I’ve been doing research on the state of the various transit systems in the bay area lately. This time around I took a look at eBart, the Bart expansion from Pittsburg to Byron.
First of all, I think any expansion of Bart is a good idea — I’ve felt for some time now that Bart is a good system: always on time, reduces suburban traffic, and joins together Bay Area economic centers. It has it’s problems, like not always being the cleanest thing in the world, and it is sort of expensive. In the end I still feel Bart is an extremely good deal for a single traveler, though for a family it can be pricer than a cab, depending on how far they are traveling.
All of that said, I must wonder out loud why it takes 5 years to build a 23 mile route? Actually, according to their timeline, construction is a whopping 2.5 years! What are they doing for the other 2 and a half? “Scoping” and “Right of Way”. Does it really take 5 years to do all this? I’m not a project manager by any extent of the imagination, but maybe 24 months would be enough time for only 23 miles! It certainly doesn’t take that long for a freeway.
I won’t even ask why they didn’t start on this project until 2005; over 30 years since Bart was put into revenue service. Is the price of gas starting to hurt or something? Too many cars on your 6 lane freeways?
The Transportation Commission pulled $5.3m out of car registration fees for 3 more spare the air days. So guess what? Transit is free tomorrow. [Linky linky]. 
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