Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses ...
, widely known by the acronym BART, is the main rail transportation system for the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
. It was envisioned as early as 1946 but the construction of the original system began in the 1960s.
Origins and planning
The idea of an underwater electric rail tube was first proposed in the early 1900s by
Francis "Borax" Smith
Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) (once known nationally and internationally as "Borax Smith" and "The Borax King" ) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisco ...
– the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' ran a front-page editorial in 1900 suggesting an electrified subway. There were also plans for a
third-rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
powered subway line (''Twin Peaks Tunnel'') under Market Street in the 1910s. A 1915 study prepared for the cities of Oakland and Berkeley called a rapid transit link between the two cities "imperative," suggesting new
street railway
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
lines or an elevated railway between the two cities. Much of BART's current coverage area was once served by the electrified streetcar and
interurban
The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...
train network called the
Key System
The Key System (or Key Route) was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area fr ...
. This early twentieth century system once had regular transbay traffic across the lower deck of the
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland ...
. The final passenger run occurred on April 20, 1958 and the entire system was soon dismantled in favor of automobiles and buses and the explosive growth of highway construction.
Proposals for the modern rapid transit system now in service began in 1946 by Bay Area business leaders concerned with increased post-war migration and growing congestion in the region. An Army-Navy task force concluded that an additional trans-bay crossing would soon be needed and recommended a tunnel; however, actual planning for a rapid transit system did not begin until the 1950s. In 1951, California's legislature created the San Francisco
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses ...
Commission to study the Bay Area's long-term transportation needs. A New York-based firm, sponsored by the commission, submitted plans for an expansive rapid transit system in 1956. The commission's 1957 final report concluded the most cost-effective solution for the Bay Area's traffic woes would be to form a transit district charged with the construction and operation of a high-speed rapid rail system linking the cities and suburbs. Nine Bay Area counties were included in the initial planning commission.
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District was formed by the state legislature in 1957, comprising the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa,
Marin
Marin (French) or Marín (Spanish "sailor") may refer to:
People
* Marin (name), including a list of persons with the given name or surname
* MaRin, in-game name of professional South Korean ''League of Legends'' player Jang Gyeong-hwan (born 19 ...
Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...
opted instead to first concentrate on its Expressway System, that county was not included in the original BART District. In 1959 a bill was passed in the state legislature that provided for the entire cost of construction of the tube to be paid for with surplus toll revenues from the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. This represented a significant portion of the total cost of the system.
By 1961 a plan for the new system was sent to the boards of supervisors of each of the five counties. These plans called for three branches traversing the
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
and connecting
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
in the east,
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
in the northeast, Fremont in the southeast; a crossing of the Golden Gate connecting San Francisco to Novato in the northwest; and a final branch running along the Peninsula from Palo Alto. However, on April 12, 1962, San Mateo County opted out, citing high costs, existing service provided by
Southern Pacific
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
commuter trains, and concerns over shoppers leaving their county for stores in San Francisco. This left Daly City (still in San Mateo County, but only a few feet across the county line) as the southwest terminus. Marin County followed soon thereafter in May, being forced out of the BART district due to engineering objections from the board of directors of the
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...
and fear that Marin voters would not approve the bonds, which had to win more than 60% approval. The withdrawal also resulted in the cancellation of the
Geary Subway The Geary Subway is a proposed rail tunnel underneath Geary Boulevard in San Francisco, California. Several plans have been put forward as early as the 1930s to add a grade separated route along the corridor for transit. San Francisco Municipal Rail ...
section of the system. In 1962, a final ''Composite Report'' was prepared and approved by the voters of the three remaining participating counties that July.
Berkeley initially approved a combination of underground and elevated lines on their portion of the system, as outlined in the 1961 and 1962 plans. Downtown Berkeley station would be located under Shattuck Square, while both Ashby and North Berkeley (referred to as Sacramento Street Station in the planning documents) were to be constructed on elevated segments. Residents eventually came to oppose this scheme in favor of one where the line would be run in a tunnel for its length. After several hearings, the city voted to tax themselves for the funds necessary to fully underground the line, to the amount of $20 million ($ adjusted for inflation). BART estimates that the issue added $18 million ($ adjusted for inflation) to construction costs and delayed completion of the system.
New rail technologies
As one of the first entirely new rapid transit systems built from scratch in the 20th century, the architects of what would become BART intended to design a rail system that could be marketed to other cities and regions. This led to several unconventional design choices for the system.
Tracks were intended from the outset to utilize a
broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
of , unusual in the United States.
Parsons Brinkerhoff
WSP USA, formerly WSP, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Parsons Brinckerhoff, is a multinational engineering and design firm with approximately 14,000 employees. WSP stands for Williams Sale Partnership. The firm operates in the fields of strategic con ...
- Tutor Bechtel recommended the gauge for better stability and smoother riding; it was not selected for greater safety in high winds when crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, or for faster trains, contrary to myth. Also, tracks were designed to utilize flat-edge rails and wheels. The railway utilizes an electrical system powered at an unusual 1,000
volt
The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827).
Defi ...
s of
direct current
Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...
using third rail. (Historically,
streetcars
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
operated at 600 V DC overhead lines and older subway systems tended to adopt this voltage using third rail, while new systems contemporary to BART and since usually use 750 V power from third rail or 1500 V power from overhead lines. Standards BS EN 50163 and
IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; in French: ''Commission électrotechnique internationale'') is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and r ...
60850 only specify these as well as 1,500 V power.)
The combination of unique
loading gauge
A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...
s and unusual rail technologies has complicated maintenance and increased cost of the system, as rolling stock requires custom wheelsets, brake systems, and power systems.
