#bart expansion

[sfmuniverse]

BART tackles crowded train problem

BART schedules, train lengths change to relieve overcrowded commuter runs

It's been nice have all these stories about transit service improvements and increases to post about. BART is about to implement a number changes, including longer trains.

Riders will see the difference on Monday and might want to check schedules ahead of time: Train times will be different.

The transit agency said Thursday that it is putting a record number of cars into service during rush hours and making other improvements during non-peak hours.

There are some tradeoffs in the changes. Trains are getting longer and will run more often, but some trains will skip stops at peak times in the reverse-commute direction, away from Oakland and San Francisco. This gets trains back out to the start of the line faster so BART can make more runs back and forth with the same number of train cars.

[sfmuniverse]

Mayor Ed Lee announces support for a second BART transbay tube

Following his State of the City speech Thursday, Mayor Ed Lee also announced a plan to back the construction of a second BART transbay tube.

Delays due to a lack of a second tube were felt prominently by BART riders a few times recently, including the Black Friday protests in November which impacted some stations for hours, and systemwide delays after a man reportedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a Powell Station BART train this week.

Current plans for a second transbay tube include possible extensions of BART stations into the Richmond district on the west side of San Francisco, as well as stations down 19th Avenue. Those early plans, still in preliminary stages, were shown to the San Francisco Country Transportation Authority in December.

Building a second tube or tunnel, and the new subway approaches which would come with it, will be a project taking decades. BART will run out of capacity long before that, so we better get started.

[sfmuniverse]

Second Transbay Tube needed to help keep BART on track

In an editorial regarding expansion, BART board member Zakhary Mallett argues for expanding capacity along Market Street over creating a parallel transit corridor in SOMA.

BART is facing a capacity problem with four lines converging in Oakland onto just a single track in each direction. The new trains and control computer will allow more frequent service, but only up to a point.

The most frequently referenced alignment option for a second tube is one that would serve Alameda, San Francisco’s South of Market area via Mission or Third streets, and the western districts via Geary Boulevard. I have reservations about this concept.

While San Francisco has prioritized development in its SoMa and South Beach neighborhoods, and some interests would like to use a second BART alignment to further spur that development, that’s not what BART is for. Furthermore, regardless of whether economic activity increases to the degree envisioned, for the foreseeable future, transbay travel demand will continue to be primarily concentrated near the Market Street corridor.

Many of those BART riders now exiting along Market Street are ultimately on their way to SOMA, where ever more people live, work, and play. Expanding coverage – and not just capacity along Market – with a SOMA subway would make more of San Francisco accessible to the Bay Area via BART.