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Re: "Progress" vs. "Tried & True"
Author: Al Stangenberger
Date: 07-31-2010 - 22:43
A few thoughts about the Bridge Railway vs. BART and a remodeled Bay Bridge:
1. Speed - the Bridge Railway had a 35 mph speed limit, BART is lots faster through the tube.
2. BART has several stops in San Francisco rather than only stopping at the Transbay Terminal. Much more useful for commuters and shoppers not going to the Financial District. (and now it goes direct to SFO - before it was necessary to go from Transbay to Taylor and O'Farrell to catch an airport bus)
3. Given how the shipment of goods has shifted from loose-car railroading to containers delivered by truck (and also the shift of nearly all port business from San Francisco to Oakland), the three lanes available on the Bay Bridge for trucks and buses would be totally inadequate (especially since at peak times there was only one lane in the opposite direction).
If we had kept the Bridge Railway, it would have been necessary to build a second bridge to handle vehicles including trucks and buses and we would still have a slow train which only went to Transbay. Nostalgia is fine, but now that we have a rebuilt Bay Bridge for vehicles, and BART for fast and more versatile service, I think we're much better off.
1. Speed - the Bridge Railway had a 35 mph speed limit, BART is lots faster through the tube.
2. BART has several stops in San Francisco rather than only stopping at the Transbay Terminal. Much more useful for commuters and shoppers not going to the Financial District. (and now it goes direct to SFO - before it was necessary to go from Transbay to Taylor and O'Farrell to catch an airport bus)
3. Given how the shipment of goods has shifted from loose-car railroading to containers delivered by truck (and also the shift of nearly all port business from San Francisco to Oakland), the three lanes available on the Bay Bridge for trucks and buses would be totally inadequate (especially since at peak times there was only one lane in the opposite direction).
If we had kept the Bridge Railway, it would have been necessary to build a second bridge to handle vehicles including trucks and buses and we would still have a slow train which only went to Transbay. Nostalgia is fine, but now that we have a rebuilt Bay Bridge for vehicles, and BART for fast and more versatile service, I think we're much better off.
