Business is Booming for BART
Dateline:
08/20/2008here’s a lot of gloomy talk about the economy but business has never been better for BART.
More people than ever are commuting on Bay Area Rapid Transit, said Bob Franklin, a member of the BART board of directors. But the increase in passengers – up to 380,000 riders a day – is presenting other problems for BART.
“Daily ridership is up now,” Franklin said. “People in some areas are fighting for a BART station, but here in San Leandro, you have two stations.”
But with the added passengers, BART is taking out some seats on trains and adding more handrails, meaning more standing and less sitting during peak hours.
Franklin talked about several issues at a meeting at the Main Library on Tuesday night, hosted by City Councilman Bill Stephens – noise from BART trains, crime at the stations, parking, and the cleanliness of the stations.
BART wants to buy new cars to replace its current fleet that has been operating for 36 years, but it will be expensive. Franklin said BART will probably have to go to the voters with a bond to raise the estimated $3 billion it will cost for the new cars.
BART is getting the most that it can out of its current fleet of 669 cars, and doing regular overhauls to keep all of the trains in service, Franklin said.
“But 669 is not enough – we don’t have enough cars right now,” he said.
The number of BART trains going through San Leandro has increased by 50 percent with more trains running on each route, plus the added line for the Dublin extension.
Noise is another complaint about BART, especially in cities such as San Leandro where the tracks are elevated.
BART trains make an irritating screech, but Franklin said they’re working on the problem. BART is buying two new machines that grind the tracks, which reduces noise.
Tiny divots in the track cause noise as the train moves at high speed, and the sound is amplified by the elevated structure.
“It acts almost like a guitar,” Franklin said. “If you strum the guitar the aerial structure resonates. That’s what you have in San Leandro.”
The grinding machines are supposed to help reduce the noise, but they work very slowly, covering one-eighth of a mile a night and have to go over the track as much as 20 times to do the job, Franklin said.
With 104 miles of track (208 counting both directions) that’s a lot of track to cover for the slow moving grinding machines. BART is also working, along with the rest of the transit industry, on other solutions such as a new type of wheel with rubber noise dampers, Franklin said.
A woman in the audience said BART should clean up the San Leandro station because it’s always dirty. “The newer BART stations are nicer,” she said. “San Leandro station has been neglected for years. It’s a pit.”
Franklin replied that they’re installing a new type of wire mesh to keep out the pigeons and they’re planning to repaint the station.
“We will be repainting the station in October, and it gets power washed once a week,” Franklin said. He added that BART is remodeling some stations this year, and he is pushing to include San Leandro on the list of stations to remodel next year if the money is available.
Crime has dropped at the city’s two stations (San Leandro and Bayfair), Franklin said. In 2006 there were 296 serious crimes at the two stations, in 2007 it was 258, and so far this year there have been 87.
A law passed in 2006 by the state legislature (AB 23) says the state has to reduce greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels. BART plays a part in that, Franklin said.
That’s a 25 percent reduction, and in the Bay Area transportation is 50 percent of emissions, he said.
BART has more capacity – but it’s during the off-peak hours, not commute times. The trick is finding a way to utilize those hours, Franklin said.
But making more parking spaces isn’t an effective way to encourage people to use BART, he said.
“It costs $30,000 for each parking space,” he said. “It’s the most costly way to get new riders.”
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San Leandro Times - Login to post comments
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