119-481: The State-of-the-Art Car (SOAC) was a heavy rail mass transit demonstrator vehicle produced for the United States Department of Transportation 's Urban Mass Transportation Administration in the 1970s. It was intended to demonstrate the latest technologies to operating agencies and the riding public, and serve to promote existing and proposed transit lines. A single married pair was produced by
238-691: A Golden State Warriors game. That easily surpassed the previous Saturday record of 319,484 riders, which occurred in October 2012, coinciding with several sporting events and Fleet Week . BART set a Sunday ridership record of 292,957 riders in June 2013, in connection with the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade , surpassing Sunday records set the previous two years when the Pride Parade was held. Ridership dropped sharply during
357-496: A heavy rail metro line. Although the use of heavy rail also refers to rapid transit as with American parlance, it is characterized as electrified passenger rail services that use 8- or 10-car trains. This is then distinguished from light rail used to describe medium-capacity rail systems such as the LRT Line 1 and MRT Line 3 , and medium rail which is a regular rapid transit system operated with fewer train cars such as
476-928: A $ 7 million contract (equivalent to $ 39 million in 2023). It was the third system in the US to use encoded-value magnetic stripe tickets, following the Illinois Central Gulf commuter line in 1964 and the PATCO Speedline in 1968. Although tickets could be refilled at fare machines, riders often discarded tickets with small values remaining. BART formerly relied on unused ticket values on such discarded cards for additional revenue – as much as $ 9.9 million annually in 1999 (equivalent to $ 17 million in 2023). Tickets stopped being sold in December 2020 in favor of Clipper cards, and can no longer be used. A 50-cent surcharge per trip (25 cents for discounted fares)
595-477: A 62.5% discount is provided to seniors and the disabled. The Clipper START program for low-income adults provides a 50% discount. The San Francisco Muni and BART offer a combined monthly "A" Fast Pass, which allows unlimited rides on Muni services plus BART service within San Francisco. In August 2022, BART launched Clipper BayPass, a two-year pilot program to examine the viability of a transit pass that
714-568: A feasibility study for installing a second transbay crossing would commence the following year. By 2019, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA) had joined with BART to study a multi-modal crossing, which could also allow Capitol Corridor and San Joaquins routes to serve San Francisco directly. In 2007, BART stated its intention to improve non-peak (night and weekend) headways for each line to 15 minutes. The 20-minute headways at these times
833-478: A fifth line to the system for the first time in BART's history. The system was expanded to San Francisco International Airport in 2003 and to Oakland International Airport (now San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport) via an automated guideway transit spur line in 2014. eBART , an extension using diesel multiple units along conventional railroad infrastructure between Pittsburg/Bay Point and Antioch on
952-648: A mainly above-ground suburban rail network serving Greater London , the London Overground , which took over Silverlink Metro routes. Confusingly, the term overground is also used to refer to National Rail networks within London generally, or any non-London Underground rail service in everyday speech The term metro is not usually used to describe metro systems in German-speaking areas (Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland), instead using
1071-691: A metro system, is nonetheless officially classified as being heavy rail . In North America, the American Public Transportation Association defines a heavy-rail system as an electric railway with the capacity to handle a heavy volume of traffic. The term is often used to distinguish it from light rail systems, which usually handle a smaller volume of passengers. In North America, heavy rail can also refer to rapid transit , when referring to systems with heavier passenger loadings than light rail systems, but distinct from commuter rail and intercity rail systems. It
1190-535: A month later. Despite the fact that Marin had originally voted in favor of BART participation at the 88% level, its marginal tax base could not adequately absorb its share of BART's projected cost. Another important factor in Marin's withdrawal was an engineering controversy over the feasibility of running trains on the lower deck of the Golden Gate Bridge , an extension forecast as late as three decades after
1309-406: A nationwide decline in mass transit ridership in the second half of the decade. The Washington Post and LA Streetsblog attributed the national decline in ridership to changes in commute patterns, the fall in gasoline prices since 2014, and competition from the private sector in the form of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft. Ride-hailing has especially affected ridership on the lines to
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#17327800799461428-701: A number of major engineering challenges, including excavating subway tunnels in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley; constructing aerial structures throughout the Bay Area, particularly in Alameda and Contra Costa counties; tunneling through the Berkeley Hills on the Concord line; and lowering the system's centerpiece, the Transbay Tube connecting Oakland and San Francisco, into a trench dredged onto
1547-411: A paper-plastic composite with a magnetic stripe . The tickets were sold by fare vending machines. When exiting, fare gates read the magnetically stored value on the card, encoded the new value with the fare subtracted, and printed the new value on the card. Tickets with no remaining value were retained by the machine rather than being returned. The entire fare system was designed and built by IBM under
1666-429: A planned nine months of revenue service began on August 12, 1976. By the time operations ceased on January 24, 1977, the cars had only operated in revenue service for 23 days. The SOAC was well received by the public, particularly due to the quiet operation and air conditioning, as well as by the train operators, who found it easy to control. The operating agencies had more mixed reactions; only some found it useful. After
1785-649: A small loading gauge that allowed only 51-foot (15.54 m)-long, 2.8-meter (9 ft 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 in)-wide cars.) Revenue service began on the New York City Subway on May 17, 1974; the SOAC ran on the A , D , E , and N services until July 19. It was then operated in revenue service on the MBTA Red Line in Boston for a month beginning on August 19, 1974. The SOAC demonstrator
