SAN FRANCISCO – BART’s 39-year-old cars are scheduled for an upgrade. Design is underway now, and the transit agency wants your help.
The original cars weren’t intended to last forever, and new cars are an opportunity to advance with the times. BART expects its ridership to increase to 500,000 people per day (up from 335,000 today), and is preparing for its biggest capital investment since opening in 1972. Designing, building, and installing 700 new train cars is expected to cost $3.4 billion.
BART is reaching out to the public to answer the tough questions on the new system, such as:
* Should the seats be smaller? The current 22-inch wide seats are large relative to other systems such as the D.C. Metro (18 inches) or the Los Angeles Metro (17).
* Should the cars have more space for bikes, and if so, how? Currently, 4% of BART riders arrive at the station by bike, and bicycle ridership is expected to continue increasing throughout the Bay Area.
* Should BART keep fabric-covered seats and carpet, or move to other materials that are easier to clean?
* Should each car have more doors?
* What type of passenger information should display inside each car?
* How can BART reconfigure seats to provide more seating?
* Should the cars have power outlets?
511 ContaCosta:
http://511contracosta.org/bart-to-re...-cars-by-2023/
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BART on Track to Replace Train Cars by 2023
In order to accommodate for a projected increase in commuters and update a nearly 40-year-old system, the Bay Area Rapid Transit is undergoing an estimated $3.4 billion endeavor to replace BART trains by 2023 - the agency's largest project since the rail system debuted in 1972.
The New Train Car Project aims to replace BART's 669 train cars with 700 new ones to account for a projected increase to 500,000 passengers per day by 2035, according to BART spokesperson Jim Allison. The current ridership is about 335,000 on an average week day.
The Daily Californian:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/1118...n_cars_by_2023