The initial system (1964–76)
Construction
BART construction officially began on June 19, 1964, with
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
presiding over the ground-breaking ceremonies at the test track between
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
Contra Costa County
) of the San Francisco Bay
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1 = State
, subdivision_name1 = California
, subdivision_type2 ...
. The system was scheduled to be completed in 1971.
The enormous tasks to be undertaken were daunting. System wide projects would include the construction of three underground rail stations in Oakland's populated downtown area, three stations through San Francisco's downtown beneath
Market Street Market Street may refer to:
*Market Street, Cambridge, England
*Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
* Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia
*Market Street, Manchester, England
*Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
...
(later expanded to four), as well as four other underground stations in other parts of San Francisco, three subterranean stations in
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
(which paid more to bury them, in contrast to the stations in neighboring
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
and El Cerrito), as well as new maintenance facilities throughout the system.
The -long
Berkeley Hills Tunnel
The Berkeley Hills Tunnel is a tunnel which carries Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) through the Berkeley Hills between Rockridge station and Orinda station.
Design
While the tracks run in the median of California State Route 24 on both sides of t ...
was constructed through active faults between Berkeley and Orinda in order to avoid further use of the Caldecott Tunnel.
The centerpiece of the system, the -long
Transbay Tube
The Transbay Tube is an underwater rail tunnel that carries Bay Area Rapid Transit's four transbay lines under San Francisco Bay between the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California. The tube is long, and attaches to twin bored tunnels ...
, connected Oakland and San Francisco beneath the
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
. Restoring transbay passenger rail service for the first time since Key System service was discontinued across the Bay Bridge, the tube was the world's longest and deepest
immersed tunnel
An immersed tube (or immersed tunnel) is a kind of undersea tunnel composed of segments, constructed elsewhere and floated to the tunnel site to be sunk into place and then linked together. They are commonly used for road and rail crossings of r ...
when it was completed in August 1969 at a cost of $180 million ($ adjusted for inflation). It was constructed in 57 sections, each positioned and installed individually by sinking them into a dredged trough across the bay (that was later filled in).
BART constructed
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
s utilizing several rail and
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
corridors. For the initial system, these included: the
Sacramento Northern Railway
The Sacramento Northern Railway (reporting mark SN) was a electric interurban railway that connected Chico in northern California with Oakland via the California capital, Sacramento. In its operation it ran directly on the streets of Oakland ...
right-of-way in Concord, Contra Costa Center and Walnut Creek; State Route 24 and
Interstate 980
Interstate 980 (I-980) is a short auxiliary Interstate Highway entirely within Oakland in Northern California, connecting I-580 and State Route 24 (SR 24) to I-880 near Downtown Oakland. I-980 passes the Oakland Convention ...
from the Berkeley Hills Tunnel to Oakland;
Western Pacific Railroad
The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...
and Key System right-of-ways between Richmond and Berkeley (which also became the
Ohlone Greenway
The Ohlone Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle path in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The path is named for the indigenous Ohlone, the first people who live in the area.
Route
The Greenway begins in Berkeley at the east en ...
and
Richmond Greenway
The Richmond Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle path in Richmond, California.San Francisco and San Mateo Electric Railway and original
Southern Pacific
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
Peninsula Commute
The Peninsula Commute, also known as the Southern Pacific Peninsula or just Peninsula, was the common name for commuter rail service between San Jose, California and San Francisco, California on the San Francisco Peninsula. This service ran as a ...
right-of-ways to Daly City.
The final ceremonial spike for the original system was placed in 1971.
Opening
Service began on September 11, 1972, reporting more than 100,000 passengers in its first five days. The Market Street Subway opened on November 3, 1973 and the Transbay Tube finally opened on September 16, 1974, linking the four branches to Daly City, Concord, Richmond, and Fremont. Service then was still 14 hours per day, and for five years BART operated weekday-only: Saturday trains began November 1977 and Sunday in July 1978. Until November 1975, fare was $1.20 ($ adjusted for inflation) from Concord or $1.25 ($ in adjusted for inflation) from Fremont to any station west of the bay; Richmond to Fremont was $1.10 ($ in adjusted for inflation).
BART diverted 44,000 trips made by private cars by 1976, short of the anticipated 157,000. One possible cause of this was that riders had difficulty reaching stations — especially on foot — which was not properly accounted for in ridership models.
BART's cost in 1976 was pegged at $1.586 billion, which included both the initial system, rolling stock and the
Transbay Tube
The Transbay Tube is an underwater rail tunnel that carries Bay Area Rapid Transit's four transbay lines under San Francisco Bay between the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California. The tube is long, and attaches to twin bored tunnels ...
. (Adjusted for
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
, equivalent to $ in .) Critics have said BART took four decades to develop at a high cost.
The original construction included space for a third track through downtown Oakland, but that track remained unopened until March 1986.
Infill Station
Service at Embarcadero began on May 27, 1976, three years after the other San Francisco stations. The station was not part of the original plans. Due to increasing development in the lower Market Street area, the basic structure of the station was added into the construction of the Market Street subway, anticipating a later opening.
Automation
BART was one of the first U.S. systems of any size to have substantial automated operations. As a first-generation installation, the automation system was plagued with operational problems during its first years. Shortly after revenue service began, a failure in the train control system caused a two-car train to run off the end of the elevated track at the Fremont station and into a parking lot. There were no serious injuries.
