SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Transit/Transportation News

[peanut gallery]

Awesome work! Like Eric said above, this (or something like it) should be posted on all the various systems and their websites.

[fflint]

BART reports record average monthly ridership in August--384,295 trips per weekday--and that four of BART’s top 10 ridership days came within the last month. Three of the system's ten busiest days ever were just last week!

Here's BART's list of all-time top ten ridership days:

11/03/10 - 522,198 - Giants' World Series Victory Parade; Warriors vs. Memphis
10/29/09 - 442,067 - Emergency Bay Bridge Closure
10/30/09 - 437,693 - Emergency Bay Bridge Closure
10/28/09 - 437,180 - Emergency Bay Bridge Closure; Warriors vs. Houston
09/08/08 - 405,393 - Raiders vs. Denver; Giants vs. Arizona
10/13/11 - 400,907 - Cal vs. USC
09/05/12 - 400,628 - A's vs. LA Angels; Giants vs. Arizona
09/06/12 - 399,597 - No special events
08/15/12 - 397,248 - Giants vs. Washington; Red Hot Chili Peppers
09/04/12 - 397,117 - I-680 closed 9am-5pm; A's vs. LA Angels; Giants vs. Arizona

[mthd]

Originally Posted by fflint

...
09/06/12 - 399,597 - No special events
...

that's impressive. what's the next highest 'no special event' day?

[fflint]

Originally Posted by mthd

that's impressive. what's the next highest 'no special event' day?

Good question. Alas, I have no answer--BART only listed their top ten days.

[fflint]

According to a report tonight on KTVU's 10 O'Clock News regarding BART's "skyrocketing" ridership, this Monday was another record day for ridership with 415,000 boardings.

[fflint]

And last night's report is confirmed in a BART press release:

September's skyrocketing ridership: 3 weekdays of 400,000-plus riders

Riders drawn by BART’s 95% or better on time performance standard are flocking to the transit system in September, pushing weekday ridership past the 400,000-plus milestone for the third time this month, including more than 415,000 trips Monday, September 10.

“Record ridership is great for the Bay Area. It helps improve the environment and mobility throughout the region and the increased revenue will help us re-invest in our system,” said BART General Manager Grace Crunican. “At 40 years old, BART is carrying more people than ever. We have 410 more trains on order and they can’t get here fast enough. In the meantime, we’ve added four extra trains in each direction on our busy Millbrae to Richmond line each weeknight.”

BART has seen a remarkable boost in ridership. Nine of BART’s top 20 ridership days have been recorded in 2012. In the past, it took a Giants World Series parade or a Bay Bridge closure to spike ridership but ridership approaching or surpassing the 400,000 mark is becoming the new normal.

[yakumoto]

From the Mercury News:

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO -- Terrified Caltrain passengers who were legally crossing the tracks were forced to jump out of the way of a Baby Bullet to avoid disaster, leaving the commuter line scrambling for answers after one of the train operators tested positive for drug use.

It makes me hope that way before electrification and this "Blended Plan", people really shouldn't be having to be walking across active tracks. A lot of the Caltrain stations are pretty minimal.

[Smiley Person]

Originally Posted by mthd

thanks for the comments everyone! fun little project.
i fixed the capitol corridor stations and tightened it up a tiny bit more. i added smart to one version but it extended the scale too much for legibility, and it isn't a system that has any connections to any other systems.

i'm on the fence about the f-line. it never has a dedicated right-of-way, doesn't have articulated vehicles, it's stops don't really have transfers to bart or the muni metro, they just happen to be nearby, etc etc. it's a grey area for sure.

awesome work! I would add in the F-line, it helps complete the shape of SF. I'm actually working with a friend on a map for all of California. This one's in color and shows key bus connections while omitting track details and future extensions.

[CyberEric]

Nice job^

That's fantastic news about BART ridership! Thanks for the update.

[northbay]

San Francisco Bay Bridge Yuerba Buena Island Transition Structure Final Pour:

• Video Link

[OhioGuy]

Residents discuss new Livermore BART station

BART wants to expand in the East Bay and Wednesday night a public meeting was held to discuss those plans. People in Livermore have paid taxes towards BART for nearly 49 years. They say it is about time they had a station in their city, but there is a lot of debate about that station surrounding what it would look like and who would pay for it.

BART has envisioned a new station in Livermore in the center of Interstate 580, east of the end-of-the line station that's now in Dublin.

"The proposal is that we're going to end up going down 580 as far as Isabel. It's just short of five miles, so it is 4.8 miles," said BART board president John McPartland.

It's an agonizing stretch of road to drive at rush hour down I-580 and officials estimate the extension could get 20,000 commuters off the road and onto BART. But residents differ on how to do it.

[northbay]

My dad took my oldest son (just turned 3) to the Cotati SMART construction area.

Me: "Didn't the workers ask you to leave?"