1904-446: A system devised by Frank J. Sprague , in which a spring-loaded trolley pole pushed a small trolley wheel up against an overhead wire to collect electricity for the motors. Although not the first overhead collection system, it was far more reliable than its predecessors, and eventually became used by almost all streetcars. Some authorities believe that the vehicle became known as a trolley car because it reminded people (particularly on
2023-478: A total capacity of 220 passengers per car, and "Hi-Density" with a 300-passenger capacity. The "Hi-Density" car had a mixture of transverse and longitudinal seating, with a total of 72 seats. The "Lo-Density" car had 62 seats in three sections: one with only transverse seats, one with a mix of seat types, and one with a mix of seat types and two tables. Both demonstrator cars were "A" cars with a cab at one end. The SOAC used third rail power in most locations, but power
2142-792: A transit sense refers to a rapid transit heavy rail system that goes underground. The term may refer only to the underground parts of the system, or to the full system. Subway is most commonly used in the United States and the English-speaking parts of Canada , though the term is also used elsewhere, such as to describe the Glasgow Subway in Scotland, and in translation of system names or descriptions in some Asian and Latin American cities. In some cities where subway
2261-556: Is a British English term referring to a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail". These lighter standards allow lower costs of operation at the price of slower operating speeds and lower vehicle capacity. They were permitted under the Light Railways Act 1896 and intended to bring railways to rural areas. The London Docklands Light Railway , has more rapid transit style features than would be typical of light rail systems, but fits within
2380-618: Is a barrier to ridership. In mid-2007, BART temporarily reversed its position, stating that the shortened wait times would likely not happen due to a $ 900,000 state revenue budget shortfall. Nevertheless, BART eventually confirmed the implementation of the plan by January 2008. Continued budgetary problems halted the expanded non-peak service and returned off-peak headways to 20 minutes in 2009. In 2008, BART announced that it would install solar panels at two yards, maintenance facilities, and Orinda station (the only station that receives sufficient sunlight to justify installation cost). In 2012,
2499-553: Is a growing desire to push the Federal Transit Administration to help fund these startup lines as well. Light rail is generally powered by electricity, usually by means of overhead wires , but sometimes by a live rail , also called third rail (a high voltage bar alongside the track), requiring safety measures and warnings to the public not to touch it. In some cases, particularly when initial funds are limited, diesel -powered versions have been used, but it
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#17327800799462618-473: Is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~80 km/h (50 mph)) and rapid acceleration. It uses passenger railcars operating singly or in multiple unit trains on fixed rails. It operates on separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded (i.e. is fully grade-separated from other traffic). The APTA definition also includes the use sophisticated signaling systems , and high platform loading . Originally,
2737-426: Is an American term for streetcar systems that use vehicles that were built before 1960, or modern replicas of such vehicles. Cable car is an American word for a passenger rail vehicle attached to a moving cable located below the street surface and powered by engines or motors at a central location, not on board the vehicle. There are cable cars operating in numerous cities, such as San Francisco . A light railway
2856-457: Is applied to all journeys made on paper tickets. However, due to supply chain shortages resulting in a lack of plastic Clipper cards, BART started issuing tickets again at the SFO station in October 2022. Sales of paper tickets again ended on September 30, 2023, and they were no longer usable after November 30. BART first piloted a smart card for fare payment called EZ Rider in 2006; this program
2975-531: Is at 41% of pre-pandemic levels, Saturday ridership is at 63%, and Sunday ridership is at 75%. In a 2022 survey, 31% of riders report household income below $ 50,000 (up from 26% in 2018), and 44% did not own a vehicle (up from 31% in 2018). Compared to the region, BART riders are more likely to be Black or Latino, and less likely to be White or Asian. The entirety of the system runs in exclusive, grade-separated right-of-way. BART's rapid transit revenue routes cover about 131 miles (211 km) with 50 stations. On
3094-567: Is characterized by high-speed, passenger rail cars running in separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded. Such passenger rail cars are almost always electrically driven , with power either drawn from an overhead line or an electrified third rail . In the Philippines , the North–South Commuter Railway has been described by Philippine National Railways general manager Junn Magno as
3213-631: Is compatible with all the public transit agencies in the Bay Area. The program was initially made available to around 50,000 college students and affordable housing residents. The primary fare media for BART is the Clipper card , which is used by most Bay Area transit agencies. Clipper is a contactless smart card ; passengers tap in and out at card readers on fare gates. Clipper cards in Apple Pay and Google Wallet electronic wallets can also be used. BART's original fare system used tickets made of
3332-619: Is located one block from Embarcadero and Montgomery stations. Several transit agencies offer limited commuter-oriented bus service from more distant cities to outlying BART stations; these include VINE from Napa County, Solano Express from Solano County, Rio Vista Delta Breeze , Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority from Stanislaus County, and San Joaquin RTD from Stockton. Many BART stations are also served by privately run employer and hospital shuttles, and privately run intercity buses stop at several stations. BART also runs directly to two of
3451-683: Is named to distinguish it from heavy rail , which refers to rapid transit systems as well as heavier regional rail / intercity rail . A few systems such as people movers and personal rapid transit could be considered as even "lighter", at least in terms of how many passengers are moved per vehicle and the speed at which they travel. Monorails are a separate technology. Light rail systems can typically handle steeper inclines than heavy rail, and curves sharp enough to fit within street intersections . They are typically built in urban areas, providing frequent service with multiple-unit trains or single cars. The most difficult distinction to draw