The original signaling technology and subsequent enhancements used to control the trains was developed by Westinghouse. When revenue service began, "ghost trains" (or false occupancies), trains that show up on the computer system as being in a specific place but don't physically exist, were common, and real trains could at times disappear from the system. This was the result of dew on the tracks and too low of a voltage (at 0.6
volt
The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827).
Defi ...
s rather than the industry standard 15 volts) being passed through the rails for train detection. Under such circumstances, trains had to be operated manually and were restricted to a speed of . Enhancements were made to the train control system to address these "ghost trains" (or false occupancies). However, manual blocking — operators in a booth on the platform at alternate stations, with a telephone and red/green lights — that kept trains in stations until the train ahead had left its station were mandated for several years. This caused a great outcry in the press and led to a flurry of litigation between Westinghouse, the original controls contractor, and BART, as well as public battles between the
state government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...
(advised by University of California professor Dr. Bill Wattenburg), the
federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
, and the district, but in time these problems were resolved and BART became a reliable service. Ghost trains persisted on the system as late as 2007, and while usually cleared quickly enough to avoid significant delay, they can occasionally cause an extended backup of manually operated trains in the system. In addition, the fare card system was easily hackable with equipment commonly found in universities, although most of these flaws have been fixed.
Running logistics were originally handled from a ''central control room'', but that was replaced by the more modern Operations Control Center (OCC) and headquarters at the Kaiser Center in Downtown Oakland.
Train-control failures
Before the system began revenue service, serious problems in the design and operation of the Automatic Train Control (ATC) system were observed. Three engineers working for BART, Max Blankenzee, Robert Bruder, and Holger Hjortsvang, identified safety problems with the ATC in 1969–1971. BART management was dismissive of their concerns, so the three took the issue to the board of directors. All but two of the directors voted in February 1972 to support management and reject the safety concerns. Management retaliated against the engineers, firing them in March 1972. The
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...
later filed the first
amicus curiae
An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...
brief in its history to support the engineers.
The California Society of Professional Engineers reported to the California State Senate in June 1972 that there were serious safety risks with the ATC. Legislative analyst
A. Alan Post August Alan Post (September 17, 1914 – March 26, 2011) worked for 28 years (1949–1977) as California's legislative analyst.
Early life and education
Post was born on September 17, 1914, in Alhambra in Los Angeles County, California, the s ...
opened an investigation immediately, and brought in electrical engineering Professor Bill Wattenburg of the University of California, Berkeley as a consultant.
io
An ATC failure caused the train to run off the end of the elevated track and crash to the ground, injuring four people on board, and drawing national and international attention. This accident led to a comprehensive redesign of the train controls. The California State Public Utilities Commission imposed stringent oversight over train operations, and stationed State inspectors inside BART central control.
The legislative analyst issued the first of three "Post Reports" in November 1972. The report was "sharply critical" of BART, finding that the ATC system was unreliable, the ATC program was mismanaged, and "no solution was in sight." The report accused BART of paying excessive fees for engineering services. BART's general manager called the indictment of safety in the Post Report "not only disappointing, but deplorable as well." At the same time, management deemed that the ATC "could not now be trusted to detect one train stalled on the tracks in the path of another going at full speed," so automatic controls were dropped. Telephone calls were placed manually between stations, instead.
The California State Senate, California Public Utilities Commission, and National Transportation Safety Board launched separate investigations. Several managers were replaced, and the general manager came under fire. The legislative analyst reported in March 1974 that BART "suffered from a lack of direction and control on the part of the board and management." The state legislature held hearings lasting one month in 1974 into the financial mismanagement at BART. Following the hearings, legislative analyst A. Alan Post recommended that the general manager be fired. Legislators also threatened to withhold funding from BART unless the general manager quit, and forced the general manager to resign in May 1974.
State legislators moved to completely replace the appointed board of directors, and passed legislation that led to the election of a new board in 1974. The train-control problems and management turmoil delayed the start of service to San Francisco, from 1973 to 1974.
In 1978, engineers Blankenzee, Bruder and Hjortsvang received an ethics award from the IEEE. The "BART Case" is a case study in
whistleblowing
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland ...
for a month and destroyed the
Cypress Street Viaduct
The Cypress Street Viaduct, often referred to as the Cypress Structure or the Cypress Freeway, was a 1.6-mile-long (2.5 km), raised two-deck, multi-lane (four lanes per tier) freeway constructed of reinforced concrete that was originally pa ...
in Oakland. With some Bay Area freeways damaged or destroyed, BART trains, within five hours of the
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
, were again running; full service resumed at 5 am the next day. Even with service interruptions following
aftershock
In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousand ...
s for inspection of tracks, over- and under-crossings, and tunnels, BART continued to run on a 24-hour timetable until December 3 of that year.
San Francisco International Airport extension (1984–2003)
Service south of Daly City was outlined in the 1961 proposal, but the exit of San Mateo County from the planning district caused these plans to be shelved.
Efforts were started as early as 1984 for extension south from San Francisco, the first step being the Daly City Tailtrack Project, upon which turnaround project the San Francisco Airport Extension would later build. Expansion of the system was finally made possible by an agreement under which San Mateo County was to contribute $200 million ($ adjusted for inflation) to East Bay extensions as a "''buy-in''" to the system without actually joining the BART district.
Service into San Mateo County (outside of Daly City) commenced in 1996 with the opening of
Colma station
Colma station is a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station located in unincorporated northern San Mateo County, California adjacent to the incorporated town of Colma and city of Daly City.
Colma station is situated in a small valley shared wit ...
. At that time, funding had not been secured for the full airport extension. This station served as the end of the line for over seven years.
