"surplus cars"??? No. As with any transit operation, there are always OOS cars--both scheduled and spontaneous maintenance issues. That said, BART's inability to field longer trains is not a function of slow unloading at Embarcadero. The latter is mostly an issue of too few doors per car which is being corrected in the new fleet. As to having a station at the west end of the transbay tube, numerous transit lines have major stations immediately adjacent an underwater crossing but manage tighter headways.

Yes, BART is what we have, and yes, we need better fare and service integration rather than the balkanized mess we have today. That said, BART also needs to make major improvements in service patterns, span of service, and level of cleanliness of the system.