3570-545: Is not a preferred option. Some systems, such as AirTrain JFK in New York City, are automatic, dispensing with the need for a driver; however, such systems are not what is generally thought of as light rail, crossing over into rapid transit . Automatic operation is more common in smaller people mover systems than in light rail systems, where the possibility of grade crossings and street running make driverless operation of
3689-440: Is often less expensive by a factor of two or more. Despite the increased cost, the more modern variation (which can be considered as "heavier" than old streetcar systems, even though it's called light rail ) is the dominant form of new urban rail transit in the United States . The Federal Transit Administration helps to fund many projects, but as of 2004, the rules to determine which projects will be funded are unfavorable toward
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3808-507: Is planned to be completed by 2036. Plans had long been floated for an extension from Dublin to Livermore, but the most recent proposal was rejected by the BART board in 2018. Other plans have included an extension to Hercules, a line along the Interstate Highway 680 corridor, and a fourth set of rail tracks through Oakland. At least four infill stations such as Irvington and Calaveras on existing lines have been proposed. With
3927-431: Is regardless the general term for both types of system. Bus subways are uncommon but do exist, though in these cases the non-underground portions of route are not called subways. Until March 2019, Seattle had a downtown bus subway in which diesel-electric hybrid buses and light rail trains operated in a shared tunnel. The hybrid buses ran in electrical-only mode while traveling through the tunnel and overhead wires power
4046-440: Is separated from the rest of the line. BART has elements of both traditional rapid transit (high-frequency urban service with close station spacing) and commuter rail / regional rail (lower-frequency suburban service with wider station spacing). Trains on each primary service run every 20 minutes, except the busy Yellow Line, which operates every 10 minutes on weekdays. Segments served by multiple lines have higher frequencies,
4165-425: Is that between light rail and streetcar / tram systems. There is a significant amount of overlap between the technologies, and it is common to classify streetcars/trams as a subtype of light rail rather than as a distinct type of transportation. The two general versions are: Many light rail systems – even fairly old ones – have a combination of the two, with both on-road and off-road sections. In some countries, only
4284-487: Is used, it refers to the entire system; in others, only to the portions that actually are underground. Naming practices often select one type of placement in a system where several are used; there are many subways with above-ground components, and on the other hand, the Vancouver SkyTrain and Chicago "L" include underground sections. Historic posters referred to Chicago's Red & Blue lines (then called
4403-467: Is working to implement a 30-minute "grace period" before the fare is charged. Unlike many other rapid transit systems, BART does not have weekly or monthly passes with unlimited rides. The only discount provided to the general public is a 6.25% reduction when "high value tickets" (only available on Clipper cards with autoload) are purchased with fare values of $ 48 and $ 64. 50% discount is available to youth aged 5–18 (children age 4 and under ride free), and
4522-630: The California Zephyr , Capitol Corridor , and San Joaquins – stop at Richmond station ; the Capitol Corridor also stops at Oakland Coliseum station . Transfer between BART and the Caltrain commuter rail service is available at Millbrae station . BART and most lines of San Francisco's Muni Metro light rail system share four stations ( Embarcadero , Montgomery Street , Powell Street , and Civic Center/UN Plaza ) in
4641-405: The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake , the BART equipment was mostly undamaged. A 2010 study concluded that along with some Bay Area freeways, some of BART's overhead structures could collapse in a major earthquake, which has a significant probability of occurring within three decades. Seismic retrofitting has been carried out since 2004 upon voter approval to address these deficiencies, especially in
4760-623: The Berlin S-Bahn . The Frankfurt U-Bahn is an important exception, the system being really a light rail transit system with underground sections. Hamburg S-Bahn fulfills all criteria for heavy rail inside the state and city of Hamburg, but some lines go beyond the state border into the state of Niedersachsen and there the S-Bahn runs with lower train frequency. The same applies also to the S-Bahn and U-Bahn in Copenhagen, Denmark, with
4879-658: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns beginning in March 2020, during which BART was forced to drastically cut service. Ridership in the weeks immediately following the start of the Bay Area's lockdown (on March 17, 2020) fell by as much as 93%. If ridership does not recover and additional revenue is not obtained, in the worst case the agency projected it would only be able to sustain trains on three lines running once an hour from 5am to 9pm weekdays, and would have to close nine stations. As of May 2024 , weekday ridership
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4998-797: The California Transportation Commission announced that they would provide funding for expanding BART facilities, through the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority , in anticipation of the opening of the Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension . $ 50 million would go in part to improvements to the Hayward Maintenance Complex. In March 2019, BART announced that they would begin updating ticket add-fare machines inside
5117-685: The Doolittle Maintenance and Storage Facility . eBART vehicles use a facility in Antioch. BART has distance-based fares , which requires riders to use fare gates to both enter and exit, with a flat fare of $ 2.15 for trips under 6 miles (9.7 km). A surcharge is added for trips traveling through the Transbay Tube ($ 1.40), to/from Oakland International Airport ($ 6.70) or San Francisco International Airport ($ 4.95), and to/from San Mateo County ($ 1.45, except $ 1.25 for Daly City). The maximum fare, including both airport surcharges and
5236-508: The International Association of Public Transport ( L'Union Internationale des Transports Publics , or UITP) as urban guided transport systems "operated on their own right of way and segregated from general road and pedestrian traffic. They are consequently designed for operations in tunnel, viaducts or on surface level but with physical separation in such a way that inadvertent access is not possible. In different parts of
