SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Transit/Transportation News

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by fflint

^For special circumstances they have indeed run trains 24 hours a day. I can think of 3 different periods of time when that happened. BART has never quite argued overnight service is impossible--they just come up with excuses for not doing it. I don't know why they don't want to, but I don't believe for one minute that they do rail work every single night, all night, in the Transbay Tube.

Seriously, think of what a game-changer it would be for the region--especially the East Bay--if BART just ran a 10-car train every hour on each line overnight? Even that skeletal service would be huge--people could live in one part of the region, go out for drinks, and get home safely!

the best official excuse i have seen is that California regulations prohibit whatever 24 service bart claims they can't run.
It would be huge, the really big time, big hitter regions run full service for the party crowd/late shift workers.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

I mean, is it even really a subway...sounds more like an underpass for trains.

A "subway" is a railroad that runs under the surface. Muni trains will run under the surface in the Central Subway, with four new stations. It's not difficult to understand. Are you hung up on heavy rail v. light rail?

[CharlesCO]

The time I took an overnight BART train back to the East Bay over President's Day weekend (around 3am or so) was unquestionably the most packed BART train I'd ever been in. Far, far more cramped than the usual cramped-ness of the weekday commute trains.* Granted, I'm sure a lot of people (myself included) made special plans in the city knowing that BART would be in service, but this proves that there's not only a demand for it, but that it would provide a public service in providing many people a way to avoid drunk driving. But of course that makes too much sense for the puritanical tendencies of the United States.



*On the plus side, the super cramped train gave me an excuse to hold on extra tight to the cute guy I was with.

[XtremeDave]

Originally Posted by fflint

I'm not sure I buy the idea BART needs to work on every inch of track every night--it seems BART doesn't want to run overnight service and so it has come up with some half-assed excuse for why.

That said, it's not possible to shut power to one side of a section of the tunnels without also shutting power to the other side. If workers are in one part of one tunnel, the rails in both directions get powered down.

If the electrical system is the reason why BART cant single-track the Transbay Tube at night for maintenance, then I wonder what the cost of upgrading to independent systems for each track would be. If that could get even 30 min weekend service all night across the Bay, and still permit BART to do the required maintenance, then it might be worth the cost.

[fflint]

These are fairly large mode change shifts--especially for those departing a Caltrain station--in just three years!

40% of Caltrain riders don’t drive – customer survey shows cultural shifts


source

[fflint]

Muni axes seats for more room on Metro trains

Jerold Chinn
sfbay.ca
May 15, 2014


Single-wide seats replace double-wides in a new Muni Metro configuration to accommodate dozens more passengers on every train. (SFMTA)

Muni riders on the N-Judah Wednesday morning may have noticed a lot more space to stand on their train.

Muni officials launched a one-month pilot Wednesday to test out a new seat configuration on of one of its light-rail vehicles to address overcrowding issues.

The new layout replaces 14 double-wide seats with single-wide seats, adding more floor space for about 10 more standing Muni riders.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said a total of 26 standing riders would now be able to use the extra space made available.

Supervisors London Breed and Scott Wiener along with SFMTA directors Ed Reiskin and John Haley took the first trip on the new configured train Wednesday morning on the N-Judah....

Wiener wrote Wednesday on his Facebook page addressing overcrowding and capacity issues on the Muni Metro: “Because of Muni’s light rail vehicle shortage, we have serious crowding problems. Until we get to an acceptable vehicle count, which will take a few years, we need to be resourceful in expanding system capacity.“

Transit officials will test the reconfigured train on the N-Judah until May 29. The train will then move to the L-Taraval starting May 30 until June 13.
....

[llamaorama]

Quote:
Originally Posted by llamaorama View Post

A "subway" is a railroad that runs under the surface. Muni trains will run under the surface in the Central Subway, with four new stations. It's not difficult to understand. Are you hung up on heavy rail v. light rail?

No

I was making what I thought was an interesting observation regarding phrasing.

If it was a road project they wouldn't be calling it a "new freeway" or a "big dig" to grade separate a street. Those terms are synonymous with "blight" and "intrusive". Likewise the word "subway" translates directly into the word "expensive".

[TWAK]

put this together for my GIS class

[fflint]

^Cool. I see you mapped the Iron Horse Trail--if you ever get the chance to bike it, you should. It's king awesome.

[Perklol]

Originally Posted by CharlesCO

The time I took an overnight BART train back to the East Bay over President's Day weekend (around 3am or so) was unquestionably the most packed BART train I'd ever been in. Far, far more cramped than the usual cramped-ness of the weekday commute trains.* Granted, I'm sure a lot of people (myself included) made special plans in the city knowing that BART would be in service, but this proves that there's not only a demand for it, but that it would provide a public service in providing many people a way to avoid drunk driving. But of course that makes too much sense for the puritanical tendencies of the United States.



*On the plus side, the super cramped train gave me an excuse to hold on extra tight to the cute guy I was with.

But you're a dude also?

[CharlesCO]

That map makes me think how cool/useful for me a Moraga BART line would have been. Too bad they also built houses over the old tunnel in the Oakland Hills. The trail is really nice though. I haven't gone running on it in a while.

Originally Posted by Eveningsong

But you're a dude also?

Yes, it is the Bay Area after all...

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by fflint

^Cool. I see you mapped the Iron Horse Trail--if you ever get the chance to bike it, you should. It's king awesome.

I haven't been down it yet, is there still exposed track? The map is a bit incomplete as are there are other lines and spurs but they are older. The line that goes near Clayton I used topo maps from 1943. I hope to finish to show how many rows, ect could be used. Shoot a lot of this rail still exists

Originally Posted by CharlesCO

That map makes me think how cool/useful for me a Moraga BART line would have been. Too bad they also built houses over the old tunnel in the Oakland Hills. The trail is really nice though. I haven't gone running on it in a while.

BART has used bits and pieces of both lines I believe. I heard that the rail tunnel for this line is abandoned as opposed to reused?

http://www.wplives.org/sn/history.html

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by Eveningsong

But you're a dude also?

Get real! What country are you from?

[Perklol]

Originally Posted by CharlesCO

Yes, it is the Bay Area after all...

Is there something wrong with the Bay area? Does it have ...?

I've never been.

[CharlesCO]

Yes, gay people live here. Now stop trolling if that's what you're trying to do.

[Perklol]

Originally Posted by CharlesCO

Yes, it is the Bay Area after all...

This could mean almost anything which is why I asked. I didn't know that piece of information you just posted recently.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by TWAK

I haven't been down it yet, is there still exposed track? The map is a bit incomplete as are there are other lines and spurs but they are older.

No, all remnants of the railroad have been removed--it's a paved and well-manicured trail for bicyclists, joggers and pedestrians, and one of the best and busiest of its kind anywhere I've been.

[CharlesCO]

For added interest, here's the Moraga passenger station on the Sacramento Northern Railroad, from the Saint Mary's College Alumni Facebook page. The only thing that's still there from that picture is the college obviously. The train station is gone, and everything else has been paved over with asphalt. They do have some janky 80s exercise equipment sprinkled throughout the trails in Lafayette and Moraga though.

[Nexis4Jersey]

• Video Link

[fflint]

I take the ferry as often as possible when traveling between the City and Oakland. Between the views and the full-service bar, there's no more civilized way to go.