dublin-Pleasanton trains terminating at Daly City, and during off-peak hours (nights and weekends), Dublin-Pleasanton trains will run to Millbrae (replacing Richmond service on the extension).[57] Consequently, the new routing will require passengers connecting between San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport to make an additional transfer. In addition, this revision to the service will result in the cessation of direct BART service between Millbrae and SFO.[11]
Many critics of the SFO Extension contend the project was merely a cover for BART's ultimate goal of ringing the bay, eliminating Caltrain altogether.[58]
Future expansion and extension
Warm Springs & San Jose extensions
An 8.7 km (5.4 mi) extension of BART southward past Fremont to the Warm Springs District in southern Fremont, with an optional station at Irvington between the Fremont and Warm Springs stations, is in the planning and engineering stage by BART planning staff. This extension received a green light from the federal government when the Federal Transit Administration issued a Record of Decision on October 24, 2006.[59] The action allows BART to begin purchasing the necessary right-of-way for the project and receive state-administered federal funding to finance the project.
An extension to San Jose is undergoing planning by BART and the San Jose area's transportation district, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).[60] Since Santa Clara County is not one of the member counties of the BART District, VTA plans to build the extension within Santa Clara County. In December 2002, VTA purchased a freight railroad corridor from Union Pacific Railroad which would serve as much of the necessary right-of-way for both the Warm Springs and San Jose extensions for $80 million dollars.[61] The route would continue south from the Warm Springs station in Fremont. In Milpitas there would be one "optional" station, which is not currently planned to be built but remains an option as a future infill station, at Calaveras Blvd/CA-237 in downtown Milpitas. The next station in Milpitas would be at Montague Expressway, co-located with the existing VTA Montague light rail station. In San Jose, there would be an elevated station at Berryessa Road. Before crossing US-101, the BART right of way would enter the subway portal into downtown San Jose. The Alum Rock subway station would be on N 28th St between the Julian Ave and Santa Clara St. The Downtown San Jose station would be underneath Santa Clara St spanning the block from 3rd St to Market St. The Downtown San Jose station was combined in 2005 from earlier plans for separate subway stations at Civic Plaza/San Jose State University and Market Street.[62] The Diridon/Arena station would be between the San Jose Arena and the Diridon train station, which currently serves Amtrak, Caltrain, ACE and VTA light rail. The BART subway would then turn north following the Caltrain route, exiting to the surface at a subway portal after crossing under I-880. The Santa Clara BART station would be co-located at the existing Santa Clara Caltrain station. Separate construction plans by San Jose International Airport would bring a people-mover train to the Santa Clara BART/Caltrain/ACE station.
For the subway segment in San Jose, VTA plans to use a tunnel boring machine for most of the length in order to reduce disruptions to downtown during construction. Only the station locations would have cut and cover construction.[63] This is different than how the BART subways were built in San Francisco and Oakland, which used the cut and cover method. The construction of the cut and cover stations in downtown San Jose would still cause major though temporary disruption, including closing several blocks of Santa Clara St and severing the VTA light rail line at Santa Clara St.
As a very large public works project, the San Jose extension is controversial[64][65][66]. It draws opposition from many corners, especially where it competes for funding. Some opposition includes supporters of expansion of other transit projects like Caltrain, other parts of Santa Clara County which would not be served by BART and other parts of the Bay Area which have competing transportation projects. Engineering and design remain to be completed.[67] Part of the funding arrangements are unresolved. VTA has allocated funds for constructing BART from a sales tax which was passed by Santa Clara County voters in 2000. But it does not have enough money to pay for all of the projects listed on the 2000 ballot measure, nor for all of the post-construction operation of the BART extension. In addition, the San Jose extension project received a "not recommended" rating from the Federal Transit Administration due to the VTA's financial problems, putting the federal portion of the funding in jeopardy.[68] According to a study by the Sierra Club, which is an opponent of the project, the taxpayer subsidy required to attract each new rider on this extension would be between $31 and $72 per rider per trip; this translates to a public subsidy of $62 to $144 per rider per round-trip, or $15,500 to $36,000 per rider per year over a 20-year period.[69]
Oakland Airport Connector
Procurement is currently underway for a people mover that would directly connect the Coliseum station to the terminal buildings at Oakland International Airport. This connection would physically resemble the AirTrain connection to New York City's JFK Airport, in that passengers would leave standard subway cars at a nearby station and enter a specialized people mover to reach the airport itself. However, unlike the AirTrain, the Oakland Airport Connector will be operated by BART, and integrated into the BART fare system, with standard BART ticket gates located at the entrance to the station at the Airport end of the people mover. Construction of this extension is expected to start in 2007, with revenue service expected by 2011. The airport connector will provide connecting travelers that fly into SFO and out of OAK (or vice versa), the ability to make the connection exclusively by train with a single train transfer but no bus transfer.[70]
eBART
An alternative plan for extension into the communities of Antioch, eBART calls for diesel multiple unit train service to be implemented from the existing Pittsburg/Bay Point station with a cross-platform transfer east along the Highway 4 corridor to the town of Byron, with the future possibility of service to Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley. New stations would be located in Pittsburg, Antioch, Oakley, Brentwood, and Byron. Another option would be a Caltrain-like service on the existing Union Pacific right-of-way from North Concord to Brentwood and beyond to Tracy and Stockton, though such a project would be subject to problems associated with using non-dedicated rights of way. Service was expected to start in 2010 but the project has been delayed.[71][72]
I-580/Tri-Valley Corridor
This extension of either conventional BART or diesel multiple unit BART service would go from Dublin/Pleasanton station east to Livermore and over the Altamont Pass into Tracy and the Central Valley along I-580. It could possibly also go north through Dublin, San Ramon, Danville, and Alamo to the existing Walnut Creek station via the I-680 corridor.