5355-534: The LRT Line 2 . Heavy rail term according International Union of Railways (UIC) refers to both freight rail and passenger rail (commuter, regional, intercity and high-speed) other than large-capacity metro. The terms tram , streetcar , and trolley refer to most forms of common carrier rail transit that run entirely or partly on streets, providing a local service and picking up and discharging passengers at any street corner, unless otherwise marked. While tram or tramway are widely used worldwide,
5474-1087: The Market Street subway ; connections are also available to three lines at Balboa Park station and one line at Glen Park station . A tunnel at the Powell Street station connects to the Union Square/Market Street station on the Muni Metro T Third Street line. In the South Bay, Milpitas station provides a connection to the Orange Line of VTA light rail . BART is served by bus connections from regional and local transit agencies at all stations, most of which have dedicated off-street bus transfer areas. Many connecting routes (particularly in suburban areas) serve primarily as feeder routes to BART. Larger bus systems connecting to BART include Muni in San Francisco, AC Transit in
5593-660: The Newark City Subway , each about half underground, originated from fully surface streetcar lines. Also, the Buffalo Metro Rail is referred to as "the subway", while it uses light rail equipment and operates in a pedestrian mall downtown for half of its route and underground for the remaining section. Sometimes the term is qualified, such as in Philadelphia , where trolleys operate in an actual subway for part of their route and on city streets for
5712-537: The Salesforce Transit Center . The original Early Bird Express network introduced in February 2019 had fifteen routes, but some were eliminated later that year due to low ridership. Intermodal connections to local, regional, and intercity transit – including bus, light rail , commuter rail , and intercity rail – are available across the BART system. Three Amtrak intercity rail services –
5831-585: The St. Louis Car Company in 1972. It operated in intermittent revenue service on six rapid transit systems in five United States cities between May 1974 and January 1977. Since 1989, the two cars have been on display at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine . Around 1970, the United States Department of Transportation 's Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) began
5950-552: The St. Louis Car Company , and Vought bid for a contract to produce a two-car demonstrator set, which was won by the St. Louis Car Company. The design was based on the R44 subway car , which the company had recently produced for the New York City Subway , with influences from recently produced BART rolling stock . The two SOAC demonstrator cars were completed in 1972; along with the R44, they were
6069-466: The West Coast ) of a boat trolling for fish . Others believe it derived from a dialect word for a wheeled cart. In the U.S. the word tram frequently refers to a special-purpose bus used as a shuttle (and often not designed for use on public roads), such as for parking lot shuttles at theme parks and major events or transportation within theme parks. Other common North American English meanings of
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#17327800799466188-482: The paid area to accept debit and credit cards for payment (for Clipper cards only). In December 2020, BART completed the changeover to Clipper and stopped issuing magstripe paper tickets. Existing paper tickets remained valid. In April 2021, BART began accepting Clipper cards on Apple Pay , Google Pay , and the Clipper app at all BART stations. By December 2023, the fare system was entirely Clipper-only. During
6307-490: The "shafts of a wheelbarrow ". From this the term "tram" was used in the coal mines of Scotland and Northern England for a coal cart running on rails, and by extension to any similar system of trackway. Streetcar is an American word derived from "street" + "car", where "car" is used in the sense of a vehicle running on rails, i.e. railway car. The first American streetcars, introduced around 1830, were horsecars , and this type of streetcar became ubiquitous because very few of
6426-544: The 1970s, and direct service from Daly City to Richmond and Fremont was not phased in until several years after the system opened. Some of the early safety concerns appeared to be well founded when the system experienced a number of train-control failures in its first few years of operation. As early as 1969, before revenue service began, several BART engineers identified safety problems with the Automatic Train Control (ATC) system. The BART Board of Directors
6545-495: The 1990 fiscal year. Ridership would not drop back to previous levels after the repair of the bridge until the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect the Bay Area in March 2020. Between 2010 and 2015, BART ridership grew rapidly, mirroring strong economic growth in the Bay Area. In 2015, the system was carrying approximately 100,000 more passengers each day than it had five years earlier. High gasoline prices also contributed to growth, pushing ridership to record levels during 2012, with
6664-617: The All Nighter system except for the Antioch – Rockridge and Bay Fair – Dublin/Pleasanton segments plus Warm Springs/South Fremont station . The Early Bird Express network provides service to major BART stations between 3:50 am and 5:30 am. Two San Francisco/Peninsula routes and seven Transbay routes run between a limited number of major BART stations, with the San Francisco/Peninsula and Transbay routes meeting at
6783-595: The BART system opened, planners projected several possible extensions. Although Marin County was left out of the original system, the 1970 Golden Gate Transportation Facilities Plan considered a tunnel under the Golden Gate or second deck on the bridge, but neither of these plans was pursued. Over twenty years would pass before the first extensions to the BART system were completed to Colma and Pittsburg/Bay Point in 1996. An extension to Dublin/Pleasanton in 1997 added
6902-670: The BART system. The district initially began with five members, all of which were projected to receive BART lines: Alameda County , Contra Costa County , the City and County of San Francisco , San Mateo County , and Marin County . Although invited to participate, Santa Clara County supervisors elected not to join BART due to their dissatisfaction that the peninsula line only stopped at Palo Alto initially, and that it interfered with suburban development in San Jose , preferring instead to concentrate on constructing freeways and expressways. Though
7021-624: The California State Senate, California Public Utilities Commission, and National Transportation Safety Board. Hearings by the state legislature in 1974 into financial mismanagement at BART forced the General Manager to resign in May 1974, and the entire Board of Directors was replaced the same year when the legislature passed legislation leading to the election of a new Board and the end of appointed members. Even before
