BART Squeezing Every Inch of Capacity While Waiting for Reinforcements

BART expanded service in September in a display of the lost art of making the most of what they've got.

1 minute read

October 9, 2015, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Michael Cabanatuan reported recently on BART's implementation of expanded service—longer trains, more trains, and longer operating hours—in response to record crowds.

Ridership on the system currently stands at about 430,000 trips per weekday, according to Cabanatuan. But the new service is not a result of some special rush order on new rolling stock, reports Cabanatuan: "BART has new trains on the way, but they won’t arrive in significant numbers until 2017. With few railcars to spare, the agency has beefed up its maintenance staff to get the cars out of the shop and on the tracks more quickly, and has repaired some damaged cars."

The remainder of the article goes on to detail the new service capacity for each of the system's lines. The Pittsburgh/Bay Point line, the system's busiest, will see the most improvements, with maximum train length on all trains headed to San Francisco International Airport and additional rush hour trains, for example.

Sunday, September 13, 2015 in San Francisco Chronicle

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