Ground was broken on the project in November 1997. Four new stations were added to the system: the SFO station,
South San Francisco
South San Francisco is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is colloquially known as "South City". The population was 66,105 at the 2020 census. ...
,
San Bruno
San Bruno (Spanish for " St. Bruno") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to Sa ...
, and
Millbrae
Millbrae is a city located in northern San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County, California, United States. To its northeast is San Francisco International Airport, San Bruno, California, San Bruno is on its northwest, and Burlingame, Cal ...
west of the Mississippi
Trans-Mississippi was a common name of the geographic area west of the Mississippi River during the 19th century. The area included Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and many other territories.
The term "Tr ...
. The $1.5 billion ($ adjusted for inflation) extension of BART southward to
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...
's (SFO) Garage G, adjacent to the International Terminal, was opened to the public on June 22, 2003. The right of way had been served by Muni's
40 San Mateo
The San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) is the public transit system for San Francisco, California. Several bus, trolleybus, streetcar/ light rail, and cable car routes were historically served, but have been discontinued. It began service on D ...
interurban
The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...
(previously the San Francisco and San Mateo Electric Railway) streetcar line until 1949. The airport extension between SFO and Millbrae station was initially hosted a shuttle service which operated with two train operators—one on each end of the train—between the San Bruno and Millbrae stations to reduce dwell time at SFO during peak hours. The train entered the SFO stub-end station under the control of the primary operator and exited in the opposite direction towards Millbrae controlled by the secondary. Since SFO is now the terminus of the line that serves it, this practice was discontinued as it would not reduce the in-transit time for any trips.
The airport extension project added of new railway; of subway, of aerial, and of at-grade track. The launch point was the
Daly City
Daly City () is the second most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with population of 104,901 according to the 2020 census. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and immediately south of San Francisco (sharing its ...
Tailtrack project, which extended the tracks further south of the existing terminus in San Francisco and was completed in the 1980s.
The project has not been without problems, however. The SFO extension drew 35,107 daily riders by 2008, significantly less than its opening target of 50,000 average weekday riders. The most use the new line has gotten on any single day was 37,200;BART to SFO ridership jumps 65% BART News, June 26, 2008, access date August 26, 2008 the SFO Station received an average of 6,781 daily passenger exits in 2015. Another significant problem of note had been the rocky relationship between BART and
San Mateo County Transit District
SamTrans (stylized as samTrans; officially the San Mateo County Transit District) is a public transport agency in and around San Mateo, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides bus service throughout San Mateo County and into port ...
(SamTrans) which was not a part of the BART district, but by agreement was responsible for the extension's operating costs. Fueled by the reality that the extension was not paying for itself, the acrimony between BART and SamTrans over changes and reductions in bus and train service reached a high.
BART wanted to increase service to attract ridership, while SamTrans wanted to reduce service to trim costs. Thus, service along the extension was changed several times.
Eventually SamTrans and BART worked out a deal in which SamTrans paid BART $32 million, plus approximately $2 million a year, and BART assumed all costs and control of operating the extension.
The disappointing passenger numbers and the fight with SamTrans meant that between 2003 and 2010, BART repeatedly changed its routing patterns on the line south of Daly City, offering at least five distinct service patterns on different lines (Richmond, Pittsburg/Bay Point, Dublin/Pleasanton), with trips terminating at either Millbrae or SFO. The January 1, 2008 change eliminated most direct service between SFO and Millbrae on weekdays, except for a few morning and evening trips. Finally, in 2010 BART settled on a routing pattern that has Pittsburg/Bay Point trains running to SFO at all times. During peak times Mondays through Fridays, Richmond trains run directly to Millbrae without stopping at SFO. During off-peak hours (nights and weekends), Pittsburg/Bay Point trains served both SFO and Millbrae sequentially. Passengers on the Fremont, Richmond, and Dublin/Pleasanton lines had to transfer to the Pittsburg/Bay Point line to reach the airport. In addition, the cessation of direct BART service between Millbrae and SFO during weekday peak hours required Caltrain passengers wanting to travel to the airport from Millbrae had to travel to San Bruno Station and make a transfer to an SFO train. This was mitigated on February 11, 2019, with the reintroduction of the SFO-Millbrae shuttle train, providing a one-seat connection from the airport to Millbrae on weekdays and Sundays, with the Antioch-SFO line providing the connection on weeknights and Saturdays.
Spur lines (1995–2018)
Part of San Mateo's buy in was used to offset funding for extensions of the core system in the East Bay. Trains to North Concord/Martinez began on December 16, 1995, and to Pittsburg/Bay Point on December 7, 1996. On May 10, 1997, a new branch to
Castro Valley
Castro Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County, California, United States. At the 2010 census, it was the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California and the twenty-third most populous in the United States. The popula ...
and Dublin/Pleasanton" opened via a right of way constructed in the median of Interstate 580. The Dublin/Pleasanton extension now has transbay trains, but it was planned to have just shuttle trains between Dublin/Pleasanton and Bay Fair. (Long-term plans involve running short trains to a coupling point at Bay Fair to increase system-wide capacity while still providing a one-seat ride.) This line has at various times extended further south from Daly City, and was most recently truncated in 2009.
To save on construction cost compared to a "traditional" third-rail BART buildout, two spur lines were constructed using different technologies; they are neither heavy rail nor electrified. The
Oakland Airport Connector
The Beige Line is an automated guideway transit (AGT) system operated by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) between BART's Coliseum station and Oakland International Airport station. The system opened for revenue service on November 22, 2014 and is ...
was built as a replacement for the bus-serviced AirBART and brought the airport into the system's fare zone. The Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line, as it came to be known, utilizes
automated guideway transit
An automated guideway transit (AGT) or automated fixed-guideway transit or automatic guideway transit system is a type of fixed guideway transit infrastructure with a riding or suspension track that supports and physically guides one or more dr ...