7140-823: The East Bay, SamTrans in San Mateo County, County Connection and Tri Delta Transit in eastern Contra Costa County, WestCAT in western Contra Costa County, WHEELS in the Tri-Valley, VTA in the Santa Clara Valley, and Golden Gate Transit . Smaller systems include Emery Go-Round in Emeryville, Commute.org on the Peninsula, San Leandro LINKS , Dumbarton Express , and Union City Transit . The Salesforce Transit Center regional bus hub
7259-681: The Future", were unveiled in April 2016. The first cars were expected to be in service in December 2016, however, glitches and a failed CPUC inspection delayed introduction to January 19, 2018. A total of 775 cars were ordered from Bombardier (which merged with Alstom during production): 310 cab cars (D-cars) and 465 non-cab cars (E-cars). As of July 23, 2024 , BART has received all 775 D and E cars, of which 769 have been certified for service. To run its peak service, BART requires 400 cars. Of those, 384 are scheduled to be in active service;
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#17327800799467378-549: The SOAC and the mixed results of the US Standard Light Rail Vehicle program, UMTA did not pursue further vehicle designs, but instead focused on subsystem research. A number of design elements from the SOAC – including acoustic design, air-ride suspension, chopper propulsion controls, and traction motor ventilation – were incorporated on future rolling stock designs by numerous agencies. The SOAC cars were stored at Boeing Vertol until May 1979, when one
7497-553: The SOAC operated on revenue service on the SEPTA Broad Street Line from March 6 to April 2, 1975. Over this initial testing program, the SOAC operated 19,595 miles (31,535 km) over 104 days, carrying an estimated 312,000 passengers. After the completion of the original testing program, the SOAC was transferred to the PATCO Speedline for additional service, with non-revenue tests taking place on May 1, 1975. After vehicle modifications and insurance negotiations,
7616-420: The San Francisco International Airport and the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. At SFO, ride-hailing services grew by a factor of almost six or nearly 500% at the airport between 2014 and 2016. BART planners believe that competition from Uber and Lyft is reducing overall ridership growth and BART's share of airport transit. Stations in the urban cores of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley have
7735-434: The State Street & Milwaukee/Dearborn lines) as "the subway lines". Medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. Some light rail / street car lines that have underground sections that are referred to as subway are often sub surface subways. Notably, Boston's Green Line and
7854-562: The Transbay Tube . BART projects that Transbay Tube retrofits are expected to be completed in 2023. The mainline BART network operates with electric powered, self-propelled railcars . For most lines, six cars are coupled together in a train, except the Yellow Line, which uses eight-car trains. BART trains have gangway connections , and passengers can move freely between cars. The cars have three doors on each side, bike racks, 54 seats per car, and interior and exterior displays giving information. The new cars, branded by BART as its "Fleet of
7973-551: The Transbay Tube nearing capacity, long-range plans included a new four-bore Transbay Tube beneath San Francisco Bay that would run parallel and south of the existing tunnel and emerge at the Transbay Transit Terminal to connect to Caltrain and the future California High-Speed Rail system. The four-bore tunnel would provide two tunnels for BART and two tunnels for conventional/high-speed rail. The BART system and conventional U.S. rail use different and incompatible rail gauges and different loading gauges . In 2018, BART announced that
8092-474: The Transbay Tube to the San Francisco Peninsula. This service complements the Red Line during daytime hours and replaces that line when it stops operating after 9pm. The first inbound trains leave outer terminals around 5:00 am on weekdays, 6:00 am on Saturdays, and 8:00 am on Sundays and most holidays. The last trains of the service day leave their terminals around midnight; the final Yellow and Orange Line trains in both directions meet at MacArthur station , and
8211-428: The Transbay surcharge, is $ 17.60; the maximum without surcharges ( Antioch – Berryessa/North San José ) is $ 10.30. As of June 2022 , the average fare paid is $ 3.93. Because of the varied fares, it is possible to enter the system with enough stored value for a shorter trip, but not a longer trip. Passengers without sufficient fare to complete their journey must use an add-fare machine to add value in order to exit
8330-440: The U.K. light railway definition. A light rail transit (LRT) system is an urban rail transit system with a "light" passenger capacity compared to heavy rail and metro systems. Its operating characteristics are that it uses railcars , called light rail vehicles (LRVs), operating singly or in short multiple unit trains on fixed rails in a right-of-way that is not necessarily grade-separated from other traffic for much of
8449-413: The U.S. economy, growing modestly during periods of economic expansion and dropping slightly during recessions. A major exception occurred in 1989 in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake , which severely damaged the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge , causing its closure for a month. BART became the only direct route between the East Bay and San Francisco, resulting in a nearly 17% ridership jump for
8568-631: The Urban Rapid Rail Vehicle and Systems Program with the intention of creating a new rapid transit vehicle for use on existing and proposed systems. The new cars were to represent the state of the art in transit vehicle technology; priority was placed on making them comfortable, safe, reliable, and quiet to attract passengers. Boeing Vertol was selected in 1971 to manage the State-of-the-Art Car (SOAC) project. The Budd Company , Pullman-Standard , Rohr Industries ,
8687-662: The Yellow Line, opened on May 26, 2018. BART's most significant current extension project is the Silicon Valley BART extension on the Green and Orange Lines. The first phase extended the Fremont line to Warm Springs/South Fremont in early 2017, and the second phase to Berryessa/North San José began service on June 13, 2020. The third phase to Santa Clara is contingent upon the allocation of funding as of May 2020 , but
8806-486: The busiest of which is the section between Daly City and West Oakland, which has around 15 trains per hour (one train about every four minutes), per direction at peak hours. The Oakland Airport Connector runs "on demand", typically on headways of 10 minutes or less. Timed cross-platform transfers are available between the Orange Line, which operates only in the East Bay, and the Yellow Line, which operates through