My dad: "No, we stayed far out of their way. Plus there were other people walking along the tracks or dog walkers they didn't bother."

As a kid, I used to watch the freight trains pass at this exact location. Here are some (unfortunately small) pics he took:

[northbay]

Benicia-Martinez Bridge Celebrates 50th Anniversary

She’s a bit of a plain Jane compared to some of the Bay Area’s other toll bridges, but the original span of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge is nonetheless a transportation workhorse, and will get some love next week as officials gather to celebrate her 50th birthday.

Spanning the Carquinez Strait along Interstate 680, and connecting Contra Costa County with Solano County, the 1.2-mile span carried both directions of traffic when it originally opened on September 16, 1962. Growing traffic volumes in the ensuing decades overwhelmed the original span, prompting MTC’s Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) and Caltrans to partner on building a second parallel span, which opened in 2007. The original span was converted to carry four lanes of southbound traffic as well as a new bicycle and pedestrian pathway, while its younger sister span carries five lanes of northbound traffic.

...

“The Benicia-Martinez Bridge, quite simply, was the key to unlocking the biggest period of growth in central Solano County history. So it’s entirely appropriate that we celebrate the bridge’s first 50 years, and also look forward to a healthy and prosperous middle age,” said MTC Commissioner Jim Spering, who also sits on the Solano County Board of Supervisors and is vice chair of that body.

While they are different structural types, both the old and new Benicia-Martinez spans appear as clean ribbons of roadway stretching across the Strait. A scalloped railroad bridge that sits between the old and the new motor vehicle bridges dates back to1930 and gives the site additional architectural interest. The twin-spanned car/truck facility carried nearly 18 million toll-paying vehicles in 2010-11, making it the third-busiest among the region’s seven state-owned toll bridges.

http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/current_t...nicia_50th.htm

[fflint]

A BART press release about this coming weekend's expanded service notes the recent surge in ridership:

Originally Posted by BART

September was a record setting month for BART ridership, with an average weekday ridership of 402,955. Eleven of the 19 non-holiday September weekdays saw ridership top the 400,000 benchmark.

[M II A II R II K]

Transbay Transit Center to present unique opportunities for open spaces


10/01/12

By Will Reisman

Read More: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2012...es-open-spaces

.....

With the development of the new Transbay Transit Center requiring several overhead ramps for buses, project backers might have been intimidated by the prospect of those unseemly spaces dotting the landscape of the SoMa District. Instead, they’re viewing such spaces as places for positive possibilities.

- A vertical climbing wall, basketball courts, a dog park, public art and a biking path are all set to comprise Oscar Park, a public open space situated mostly beneath the various ramps that are part of the $1.5 billion bus and train terminal. Children will be able to zoom down a covered tube slide at the park’s playground, and parents can lounge in public seating areas or shop in nearby retail spaces. In the few areas where a freeway overpass doesn’t loom overhead, there will be grassy open spaces, said Courtney Pash, of the Successor to the Redevelopment Agency, The City department overseeing the project.

- “We wanted to make sure that the sites below the ramps did not become places for negative activity,” said Pash. “We knew that there would be opportunities to turn these places into open spaces with really positive outlets.” Most of the space will be centered around Folsom and Howard streets and the smaller alleys that intersect with the arteries. Pash said that designers have looked at open spaces in Mission Creek, where basketball courts and grassy tracts are located underneath freeways, as examples to help inform Oscar Park. They’ve also studied sites in New York City and Portland, Oregon for inspiration.

.....

Despite several overhead ramps above the area Oscar Park will provide outdoor activities for all ages, including a dog park, vertical climbing wall and a covered tube slide.

[fflint]

KTVU Channel 2 reported today that BART ridership is continuing to spike dramatically.

Yesterday saw the 5th highest ridership ever, with 426,948 passengers, and Tuesday was the 6th busiest day ever, with 419,755 passengers.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Why the spikes? Are they having festivals everyday and when is the first SMART train supposed to be delivered?

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Why the spikes? Are they having festivals everyday and when is the first SMART train supposed to be delivered?

There was a baseball game on Wednesday, but no special event I can think of on Tuesday.

[northbay]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Why the spikes? Are they having festivals everyday and when is the first SMART train supposed to be delivered?

The cars will be delivered October 2013. Service is scheduled to begin either late 2014 or early 2015.

Source: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...CLES/120229958

[fflint]

sfgate reports surging ridership on public transit over the weekend:

Originally Posted by sfgate

Muni estimated it carried 135,000 more passengers on Sunday, and 100,000 more on Saturday, than the typical 375,000 it hauls on an average weekend day. BART officials said they set a ridership record on Saturday, carrying 319,484 passengers. The previous weekend day record was 278,586, set on Sept. 1, 2007, when the Bay Bridge was closed and there were three major sporting events. Average ridership on Saturdays this year is 202,000. Sunday statistics were not yet available.