(AGT) technology: cable-drawn cars that operate in discrete cable loops on guided rubber tires. The AGT's connection to the existing BART system at Coliseum Station resembles the AirTrain JFK and
AirTrain Newark
AirTrain Newark is a monorail system connecting the terminals at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and trains at Newark Liberty International Airport Station on the Northeast Corridor (NEC), where transfers are possible to Amtrak and ...
airport people movers' existing off-airport connections to other rail transit lines, though it is run by the transit authority itself rather than an out-of-system operator. Service along the line began on November 22, 2014.
eBART was conceived to bring service to the eastern communities in
Contra Costa County
) of the San Francisco Bay
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1 = State
, subdivision_name1 = California
, subdivision_type2 ...
. Initially studied for full BART service buildout, it was decided to construct the line with
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
rail and utilizing
diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
light rail trains. This allowed BART to roll out service at 60% the cost of traditional buildout with the option to regauge and electrify the route at a later date. The service debuted on May 26, 2018, and included a stop at
Pittsburg Center station
Pittsburg Center station is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station on the . It is located at the Railroad Avenue overpass of Highway 4 in Pittsburg, California and serves the downtown area of about away via connecting buses provided by Tri Delta T ...
, which was primarily funded with money from the city of Pittsburg. It is referred to by BART as simply an extension of the existing Pittsburg-Bay Point line to Antioch rather than a separate route.
Infill station
Because West Dublin / Pleasanton station was originally planned to enter into service as part of the original extension to Dublin/Pleasanton, the station's foundation along with some communication and train control facilities already existed on-site. Final construction of the station for revenue service began on . Possible faulty construction delayed its opening until 2011. Its cost was estimated at $106 million ($ million adjusted for inflation), with funding coming from a unique public-private partnership and the proceeds of planned transit-oriented development (TOD) on adjacent BART-owned property.
Proposals to extend the line further east to Livermore have been put forward variously since its construction to Dublin/Pleasanton. In 2017, citing lack of interest in the project from BART, the Livermore City Council proposed a newly established local entity to undertake planning and construction of the extension, which was also recommended by the California State Assembly Transportation Committee. The
Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority
The Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority is a special-purpose district body formed for the sole purpose of providing a public transit connection, known as Valley Link, between Indian gauge, broad-gauge Bay Area Rapid Transit (BAR ...
was established that year "for purposes of planning, developing, and delivering cost-effective and responsive transit connectivity between the Bay Area Rapid Transit District's rapid transit system and the Altamont Corridor Express commuter rail service in the Tri-Valley, that meets the goals and objectives of the community." Funds previously allocated to BART to construct a Livermore extension were forfeited to the authority by July 1, 2018.
Silicon Valley extension (2009–present)
Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...
was originally to have been a member of the BART district, but local leaders voted down participation early in the project. Minor service at Palo Alto, right over the border from
San Mateo County
San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...
was also planned originally. However, San Mateo County also opted out, leaving Fremont the closest end of line. In 2000, Santa Clara County voters approved a 30-year-long half cent
sales tax
A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...
increase to fund a BART extension to San Jose.
Construction of the Warm Springs extension began in 2009, with a planned opening in 2014. By the time of the extension's opening on March 25, 2017, the start of revenue service had been delayed over two years. The extension to Berryessa started construction in 2012.
Earthquake safety
Despite the robustness of the system following the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, a 2010 study showed that BART overhead structures could collapse in a major earthquake, which has a significant probability of occurring within three decades. Seismic retrofits were necessary to address these deficiencies, although one in particular, the penetration of the Hayward Fault Zone by the
Berkeley Hills Tunnel
The Berkeley Hills Tunnel is a tunnel which carries Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) through the Berkeley Hills between Rockridge station and Orinda station.
Design
While the tracks run in the median of California State Route 24 on both sides of t ...
, will be left for correction after a large earthquake.
An earthquake early warning system called
ShakeAlert
ShakeAlert is an earthquake early warning system (EEW) in the United States, developed and operated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and its partners. As of 2021, the system issues alerts for the country's West Coast (specifically t ...
, sponsored by the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
, was instituted in 2012 with the help of
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
seismologists who linked BART to 200 stations of the California Integrated Seismic Network. These electronic signals travel much faster than seismic waves. For quakes outside the Bay Area, they provide advance notice that shaking is on the way; for quakes in the Bay Area, they provide an earlier warning. If the seismic network warns of ground motion above a threshold, the train control computers will order "service" braking, slowing from normal speeds of up to to .
"The earthquake early warning system will enable BART to stop trains before earthquake shaking starts and thereby prevent derailment, and save passengers from potential injuries", said BART Board President John McPartland. "We are the first transit agency in the United States to provide this early warning and intervention."
The Transbay Tube has also required earthquake retrofitting. The immersed tube lies in a shallow trench dredged on the bottom of San Francisco Bay, and was anchored to the bottom by packing around the sides and top with mud and gravel. This fill may be prone to
soil liquefaction
Soil liquefaction occurs when a cohesionless saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress such as shaking during an earthquake or other sudden change in stress condition, in ...
during an earthquake, which could allow the buoyant hollow tube to break loose from its anchorages. Retrofitting outside the tube compacted the fill, to make it denser and less prone to liquefaction. Inside the tube, BART installed heavy steel plates, to reduce sideways movement in an earthquake. The work was performed between March and December 2013, and BART closed one of the two bores of the tube early on some weeknights. Trains shared a single tunnel between Embarcadero and West Oakland after 10 pm, with travel delays of 15–20 minutes. The work, estimated to take 14 months, was completed after 8 months.
BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant
On January 1, 2009, a BART Police officer, Johannes Mehserle, fatally shot Oscar Grant III. BART held multiple public meetings to ease tensions led by BART Director Carole Ward Allen who called on the BART Board to hire two independent auditors to investigate the shooting, and to provide recommendations to the board regarding BART Police misconduct. Director Ward Allen established BART's first Police Department Review Committee and worked with Assemblyman Sandre Swanson to pass AB 1586 in the
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...
, which enforced civilian oversight of the BART Police Department. BART Director Lynette Sweet said that "BART has not handled this ituationcorrectly," and called for the BART police chief and general manager to step down, but only one other BART Director, Tom Radulovich, has supported such action.
Eyewitnesses gathered direct evidence of the shooting with video cameras, which were later submitted to and disseminated by media outlets and watched hundreds of thousands of times in the days following the shooting. Violent demonstrations occurred protesting the shooting.
Mehserle was arrested and charged with murder, to which he pleaded not guilty. Oakland
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
attorney
John Burris
John Leonard Burris (born May 8, 1945) is an American civil rights attorney, based in Oakland, California, known for his work in police brutality cases representing plaintiffs. The John Burris law firm practices employment, criminal defense, DUI, ...
filed a US$25 million wrongful death claim against the district on behalf of Grant's daughter and girlfriend. Oscar Grant III's father also filed a lawsuit claiming that the death of his son deprived him of his son's companionship.
Mehserle's trial was subsequently moved to Los Angeles following concerns that he would be unable to get a fair trial in Alameda County. On July 8, 2010, Mehserle was found guilty on a lesser charge of
involuntary manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...
. He was released on June 13, 2011, and is now on parole.
Replacement fleet (2012–present)
As the age of the main fleet passed 40 years, BART sought to replace all of its cars. In 2012 BART awarded a $900 million contract to Canadian railcar manufacturer
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
for 410 new cars, 260 with an option for 150 more. The cars are designed by Morelli Designers of Canada. In late 2013, BART purchased 365 more cars, for a total fleet size of 775, accelerated the delivery schedule by 21 months (from 10 cars per month up to 16 cars per month) and lowered cost.
The 10-car test pilot train had been previously scheduled for delivery in 2015, followed by an 18-month testing period. Due to potential access issues for people with disabilities, the pilot car layout was modified by the BART board in February 2015 to include two wheelchair spaces in the center of the car, as well as alternative layouts for bike and flexible open spaces. More recently, the Canadian manufacturer of the cars encountered delays in other cities and a cancellation in Toronto. As of early 2016, the scheduled delivery of the 10-car test train was delayed one year until late 2016. The train was put into revenue service on January 19, 2018, though some cars were removed for servicing several days later.
The first 140 cars had been set to begin service in 2017, but this number was subsequently cut to 54 cars. Delivery of all 775 cars was delayed from 2021 to 2022. The first ten-car train received CPUC certification on January 17, 2018, and began revenue service two days later on January 19. Plans to have 198 new cars by July 2018 did not materialize, and the agency had put only 20 in service at that time. Forty-five cars were in use by November 2018: two 10-car trains for revenue service and the remainder for training. Also that month, BART announced they had negotiated to extend their purchase options to a total of 1,200 cars.
2019–present: Modernization of system and COVID-19 pandemic
In order to expedite seismic retrofitting the Transbay Tunnel, significant schedule changes and reroutings commenced on February 11, 2019. The first inbound trains leave outer terminals around 5:00 am on weekdays, 6:00 am on Saturdays, and 8:00 am on Sundays and most holidays – the previous 4:00 am weekday start time was delayed to 5:00 for three years. Special express bus services were established or expanded to accommodate early riders. Agencies operating bus bridges include:
AC Transit
AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" ro ...
County Connection
The County Connection (officially, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, CCCTA) is a Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route bus and ADA paratransit (County Connection LINK) service in and around central Contra Costa County ...
WHEELS
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...
,
SamTrans
SamTrans (stylized as samTrans; officially the San Mateo County Transit District) is a public transport agency in and around San Mateo, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides bus service throughout San Mateo County and into porti ...
, and
Muni
Muni may refer to:
Municipal
* A common US abbreviation for municipal, municipal services, and the like
*Municipal bond
*Municipal Bridge, the former name of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky
*"Muni", slang for a mu ...
SFO–Millbrae line
The SFO–Millbrae line (also known as the SFO–Millbrae shuttle) was a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) shuttle line in the San Francisco Bay Area that ran between Millbrae station and San Francisco International Airport station (SFO). The line ...
was reinstated, and Sunday Dublin/Pleasanton–Daly City line trains were rerouted away from San Francisco at the Oakland Wye, with their terminus changed to Macarthur station. Sunday service to San Francisco resumed on February 16, 2020. Trains terminate at Montgomery station during single-tracking work and Daly City at other times.
Amid the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, ridership plummeted by 90% prompting reduced service hours, cut short turns on the Antioch Line, and longer train lengths to accommodate social distancing. As late as February 2021, ridership remained below 20% of usual levels.
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, correcti ...
Local 3333, and the BART Police Officer's Association.
;1976 strike
BART has a unionized work force that went on strike for two weeks in 1976 in solidarity with the BART Police Officers Association. During the 1970s, BART union workers received quarterly cost of living increases.
