From: lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich)
Subject: Re: BART 20th. Anniversary
Organization: LLNL
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 07:32:24 GMT

In article <15899@umd5.umd.edu> gurd@wam.umd.edu writes:
>The following article also appeared in the September 28th. issue of  
: Passenger Transport.  Copyright 1992, American Public Transit Association,  
: copied without permission.  The comments in [] are soley my own.
 
: "BART Celebrates 20 Years of Service"
: Special to Passenger Transport
 
:    SAN FRANSISCO, CALIF, -- No longer the cherub of the transit industry,  
: San Fransisco Bary Area Rapid Transit District hit the big 20 on Sept. 11,  
: marking two decades of service to the people of the San Fransisco Bay  
: Area.  BART watchers from near and far joined in a colorful celebration  
: and cake-cutting ceremony held in San Fransisco to observe this milestone  
: for the system and to give it a rousing cheer as it moved into its third  
: decade.

	I was there, and I ate a slice of that cake, which was in the
shape of "20" spelled out by two short BART trains.

	[on its wonderful performance...]

	Rather flattering, and I wouldn't complain on principle. My
main gripe is that BART wasn't built big enough. I guess one has to
start somewhere, though.

:    Wilson said that when BART first opened the doors for service about  
: $1.6 billion had been invested in the shiny new system, primarily locally  
: financed.  Today it would cost between $8 and $10 billion to replace or  
: build the same system.

	BART was built in the late 1960's; that seems _almost_ right
for the amount of inflation since then.

:    He said it was one of the best investments every made by the people of  
: the Bay Area [and now he want's them to make the WORST investment ever by  
: building some maglev toy lines].

	How is maglev supposed to be so HORRIBLE?

	And I don't see any of BART's mainlines being maglevified
anytime soon. Maglev is just too _new_ for that. I think it will
probably be for short branches like a people-mover from the Oakland
Coliseum station and the Oakland airport. There is already a simple
maglev system operating in Birmingham for just such a purpose.

:    The early years were rocky ones for the fledgling system.  BART's  
: attempts to make a quantum leap in the use of space age technology for  
: this, the newest system to be built in the United States in some 60 years  
: resulted in severe reliability problems [UNDERSTATING the truth just a  
: wee-bit there].  Also, under a California Public Utility Commission order,  
: trains could not be operated closer than two stations apart initially.

	Like such things as the doors opening while the trains were in
motion, trains skipping stations, and the central control system
seeing "ghost trains" or not seeing "real" trains, and even one train
trying to travel onward to Warm Springs and San Jose but winding up in
a Fremont parking lot instead.

: BART Looks to the Future

:    This past year, BART launched its $2.6 billion [more than the entire  
                                                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: orginal system's cost] first phase extension program that will increase  
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  uncorrected for inflation!!!

: the size of the system by almost 50 percent when completed. [work on
Pittsburg/Antioch, Dublin/Pleasanton, Colma, and the SFO extension]

	There is a commitment to go ahead with an extension of the
Fremont line to Warm Springs, though there has been some controversy
about the route through Fremont Central Park. Other extensions that
have been discussed:

	An extension beyond Colma and SFO through the rest of the
Peninsula.
	
	An extension beyond Warm Springs to Milpitas and San Jose.

	An extension from Richmond northward to San Pablo, Pinole,
Hercules, Rodeo, and Crockett, and perhaps into Solano County.

	Another BART tunnel across the Bay.

:    In order to support the new extension when they come on line over the  
: next few years, BART has ordered 80 new transit cars that will be built by  
: Morrison Knudsen Corporation at a cost of about $141 million.  The first  
: of the order is expected to come of the assembly in early 1995.  The  
: contract with MK also includes options for up to 250 additional cars.

	These will presumably be built in the same style as the
existing ones, and will add to the existing fleet of about 600 cars.
Of these, 450 are the original ones, and 150 were delivered in the
late 1980's.

: Systemwide Rehabilitation Program

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