8925-534: The cities and suburbs. Marvin E. Lewis, a San Francisco trial attorney and member of the city's board of supervisors spearheaded a grassroots movement to advance the idea of an alternative bay crossing and the possibility of regional transit network. Formal planning for BART began with the setting up in 1957 of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District , a county-based special-purpose district body that governs
9044-400: The final Orange and Blue Line trains in the southbound direction meet at Bay Fair station , for guaranteed transfers. Two different bus networks operated by regional transit agencies run during the overnight hours when BART is not operating. The All Nighter network provides basic overnight service to much of the Bay Area. Most BART stations are served (directly or within several blocks) by
9163-656: The floor of San Francisco Bay. Like other transit systems of the same era, BART endeavored to connect outlying suburbs with job centers in Oakland and San Francisco by building lines that paralleled established commuting routes of the region's freeway system. BART envisioned frequent local service, with headways as short as two minutes between trains through the Transbay Tube and six minutes on each individual line. Passenger service began on September 11, 1972, initially just between MacArthur and Fremont . The rest of
9282-485: The heavy rail services run through Oakland , and all but the Orange Line cross the bay through the Transbay Tube to San Francisco. All five services run every day until 9 pm; only three services operate evenings after 9 pm. All stations are served during all service hours. The eastern segment of the Yellow Line (between Antioch and the transfer platform east of Pittsburg/Bay Point) uses different rolling stock and
9401-451: The highest ridership, while suburban stations record lower rider numbers. During fiscal year 2017, the busiest station was Embarcadero with 48,526 average weekday exits, followed by Montgomery Street with 45,386. The busiest station outside of San Francisco was 12th Street Oakland City Center with 13,965 riders, followed by 19th Street Oakland with 13,456. The least busy station was Oakland International Airport with 1,517 riders, while
9520-630: The last rolling stock produced by the company. The SOAC cars cost $ 350,000 each, compared to $ 300,000 each for the R44. The SOAC was built to meet the loading gauge of existing rapid transit systems in Boston , Chicago , Cleveland , New York City , and Philadelphia . It was restricted to certain lines, including the B Division in New York City and the Skokie Swift in Chicago because other parts of those systems had smaller loading gauges. The SOAC
9639-650: The latter inappropriate. BART Bay Area Rapid Transit ( BART ) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California . BART serves 50 stations along six routes and 131 miles (211 kilometers) of track, including eBART , a 9-mile (14 km) spur line running to Antioch , and Oakland Airport Connector , a 3-mile (4.8 km) automated guideway transit line serving San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport . With an average of 169,800 weekday passenger trips as of
9758-495: The latter is described as light rail . In those places, trams running on mixed right of way are not regarded as light rail, but considered distinctly as streetcars or trams. However, the requirement for saying that a rail line is "separated" can be quite minimal – sometimes just with concrete " buttons " to discourage automobile drivers from getting onto the tracks. There is a significant difference in cost between these different classes of light rail transit. The traditional style
9877-537: The least busy standard BART station was North Concord / Martinez with 2,702 weekday exits. BART's one-day ridership record was set on Halloween of 2012 with 568,061 passengers attending the San Francisco Giants' victory parade for their World Series championship . This surpassed the record set two years earlier of 522,198 riders in 2010 for the Giants' 2010 World Series victory parade. Before that,
9996-546: The light rail trains which continue to operate in the tunnel. Bus subways are sometimes built to provide an exclusive right-of-way for bus rapid transit lines, such as the MBTA Silver Line in Boston. Subway , outside the US, and especially in Europe, often refers to an underground pedestrian passageway linking large road interconnections that are often too difficult or dangerous to cross at ground level. In Canada,
10115-473: The lower deck of the Bay Bridge , but the system was dismantled in the 1950s, with its last transbay crossing in 1958, and was superseded by highway travel. A 1950s study of traffic problems in the Bay Area concluded the most cost-effective solution for the Bay Area's traffic woes would be to form a transit district charged with the construction and operation of a new, high-speed rapid transit system linking
10234-576: The only exception that the word "Metro" is used instead of "U-Bahn", and "S-tog" instead of "S-Bahn". (The Danish word "S-tog" applies to the trains ( tog ), rather than the tracks as in Germany; "S-tog" means "S-train".) Otherwise, the S-Bahn of Berlin and the S-tog of Copenhagen are very similar with the exception of the size. In Switzerland, where there is only one underground railway system in Lausanne,
10353-541: The others are used to build up spare trains (used to maintain on-time service). The previous BART fleet, consisting of A, B, and C cars, was built between 1968 and 1996. It was retired from regular service on September 11, 2023, with the final revenue runs on April 20, 2024. The Oakland Airport Connector uses a completely separate and independently operated fleet of cable car-based automated guideway transit vehicles. It uses four Cable Liner trains built by DCC Doppelmayr Cable Car , arranged as three-car sets, but
10472-628: The record was 442,100 riders in October 2009, following an emergency closure of the Bay Bridge . During a planned closure of the Bay Bridge, there were 475,015 daily riders on August 30, 2013, making that the third highest ridership. On June 19, 2015, BART recorded 548,078 riders for the Golden State Warriors championship parade, placing second on the all-time ridership list. BART set a Saturday record of 419,162 riders on February 6, 2016, coinciding with Super Bowl 50 events and
10591-527: The remainder. This is locally styled subway-surface . When the Boston subway was originally built, the subway label was only used for sections into which streetcars (trams) operated, and the rapid transit sections were called tunnels . Also, in some countries, subway refers to systems built under roads and the informal term tube is used for the deep-underground tunnelled systems (such as London's Piccadilly line ) – in this usage, somewhat technical nowadays and not used much in London, underground
10710-477: The rest of the BART system. The withdrawals of Marin and San Mateo resulted in a downsizing of the original system plans, which would have had lines as far south as Palo Alto and northward past San Rafael . Voters in the three remaining participating counties approved the truncated system, with termini in Fremont , Richmond, Concord, and Daly City, in 1962. Construction of the system began in 1964, and included
