Passenger Trains > BART's nightly Grand Meet

source: BART

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Great to know - and to know that someone(s) thought about the needs of the riding public!  

I've been riding BART for over two decades and wasn't aware of this, though to be fair I'm usually just headed from San Francisco to either Daly City or Millbrae when coming home to Burlingame at night. There has been more than one occasion where my wife and I were hustling to catch the last train of the night. Thanks for sharing.

RevRandy Wrote:
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> Great to know - and to know that someone(s)
> thought about the needs of the riding public!

Overall, BART is run by "train people" and do a good job of providing convenience to the riders.

I remember a non-TO discussion I had with railfan/model railroaders, who were ranting about what a waste of money the wye between Millbrae/SFO/San Bruno was. Well, it was a one time spending (even if expensive) that has paid service dividends by allowing BART to adjust operations to cater to convenience and ridership for airport access and Caltrain transfer. I've seen numerous iterations over the years, Millbrae/SFO shuttle, Dublin trains terminating at SFO or Millbrae, Richmond trains going to Millbrae (ignoring SFO), timed transfer at San Bruno, and so forth.

Pittsburg trains almost always went to SFO (and Millbrae at early morning and late nights) if I recall. 

Can't put a price tag on service flexibility - something real train people appreciate.

broken_link Wrote:
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> I've been riding BART for over two decades and
> wasn't aware of this...

I wasn't aware of the term "Grand Meet" either, and I've been riding the system for almost 4 decades, starting with a school field trip (Fremont <--> Lake Merritt) to visit what's now known as OMCA (Oakland Museum of California).

I've been aware of timed meets at MacArthur for many years, where trains would wait, or arrive simultaneously (Concord -> Daly City train vs. Richmond -> Fremont train) so people can do time-saving platform transfers. This is before the Colma/SFO/Millbrae, Warm Springs/Berryessa, and Pittsburg extensions.

BART has been doing "bartable" promotion for a few years to encourage people to use the system for non-commute purposes. I think it's related to the Raiders (NFL) and A's (MLB) gone, and Warriors (NBA) in San Francisco instead of Oakland now.

I'm happy they are doing this "Grand Meet" promotion now, to encourage people to do more nightlife, especially for East Bay residents to visit San Francisco. 

As a rider from day one, i have been aware of the grand meet for decades.  Given the refusal to simply run all night  as do NY and much of CTA, it is a good plan.
As to the Millbrae mistake, a far smarter plan (presented to BART at the time) would have been a single three service station with BART, Caltrain AND the airport circulator all together, making all transfers convenient  Millbrae was BART's long term wetdream of supplanting Caltrain all the way to San Jose.   

BrynMawr Wrote:
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> As to the Millbrae mistake, a far smarter plan
> (presented to BART at the time) would have been a
> single three service station with BART, Caltrain
> AND the airport circulator all together, making
> all transfers convenient 

I encourage TO members to look at how the Japanese planned their transportation acess to the airports, namely Narita and Haneda, where there are no People Mover "circulators" needed. Instead, trains from competing agencies (Keikyu vs. Tokyo Monorail, Keisei vs. Narita Express) make stops at separate terminals, where one seat ride to the cities are provided from each terminal.

Kind of like light rail directly to SeaTac and PDX, and direct access by CTA trains to Midway and O'Hare in Chicago.

In a report about LAX's People Mover many months ago, Todd (webmaster) complained, why don't LA Metro go directly into the terminals, but instead settle for People Mover transfer. That kind of thinking.

> Millbrae was BART's long term wetdream of supplanting Caltrain all the
> way to San Jose.

I'm surprised that you (forever CA HSR cheerleader) made no mention of CA HSR access for the reason for Millbrae-centric planning? One Quentin Kopp was involved in both projects. Anyway, I think BART people must have understood the importance of "one seat ride" and whether you like it or not, wye was a reasonable compromise..