BART extensions

BART is an icon for the Bay Area, and it's natural that lots of Bay Area cities that don't have BART service, want it. However, these cities are seemingly unaware of the limitations and drawbacks of BART technology. If these cities were to first define their major transportation problems and then examine various means of solving those problems, the most effective solutions would generally not include a BART extension.

Although designed in the 1960's, BART is appealing because its trains:

  • Have a more modern appearance on the outside
     
  • Provide level-boarding
     
  • Run on electricity rather than diesel
     
  • Operate more frequently due to BART having its own dedicated revenue sources (taxes)
But the limitations and drawbacks of BART are substantial:

  • BART cannot run express trains
     
  • BART trains lack amenities important to riders who commute more than 15 miles each way on the train, such as bathrooms, electrical outlets and tables for laptops.
     
  • The BART system was custom designed to be different from other train systems, and is incompatible with those systems:
     
    • All BART trains must be custom-produced, thus limiting the number of vendors who are able to make BART equipment and greatly increasing the cost. Conventional rail systems like Caltrain, on the other hand, are able to use off-the-shelf equipment obtained in a more competitive market. When for example, the Sounder rail service in Washington state found that it had ordered trains that it could not use when a proposed sales tax measure failed to pass, Caltrain was able to buy and use these new trains at a competitive price.
       
    • Amtrak, ACE and Caltrain can run on each other's tracks, allowing flexible service patterns, especially as Dumbarton Rail is built in the future.  BART cannot share trains with any of these systems.
       
  • BART is powered by a live ground level "third rail," which requires total grade separation to prevent pedestrians from contacting the dangerous high-voltage third rail. This also means a huge up-front cost before a single BART train can run, whereas, with conventional rail, communities have the option of pursuing grade-separations with trains running in the meantime.
     
  • BART is operate on DC power, as opposed to AC power. BART requires many substations along its tracks because DC power cannot be transmitted as far as AC power.
     
For what you get for the money, BART is really expensive. Some $6 billion is required to keep the BART system in good repair over the next 25 years, and it's unclear where all the money is going to come from.

Partly due to cumbersome federal regulations, passenger conventional rail in the United States is currently "third world" compared to the rest of the world. However, world class electrified conventional rail that looks modern and runs frequently (as frequent as every 3 minutes) is not out of reach for the Bay Area. Unfortunately, because we don't have examples of this operating locally, many public officials fixate on BART as the fulfillment of their desire, despite the fact that different types of public transit are appropriate for different needs.


BART extensions that BayRail Alliance supports:

BART extensions that BayRail Alliance opposes:

- BART to San Jose/Santa Clara. Instead we should build Caltrain Metro East.