Bay Area Rapid Transit: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

BART (in full, San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District) is a rapid transit electric train service that serves parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, including the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and the San Francisco International Airport. The trains are computer-controlled and arrive on-time with regular accuracy. Drivers are present in case of unforeseen difficulties. BART is pronounced as a single word, not as individual letters.

History of BART

The BART system was first proposed in 1946 by Bay Area business leaders concerned with increased post-war migration and congestion in the region. An Army-Navy task force concluded that another trans-bay crossing would soon be needed to relieve congestion on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The idea of an underwater electric rail tube was deemed the best solution in conjunction with a multiple-county rapid transit rail system. Much of BART’s current territory was earlier covered by the Key Rail System; a light rail network that had its origins in the 1900s and ran across the Bay Bridge when it first opened; but this system was removed in the 1950s due to pressure by the automotive industry and highway planners.

After years of review and planning, BART construction officially began on June 19, 1964. President Lyndon Johnson presided over the ground-breaking ceremonies at a 4.4 mile (7.1 km) test track between Concord and Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County.

Enormous construction tasks were at hand, including underground rail sections below downtown Oakland and Market Street in San Francisco, a 3.5 (5.6 km) mile tunnel through the Berkeley Hills, as well as the 3.6 mile (5.8 km) transbay tube itself, which was lowered to the bottom of the bay by a small armada of construction vessels. The tube, constructed in 57 sections, was completed in August 1969 at a cost of $180 million.

BART began regular passenger service on September 11, 1972. President Richard Nixon rode the system on September 27, 1972.

As of August 2004, the BART system is comprised of 104 miles of track and 43 stations. BART uses a 5 feet, 6 inch (1.676 m) rail gauge to provide greater stability and a smoother ride for its relatively lightweight aluminum and fiberglass cars. Trains achieve a maximum speed of 80 mph (129 km/h ), and provide an average of 33 mph (53 km/h ) between stations with 20 second stops.

Current routes as of July, 2004:

• Richmond-Daly City/Millbrae(During non-peak hours final stop is at Daly City.)
• Richmond-Fremont
• Dublin/Pleasanton-Daly City
• Fremont-Daly City
• Pittsburg/Bay Point-SFO/Millbrae (Does not stop at Millbrae during peak hours.)
• Millbrae - SFO Shuttle

Like many late 20th century transit systems, BART’s primary goal was to connect outlying suburbs with job centers in Oakland and San Francisco by paralleling established commute routes on the region’s freeway system. It was not intended to provide a dense level of service such as the New York or London metros. Suburban stations are mostly “park and rides” approximately 2 miles apart with 10 to 20 minute service intervals. Urban stations are roughly a half-mile apart and have 3 – 5 minute service intervals at peak times. As such, some sources consider BART to be more of a regional service. However, BART does possess all of the features of a true metro system (eg. electrified third rail propulsion with exclusive right-of-way, frequent headway service and pre-paid fare card access) and really should be considered more a hybrid of these service types.

A $1.5 billion extension of BART southward beyond Colma was completed in June 2003. Ground was broken in November 1997, and the extension added four new stations in South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae (with a connection to Caltrain), and San Francisco International Airport. The project encompasses 8.7 miles (14 km) of new rail track, of which 6.1 miles (9.8 km) is subway, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) is aerial, and 1.4 miles (2.2 km) is at-grade. [1] [2]

An extension of BART southward past Fremont towards San Jose is also proposed, but studies remain to be completed and funding to be acquired.

SFBARTD is a special governmental district created by the State of California consisting of Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and San Francisco County. It is governed by an elected Board of Directors, and each of the nine directors represents a specific geographic district with the BART district. BART has its own police force.

In total, the SFBARTD encompasses the cities of Alameda, Alamo, Albany, Antioch, Bay Point, Bethel Island, Berkeley, Brentwood, Byron, Castro Valley, Clayton, Clyde, Concord, Crockett, Danville, Discovery Bay, Dublin, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Hercules, Kensington, Knightsen, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Newark, Oakland, Oakley, Orinda, Pacheco, Piedmont, Pleasanton, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Port Costa, Rodeo, Richmond, San Francisco, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, San Pablo, San Ramon, Sunol, Union City and Walnut Creek. While the district includes all of these cities in its jurisdiction, the BART system only has stations in a few of these cities.

BART has direct connections to two regional rail services; CalTrain (which provide service between San Francisco and San Jose) at the Millbrae Station, and Amtrak's Capital Corridor trains (which runs from Sacramento to San Jose) at the Richmond Station.

A number of bus services connect to BART, which are managed by separate agencies, but which are integral to the successful functioning of the system. The main services include the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit (AC Transit), San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans), Contra Costa County Transit Authority (County Connection), and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (Golden Gate Transit).

BART is "connected" to Oakland International Airport via AirBART shuttle buses which connect travellers to the Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART station.

Smaller services connect as well, including the Emery-go-round in Emeryville, California. The bus service connecting the University of California, Berkeley to the Berkeley BART station was once called Humphrey Go-Bart.