The people of Marin County *did* want BART. The Golden Gate Bridge did not. The bridge operator didn't want the train to cut into its toll revenue. BART was also concerned that there wouldn't be enough money left for the line once San Mateo County dropped out. A good distillation on what happened here:
Quote:
Maps were drawn for BART in Marin showing stations in Sausalito, Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Santa Venetia with a possible extension to Ignacio. A 1956 poll found 87.7 percent of Marin residents wanted BART in the county.
A 1955 study by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission found that the Golden Gate Bridge was capable of handing BART trains on a lower deck, and a second study in 1961 affirmed the conclusion.
But behind the scenes, plans for BART over the Golden Gate Bridge didn’t sit well with some, said Louise Nelson Dyble, author of “Paying the Toll: Local Power, Regional Politics, and the Golden Gate Bridge.” Bridge district officials didn’t like the idea of having BART on its span, potentially cutting into its toll base. It shopped around for an engineer who would say trains on the span would not work, she said.
“Those who led the board were very much opposed to having BART cross the bridge,” said Dyble, an assistant professor of history at Michigan Technological University.
They hired Clifford Paine, one of bridge designer Joseph Strauss’ engineers, to assess the feasibility of BART on the span. He concluded it would not work, saying the added weight would stress cables and cause the span to sag enough to be in violation of Navy clearance regulations.
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https://www.marinij.com/2010/08/07/d...e-out-on-bart/
I don't think it would be a good idea for BART to go back to prioritizing line extensions, especially if it means using legacy BART technology. The San Jose extension is (in theory) good because it will hit a lot of new and existing density. El Sobrante, Livermore, Stockton, and other distant lands can wait.
BART needs to focus on boosting the capacity of the existing system, which is the agency's main priority right now. Rebuilding track, a newer and bigger fleet, and a new dispatch system that allows for more trains in the tube should go a long way toward improving service for current riders. It was sad to see Grace Crunican retire as general manager, and I hope her successor continues her momentum.