Currently, a petition to extend BART to Livermore is being circulated by Linda Jeffery Sailors, the former mayor of Dublin, California.[73]
The extension of conventional BART rail to Tracy is considered unlikely, as San Joaquin County, in which Tracy is located, is not part of the nine district counties and does not pay into the regional BART tax. The extension of third-rail BART, which would require exclusive and grade-separated rights-of-way over such a long distance, would be orders of magnitude more expensive. With conventional rail, existing trackage can be used, and incremental upgrades (such as grade separations at selected intersections, overhead electrification, signaling improvements, utilities relocation, etc.) are possible as funding dollars become available, but choosing BART would require a full build-out of the system initially, along with comprehensive funding.
I-80/West Contra Costa Corridor
A corridor study of extending the service north from the Richmond Station is underway with numerous options being studied.[74] One would create commuter rail service utilizing lightweight diesel multiple units (DMU) to operate on existing or new rail trackage. In order to operate on existing tracks with freight service, however, heavier-weight DMU vehicles adhering to Federal Railroad Administration regulations would need to be used. This option is known as wBART. A second option would create a commuter rail service running from the BART terminus along the Amtrak line to Hercules and possibly Fairfield and Vacaville in Solano County, similar to the Caltrain or ACE services. Yet another option would extend conventional BART to a North Richmond station near the Richmond train yard at 13th Street/Rumrill Avenue and Market Street, then continue along the existing Southern Pacific rail line and the Richmond Parkway expressway to Interstate 80. The service would have a Hilltop station and then continue along I-80 to Highway 4 in Hercules, near Hercules Transit Center. Service would continue along I-80 through Vallejo until the I-505 interchange in Vacaville. Finally, a proposed option would stretch BART westward across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge into central Marin County.
Infill stations
BART planners have studied and/or planned infill stations for at least three sites within the system. Infill stations are stations constructed on existing line segments between two existing stations. Construction costs for the planned 30th Street Mission station in San Francisco between 24th Street Mission and Glen Park stations are estimated at approximately $500 million.[75]
The proposal for the Jack London Square station in Oakland was rejected as being incompatible with existing track geometry. A one-station stub line to Jack London Square at the foot of Broadway and the utilization of other transit modes was also studied.[76]
Infill station under construction
The West Dublin/Pleasanton station will be located in the median of I-580 just west of the I-680 interchange between the Castro Valley and Dublin/Pleasanton stations. Construction estimates for this station are $100 million, with funding coming from a unique public-private partnership and transit-oriented development (TOD) project on adjacent BART-owned property. Construction on the station began in October 2006, and is slated for completion in 2009.[76]
BART compared with other rail transit systems
BART, like other transit systems of the same era, endeavored to connect outlying suburbs with job centers in Oakland and San
Francisco by building out lines that paralleled established commute routes of the region's freeway system. The majority of BART's service area, as measured by percentage of system length, consists of
trackage in the low-density suburbs. Unlike the New York City Subway or the
London Underground, individual BART lines were not designed to provide frequent
service, as evidenced by the current maximum achievable headway of 13.33 minutes per line
through the quadruple interlined section.
Suburban stations, particularly those in Contra Costa County, southern Alameda County, and San Mateo County are