;1979 lockout/strike
In 1979 there was a 90-day lockout by management, or a strike by union workers. Trains ran during this period because one of the unions, AFSCME, was then only an informal association known as BARTSPA, and management and BARTSPA had enough staff to keep trains running. One result of this strike is that the cost-of-living increases were greatly reduced to an amount far below the
Consumer Price Index
A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time.
Overview
A CPI is a statistica ...
, and such raises are only received if no other raise occurs in a particular year.
;1997 strike
For seven days starting from 7 September 1997, a BART strike caused a system-wide shutdown. This resulted in a four-year contract offering a seven percent raise, and a one-time payment of $3,000 to all employees in lieu of a raise the first year. In addition, BART began large scale layoffs of rank and file workers, increasing the workload on those remaining.
;2001 negotiations
In its 2001 negotiations, the BART unions fought for, and won, a 24 percent wage increase over four years with continuing benefits for employees and retirees.
;2005 negotiations
Another threatened strike on July 6, 2005, was averted by a last-minute agreement between management and the unions. In this agreement, Union workers received a 7% raise over four years, and paid an increase in the cost of medical insurance. The net increase (3%) was well below
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
, which was about 10% cumulative (about 2.4% per year) over the period of the contract.
The net increase was also below the average private sector raise, which was 4.6% for 2006.
;2009 negotiations
The outcome of the 2009 contract negotiations were a four-year wage freeze, reduced pensions, and changes to work rules.
These new terms provided a $100 million savings to BART from 2009 to 2013.
;2013 strikes
BART employees went on strike on July 1, 2013, over pay and safety issues. The strike was ended July 5, when both sides agreed to a 30-day cooling off period (which ended Monday, August 5).
A second strike began on Friday, October 18, 2013, over unresolved compensation and
work rule A work rule is a negotiated stipulation in a labor contract that limits the conditions under which management
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government ...
issues. Management offered a 12% wage increase over four years, of which 4% would be taken back as an increase in the required pension contribution; 9.5% increase in healthcare premiums, and changes to work rules including fewer fixed work schedules. Unions were willing to accept the financial terms but requested binding
arbitration
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...
for the work rules. Management refused the arbitration offer.
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...
in 1997, calling it the "most advanced automated urban rail transit system incorporating many innovations, marking a new generation of rail travel."
In October 2004 BART received the American Public Transportation Association's ''Outstanding Public Transportation System Award'' for 2004 in the category of transit systems with 30 million or more annual passenger trips.
BART issued announcements and began a promotional campaign declaring that it had been named ''Number One Transit System in America''. In 2006 the same industry trade group presented BART with the token AdWheel award for 'creative approaches to marketing transit' in recognition for BART's development of an iPod-based trip planner.
Incidents and accidents
There have been no accidents attributed to brake failure. The following incidents are known to have occurred on the BART system:
* In 1972, shortly after the system opened, a test train carrying no passengers failed to stop at the end of the line at Fremont and ran into the parking lot. There were several injuries.
* The
Transbay Tube
The Transbay Tube is an underwater rail tunnel that carries Bay Area Rapid Transit's four transbay lines under San Francisco Bay between the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California. The tube is long, and attaches to twin bored tunnels ...
was closed from January 17 to April 4, 1979, after a train caught fire in the tube, injuring dozens, killing a fireman, and damaging equipment. Most of the injuries were caused by inhalation of toxic smoke from the burning polyurethane in the seats, leading to a $118,000 replacement program which was completed in November 1980.
* On December 17, 1992, a BART train derailed south of 12th Street station in Oakland and caused a five-day closure of the line.
* On March 9, 2006, debris on BART tracks between Montgomery and Embarcadero stations caught fire and caused a 1.5 hour system-wide shutdown. Frustrated passengers accused BART of mishandling the incident.
*On March 28 and 29, 2006, BART experienced
computer glitch
A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...
es in its system during
rush hour
A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: on ...
, which left about 35,000 commuters stranded inside trains or stations while the problem was being resolved.
* On December 1, 2006, a BART train jumped the tracks near the
Oakland Wye
The Oakland Wye is an underground flying wye junction in downtown Oakland, California which serves the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. Trains can switch between (a) the northbound Richmond or Antioch lines (first station: , underground), ...
, between 12th Street and Lake Merritt stations. There were no injuries.
* On May 10, 2008, two separate early morning fires at different power substations disrupted service on the Fremont line. No injuries were reported from the incident. The resulting damage left the Fremont line impaired as several computer control loops went offline between South Hayward and Union City Stations. Train operators were forced to manually drive trains at a reduced speed of . Normal service was finally restored on July 13, 2008, two weeks before initial estimates.
* On October 14, 2008, a BART track worker, James Strickland, was killed by a train near the Concord-Walnut Creek border. The Pittsburg/Bay Point line was the most affected by the accident.
* On December 29, 2008, shortly after 7 PM, an electrical fire broke out near the Walnut Creek station. The fire apparently started after a train ripped off a portion of the electric third rail, dragging it under the train and sparking a fire along the rail. The fire caused major delays of 2–3 hours, as Pittsburg/Bay Point bound trains could travel no further than Lafayette station, and San Francisco Airport bound trains were held at Concord station, having to be taken out of service as the delays continued. A bus shuttle system was set up to take passengers along the Concord, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, and Lafayette BART stations. Trains were eventually allowed through the station in both directions, sharing one track until the rail was repaired.
* On January 1, 2009, there was an officer-involved shooting at the Fruitvale station, killing one person. See
BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant
Oscar Grant III was a 22-year-old African-American man who was killed in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California. Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid ...
