Passenger Trains > making room on BART

More standee's:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/05/09/MNIF10JBES.DTL

How'bout add more cars??? Concept?

Well, in Japan, some commuter train lines have no seats at all, and pushers are employed to make sure everyone gets on.

hesdjjim Wrote:
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> How'bout add more cars??? Concept?

That along with more trains would be an ideal solution but since cars cost about $2 million a pop nowadays and with BART already dealing with a huge budget deficit and state and Federal transportation funds hard to come by...well you can see that the obvious solution is easier said than done. With four lines converging on the tube under the Bay I'm not sure how many more trains the system could practically handle either. Enough cars to increase peak hour trains from the present 8 and 9 to 10 (the maximum that will fit on the platforms) would admittedly help the situation though.

The cost of gas is bringing more and more daily riders to BART so the crowding situation is bound to get worse before it gets better...if that ever happens. What irritates me is the short three and four car trains they run on weekends which frequently result in standing room only while cars sit idly by in the yards. Of course it saves BART money on electricity and labor (cleaning) costs but I don't think it's right that people (including many families and people with luggage going to the airports) should be standing while cars are sitting in the yards unused. That's hardly the way to encourage weekend leisure passengers to use public transportation. I've written and talked to BART about this situation but talking to BART Customer Service is about like talking to a wall. One agent told me they really weren't concerned that people were standing on the trains.

I think we just all just have to face the fact that the more we pay for BART (in high fares, sales tax, property tax, Federal, state and local funding) the less we are going to get in comfort and convenience for the indefinite future. Come early for a parking space and pray you can find a seat! All that being said I still like BART and ride it several times a week. Hey it's the only game in town for many of us!

I still ride BART when I come to town on business. Haven't noticed the extra space cars yet, maybe just not paying attention. I usually ride from the Colessium (after taking the AirBART bus) to the Embarcadero, and in the morning there's never any seats. The one thing I noticed in the article was people congregating in the doorways and not moving to the centers of the cars. That's so true, but I'm not sure adding a 3rd door will help that much. Would be interesting to see.

As for the comment about adding cars, 10 cars is the max and on the busiest days/times that's still not enough seats. Unfortunately, it's going to become more like the NY subway where you have few seats and most people stand. For long rides on BART that won't be such good thing. Back before the .com bust when I lived in the Bay Area, I never got a seat riding from Walnut Creek to SF or the return, there were way too many people. It did get old, and I couldn't work on my laptop that way. Even with that, driving was never a consideration, BART is just so much easier.

Nathan