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Re: ENOUGH!!!! Its not a conspiracy
Author: mook
Date: 03-26-2016 - 17:22
Another point: while I see BART as a gold-plated PBQ&D production, it works most of the time. It's a key piece of Bay Area transportation NOW, regardless of whatever putative conspiracy existed THEN (50 years ago). What it is NOW, however, is a 50-year-old (at least in the core sections), worn-out transit system just like most of the other rail transit systems around the country, that needs reconstruction pretty much from the ground up. We should be arguing (if arguing is necessary) about what is necessary to put BART back into a good state of repair, now whether it should exist or whether it is the product of some far-gone conspiracy.
Reconstruction will be expensive, but replacement with something else would be impossible. And as somebody pointed out in another thread (and the Sierra Club made hay over for the Warm Springs extension), a 2-track BART line (on around a 100' r/w) is the passenger-carrying equivalent of a 4-6 lane freeway operating at capacity (not at rush hour, which is slower than optimum and therefore below capacity, or at 60-70 mph which is well below capacity due to the distance needed between vehicles). You don't put a 4-6 lane freeway in 100' of right of way.
BART has some resemblance to CAHSR. Yes, some of the same consulting companies are involved. It had far higher design goals when built than typical East Coast rail systems - frankly, it was intended to be a commuter train like LIRR but faster, and more "modern" and comfortable, not an urban subway. It has become the latter, which requires changes in the way things are built and operated. No Plan Survives Contact With The Enemy (or the Real World), and BART can be rightfully criticized for not adapting well or maintaining what they have. But at this point the job is to fix the system, not carp about OMG CONSPIRACY 50 YEARS AGO that almost certainly was not the case.
Reconstruction will be expensive, but replacement with something else would be impossible. And as somebody pointed out in another thread (and the Sierra Club made hay over for the Warm Springs extension), a 2-track BART line (on around a 100' r/w) is the passenger-carrying equivalent of a 4-6 lane freeway operating at capacity (not at rush hour, which is slower than optimum and therefore below capacity, or at 60-70 mph which is well below capacity due to the distance needed between vehicles). You don't put a 4-6 lane freeway in 100' of right of way.
BART has some resemblance to CAHSR. Yes, some of the same consulting companies are involved. It had far higher design goals when built than typical East Coast rail systems - frankly, it was intended to be a commuter train like LIRR but faster, and more "modern" and comfortable, not an urban subway. It has become the latter, which requires changes in the way things are built and operated. No Plan Survives Contact With The Enemy (or the Real World), and BART can be rightfully criticized for not adapting well or maintaining what they have. But at this point the job is to fix the system, not carp about OMG CONSPIRACY 50 YEARS AGO that almost certainly was not the case.