10829-512: The same fixed-guideway principles as steel wheel systems. Paris , Rome , Madrid , Barcelona , Lisbon , Copenhagen , Helsinki , Warsaw , Saint Petersburg , Amsterdam , Rotterdam , Prague and Moscow all have metro (from the word metropolitan where "metro" means "mother" and "politan" means "city") systems which are called metro in French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Dutch, Czech and Russian. Subway used in
10948-514: The simpler streetcar systems (partly because the vehicles tend to be somewhat slower). Some places in the country have set about building the less expensive streetcar lines themselves or with only minimal federal support. Most of these lines have been "heritage" railways , using refurbished or replica streetcars harkening back to the first half of the 20th century. However, a few, such as the Portland Streetcar , use modern vehicles. There
11067-571: The station . As of June 2022 , entering and exiting at the same station incurs an "excursion fare" of $ 6.40 – significantly higher than many station-to-station fares. This was originally introduced to allow people to tour the then-futuristic system; it was kept to discourage undesired behaviors such as tech bus riders using BART parking lots. The excursion fare has been criticized for negatively impacting riders who leave stations during service disruptions (although station agents can allow riders to exit without fare payment). As of December 2022, BART
11186-473: The streets in American cities were paved. Mechanical versions, pulled by cables , were introduced around 1870. Electric streetcars were introduced in the 1880s and soon replaced the horse-drawn streetcar in cities across the United States. Trolley is an American word derived from the electric current pickup mechanism in early systems. The first successful electric streetcars in the United States used
11305-509: The surface by 'cut-and-cover' methods. The Glasgow metro system is known as the Glasgow Subway or colloquial as "the subway". The word metro is not usually used in London or Glasgow to refer to those cities' metros, but it is used in and around Newcastle upon Tyne to refer to the Tyne and Wear Metro . In the UK, the term overground was created in 2007 by Transport for London to refer to
11424-541: The system can accommodate four-car trains in the future. The eBART extension uses eight Stadler GTW diesel railcars . The Stadler GTW vehicles are diesel multiple units , which operate over standard gauge tracks (as opposed to BART's broad gauge). The initial BART system included car storage and maintenance yards in Concord, Hayward, and Richmond, with an additional maintenance only (no car storage) yard in Oakland. The Daly City car storage and maintenance yard opened in December 1988. The Oakland Airport Connector uses
11543-401: The system expanded into Santa Clara County in 2020, as of June 2024 it is still not a district member. In 1962, San Mateo County supervisors voted to leave BART, saying their voters would be paying taxes to carry mainly Santa Clara County residents (presumably along I-280 , SR 92 , and SR 85 ). The district-wide tax base was weakened by San Mateo's departure, forcing Marin County to withdraw
11662-404: The system opened in stages, with the entire system opening in 1974 when the transbay service through the Transbay Tube began. The new BART system was hailed as a major step forward in subway technology, although questions were asked concerning the safety of the system and the huge expenditures necessary for the construction of the network. Ridership remained well below projected levels throughout
11781-539: The system recording five record ridership days in September and October 2012. After six straight years of expansion, ridership growth began to slow in late 2016, dropping by 1.7% in October 2016 from the prior year. Although the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, showed an average weekday ridership of 423,395, the second-highest in BART's history, this was a 2.3% drop from FY 2016. Ridership continued to decline by approximately 3% per year between 2016 and 2019, mirroring
11900-476: The term rapid transit was used in the 1800s to describe new forms of quick urban public transportation that had a right-of-way separated from street traffic. This set rapid transit apart from horsecars , trams , streetcars , omnibuses , and other forms of public transport. A variant of the term, mass rapid transit (MRT) , is also used for metro systems in Southeast Asia and Taiwan . Though
12019-616: The term U-Bahn – a shortening of Untergrundbahn , meaning "underground railway" – and S-Bahn – an abbreviation for the German Stadtschnellbahn or just Schnellbahn (fast city train, fast train) the more common English translation, suburban train. So for example in Berlin, the mostly underground system is known as the Berlin U-Bahn and it is integrated with the mostly above-ground system, known as
12138-660: The term subway may be used in either sense. The usage of underground is very similar to that of subway, describing an underground train system. In London the colloquial term tube now refers to the London Underground , and is the most common word used for the underground system; and it is used by Transport for London , the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system throughout Greater London. However, strictly speaking, it should only refer to those deep lines which run in bored circular tunnels as opposed to those constructed near to
12257-613: The term tram include aerial cable cars and short-distance, rubber-tired people-movers (such as at certain airports). Tourist buses that have been given the appearance of a vintage streetcar (i.e. trolley-replica buses ) are most commonly referred to, ambiguously, simply as trolleys by the companies or entities operating them or selling them, but may be referred to as trams or streetcars. Specific terms for some historically important tram technologies include horsecar , heritage streetcar , and cable car . Heritage streetcar (also known as heritage trolley or vintage trolley )
12376-626: The term metro is generally used, due to the influence from the French language. In Sweden, the metro of Stockholm is called "Tunnelbana" or "T-bana" which refers to the fact that the trains often run in tunnels. The same applies to Norway and the "T-bane" of Oslo. Elevated is a shorthand for elevated railway , a railway built on supports over other rights of way, generally city streets. The term overhead tends to be used in Europe. The names of elevated railways are sometimes further abbreviate it to El or L . Some examples include: The term heavy rail has different meanings in different parts of
12495-571: The term used varies in different dialects of English , with streetcar and trolley most commonly used in North America ( streetcar being more common in the western and central part of the continent and trolley in the eastern part), while tram predominates in Europe and elsewhere. Tram is a British word, cognate with the Low German traam , and the Dutch trame , meaning
12614-456: The term was almost always used to describe rail transportation, other forms of transit were sometimes described by their proponents as rapid transit, including local ferries in some cases. The term bus rapid transit has recently come into use to describe bus lines with features to speed their operation. These usually have more characteristics of light rail than rapid transit. Metros , short for metropolitan railways, are defined by
12733-435: The third quarter of 2024 and 48,119,400 annual passenger trips in 2023, BART is the sixth-busiest rapid transit system in the United States . BART is operated by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District which formed in 1957. The initial system opened in stages from 1972 to 1974. The system has been extended several times, most recently in 2020, when Milpitas and Berryessa/North San José stations opened as part of
12852-611: The three major Bay Area airports ( San Francisco International Airport and San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport ) with service to San Jose International Airport provided by a VTA bus route available at Milpitas station . Some of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system's current coverage area was once served by an electrified streetcar and suburban train system called the Key System . This early 20th-century system once had regular transbay traffic across
12971-769: The under construction Silicon Valley BART extension in partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). BART serves large portions of its three member counties – San Francisco , Alameda , and Contra Costa – as well as smaller portions of San Mateo County and Santa Clara counties. The system has 50 stations : 22 in Alameda County, 12 in Contra Costa County, 8 in San Francisco, 6 in San Mateo County, and 2 in Santa Clara County. BART operates five named heavy rail services plus one separate automated guideway line. All of
13090-447: The way. Light rail vehicles are almost always electrically driven , with power usually being drawn from an overhead line rather than an electrified third rail , though a few exceptional systems use diesel multiple units (DMUs) instead as a cheaper alternative to an electrically driven light rail system. The phrase light rail was coined in the 1970s during the re-emergence of streetcars / trams with more modern technology. It
13209-584: The world, Metro systems are also known in English as the underground, the subway or the tube. Rail systems with specific construction issues operating on a segregated guideway (e.g. monorail, rack railways) are also treated as Metros as long as they are designated as part of the urban public transport network." Metropolitan railways are used for high capacity public transportation. They can operate in trains of up to 10 or more cars, carrying 1800 passengers or more. Some metro systems run on rubber tires but are based on
13328-679: The world. The German complementary term is Vollbahn and the opposite Kleinbahn . These terms were defined to distinguish different axle loads and connected construction rules. Today the term Vollbahn is not common and Kleinbahn is used for narrow-gauge lines. In the United Kingdom, heavy rail refers to conventional railways forming part of the national network, including commuter, intercity , high-speed rail , regional rail and freight services, as distinct from metro , light rail and tram lines, people movers , and similar. The London Underground , despite being described as
13447-463: Was abandoned in 2010 in favor of a regional farecard. In 2009, BART became one of the first five transit agencies to accept TransLink (later renamed Clipper) cards for fare payment and began phasing out tickets. By December 2020, all BART ticket machines, except for add-fare machines inside of paid areas, were converted to Clipper use only. Tickets were no longer accepted starting in December 2023. For most of its history, BART's ridership has reflected
13566-539: Was built to dimensions nearly identical to the R44: 74 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in (22.77 m) long and 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) wide. Floor height could be adjusted to match platform heights of each system, with the cars 11 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in (3.57 m) to 12 ft 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 in (3.70 m) high, depending on the configuration. The two demonstrator cars were built with two different configurations: "Lo-Density" with
13685-782: Was collected from overhead lines in Chicago and Cleveland. The SOAC was first tested at the High Speed Ground Test Center in Pueblo, Colorado . On August 11, 1973, the test train collided with a freight car due to a mis-set switch, killing the operator. The collision focused additional attention on the safety of the SOAC design. After the initial testing, the SOAC set toured six rapid transit systems in five United States cities for additional testing and public rides. (The other two operating systems were excluded: then-newly opened BART used 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) broad gauge tracks, while PATH had
13804-573: Was devised in 1972 by the U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA; the precursor to the Federal Transit Administration ) to describe new streetcar transformations which were taking place, and was a translation of the German word Stadtbahn . However, instead of the literal translation of city rail , UMTA used light rail instead. In general, it refers to streetcar/tram systems with rapid transit-style features. It
13923-417: Was dismissive of their concerns and retaliated by firing them. Less than a month after the system's opening, on October 2, 1972, an ATC failure caused a train to run off the end of the elevated track at the terminal Fremont station and crash to the ground, injuring four people. The "Fremont Flyer" led to a comprehensive redesign of the train controls and also resulted in multiple investigations being opened by
14042-501: Was shipped to the Budd Company and one to Pueblo, where they were used for additional subsystem testing. The two-car demonstrator was acquired by the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine as a static display in 1989 and has remained there since. Heavy rail Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: A rapid transit system
14161-600: Was then tested on the CTS Airport Line later in 1974, with fifteen days of revenue service. The SOAC next operated on the CTA Skokie Swift line for thirteen days of revenue service in January 1975. The cars were slightly wider and substantially longer than other CTA rolling stock; the platforms at the two Skokie Swift stations were modified with retractable edges. The next stop was Philadelphia, where
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