.
* On February 3, 2009, two trains collided at low speed while approaching the 12th Street station, injuring a dozen people.
* On July 16, 2009, a westbound Dublin/Pleasanton train struck a construction worker at the upcoming West Dublin Station. None of the 75–100 passengers on the train were hurt. Service was affected for 30 minutes on both lanes and passengers were forced to stay on their trains until BART decided for the affected train to head back to the Dublin/Pleasanton Station where passengers could exit. Operations resumed a few hours later.
* On December 9, 2009, a train derailed between Lake Merrit and 12th Street stations in Oakland, California.
* On Sunday, March 13, 2011, the eighth and ninth cars of a ten car train derailed after leaving the Concord station at slow speed. Three minor back injuries were reported. The train carried about 65 people at that time. After the derailment, buses were employed to shuttle the passengers between the BART stations of Pleasant Hill and Pittsburg/Bay Point. The repairs lasted into the night and were completed before the Monday morning commute. A similar event occurred at the same location on the evening of February 21, 2014 to a train not in passenger service, and a similar bus bridge was employed among North Concord, Concord, and Pleasant Hill stations on February 22, 2014, while emergency repairs were made.
* On October 19, 2013, two BART workers were struck and killed while inspecting a track section between the Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill stations.
* On April 22, 2016, a new test car, which had recently been delivered to the agency, overshot the end of a track while undergoing tests at the Hayward Maintenance Complex. No passengers were on board the car as the only occupant was the BART train operator. No injuries were reported.
* On February 7, 2017, a northbound train struck a pedestrian on the Richmond line, shutting down service north of North Berkeley; the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
* On September 14, 2021, a woman was killed at the Powell Street Station when a train door closed on her pet's leash with the pet inside. The leash was tied around her waist. The woman walked out of the train car as the doors were closing and was killed as soon as she was dragged by the train.
Crime
In the summer of 2017 BART came under severe criticism for 'politically correct' suppression of video evidence of crimes committed at Oakland stations. That spring and summer, in at least three incidents, 'gangs' of youths had swarmed stopped trains and attacked and robbed train riders.
BART's justification for the suppression of this evidence was "To release these videos would create a high level of racially insensitive commentary toward the district," ... "And in addition it would create a racial bias in the riders against minorities on the trains."
According to a memo distributed to BART Directors, the agency did not put out a press release on the June 30 theft because it was a "petty crime" that would make BART look "crime ridden." Furthermore, it would "unfairly affect and characterize riders of color, leading to sweeping generalizations in media reports."
In July 2017, a BART rider created a website bartcrimes.com to disseminate publicly available information he thought BART made difficult to find. BART officials say crime rates remain low, but according to data requested by the
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
after the mob robbery in April, figures showed a 45 percent increase in robberies aboard BART trains in its stations during the first quarter of the year.
In September 2017, six people (victims of the robberies/assaults) filed suit against BART for gross negligence, claiming BART does not provide adequate security for its riders.
Defunct lines
In the ten months between the openings of the
Market Street Subway
The Market Street subway is a two-level subway tunnel that carries Muni Metro and BART trains under Market Street in San Francisco, California.Transbay Tube
The Transbay Tube is an underwater rail tunnel that carries Bay Area Rapid Transit's four transbay lines under San Francisco Bay between the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California. The tube is long, and attaches to twin bored tunnels ...
(November 5, 1973 to September 16, 1974), the San Francisco segment between and operated as an independent line.
On July 10, 1995, BART began limited direct service between and as traffic mitigation during reconstruction of the
I-680 Interstate 680 may refer to:
*Interstate 680 (California), a connecting freeway between I-80 and I-280 in the San Francisco Bay Area, California
*Interstate 680 (Nebraska–Iowa), a bypass in Omaha, Nebraska
*Interstate 680 (Ohio), a loop through Y ...
/ SR 24 interchange in Walnut Creek. The service, which ran with two five-car trains, was extended to on July 24. The special service ended on May 5, 1997, to free the trains for the opening of the extension to Dublin/Pleasanton five days later.AirBART, a dedicated bus line, operated between the current and the
Oakland International Airport
Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger f ...
. The service was discontinued on November 22, 2014, with the opening of the
Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line
The Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line, also known informally as the BART to OAK line, is an automated guideway transit (AGT) system operated by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) between BART's Coliseum station and Oakland International ...
automated guideway transit
An automated guideway transit (AGT) or automated fixed-guideway transit or automatic guideway transit system is a type of fixed guideway transit infrastructure with a riding or suspension track that supports and physically guides one or more dr ...
system. AirBART was a joint project of BART and the Port of Oakland, which owns and operates the airport; it was operated by
Transdev
Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020.
History
The group was formed by the merger of V ...
under contract.
The
SFO–Millbrae line
The SFO–Millbrae line (also known as the SFO–Millbrae shuttle) was a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) shuttle line in the San Francisco Bay Area that ran between Millbrae station and San Francisco International Airport station (SFO). The line ...
(Purple Line) twice operated as a shuttle service between and . The first iteration began operation when the BART-SFO Extension opened on June 22, 2003; it was discontinued on February 9, 2004, during the first of several service changes on the extension. Shuttle service resumed on February 11, 2019; it was again replaced with extensions of other services on August 2, 2021.
Timeline of service expansion
Automated guideway transit
An automated guideway transit (AGT) or automated fixed-guideway transit or automatic guideway transit system is a type of fixed guideway transit infrastructure with a riding or suspension track that supports and physically guides one or more dr ...
line
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Standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses ...