History of Bay Area Rapid Transit

Origins and planning

The idea of an underwater electric rail tube was first proposed in the early 1900s by Francis "Borax" Smith. There were also plans for a third-rail powered subway line (Twin Peaks Tunnel) under Market Street in the 1910s. Much of BART's current coverage area was once served by the electrified streetcar and interurban train network called the Key System. This early twentieth century system once had regular transbay traffic across the lower deck of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. The final passenger run occurred on April 20, 1958 and the entire system was soon dismantled in favor of automobiles and buses and the explosive growth of highway construction.

Proposals for the modern rapid transit system now in service began in 1946 by Bay Area business leaders concerned with increased post-war migration and growing congestion in the region. An Army-Navy task force concluded that an additional trans-bay crossing would soon be needed and recommended a tunnel; however, actual planning for a rapid transit system did not begin until the 1950s. In 1951, California's legislature created the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission to study the Bay Area's long-term transportation needs. The commission's 1957 final report 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 high-speed rapid rail system linking the cities and suburbs. Nine Bay Area counties were included in the initial planning commission.

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District was formed by the state legislature in 1957, comprising the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo. Because Santa Clara County opted instead to first concentrate on its Expressway System, that county was not included in the original BART District. In 1959 a bill was passed in the state legislature that provided for the entire cost of construction of the tube to be paid for with surplus toll revenues from the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. This represented a significant portion of the total cost of the system.

By 1961 a final plan for the new system was sent to the boards of supervisors of each of the five counties. The system's initial plans were for three branches traversing the San Francisco Bay and connecting Concord in the east, Richmond in the northeast, Fremont in the southeast; a crossing of the Golden Gate connecting San Francisco to Novato in the northwest; and a final branch running along the Peninsula from Palo Alto. However, in April 1962 San Mateo County opted out, citing high costs, existing service provided by Southern Pacific commuter trains, and concerns over shoppers leaving their county for stores in San Francisco. This left Daly City (still in San Mateo County, but only a few feet across the county line) as the southwest terminus. Marin County followed soon thereafter in May, being forced out of the BART district due to engineering objections from the board of directors of the Golden Gate Bridge and fear that Marin voters would not approve the bonds, which had to win more than 60% approval. The withdrawal also resulted in the cancellation of the Geary Subway section of the system. The BART plans were finally approved by the voters of the three remaining participating counties in November 1962.

The initial system (1964–76)

BART construction officially began on June 19, 1964 with President Lyndon Johnson presiding over the ground-breaking ceremonies at the 4.4-mile (7.1 km) test track between Concord and Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County.

The enormous tasks to be undertaken were daunting. System wide projects would include the construction of three underground rail stations in Oakland's populated downtown area, three stations through San Francisco’s downtown beneath Market Street (later expanded to four), as well as four other underground stations in other parts of San Francisco, three subterranean stations in Berkeley (which paid more to bury them, in contrast to the stations in neighboring Oakland and El Cerrito), as well as new maintenance facilities throughout the system.

The 3.2 miles (5.1 km) Berkeley Hills Tunnel was constructed through active faults between Berkeley and Orinda in order to avoid further use of the Caldecott Tunnel.

The centerpiece of the system, the 3.6 miles (5.8 km) Transbay Tube, connected Oakland and San Francisco beneath the San Francisco Bay. Restoring transbay passenger rail service for the first time since Key System service was discontinued across the Bay Bridge, The Tube is the world's longest and deepest immersed tunnel with a cost of $180 million ($1.2 billion adjusted for inflation) and was completed in August 1969. It was constructed in 57 sections, each positioned and installed individually by sinking them into a dredged trough across the bay (that was later filled in).

BART constructed right-of-ways utilizing several rail and freeway corridors. For the initial system, these included: the Sacramento Northern Railway right-of-way in Concord, Contra Costa Center and Walnut Creek; State Route 24 and Interstate 980 from the Berkeley Hills Tunnel to Oakland; Union Pacific's Oakland Subdivision from Fruitvale to Alameda Creek; Santa Fe Railroad and Key System right-of-ways between Richmond and Berkeley (which also became the Ohlone Greenway and Richmond Greenway); and the San Francisco and San Mateo Electric Railway right-of-way to Daly City.

The final ceremonial spike for the original system was placed in 1971.

Opening

Service began on September 11, 1972, reporting more than 100,000 passengers in its first five days. The Market Street Subway opened in 1973 and the Transbay Tube finally opened on September 16, 1974, linking the four branches to Daly City, Concord, Richmond, and Fremont. Service then was still 14 hours a day, and for five years BART operated weekday-only: Saturday trains began November 1977 and Sunday in July 1978. Fare in 1972–74 was $1.20 ($5.83 adjusted for inflation) from Concord or $1.25 ($6.07 adjusted for inflation) from Fremont to any station west of the bay; Richmond to Fremont was $1.10 ($5.34 adjusted for inflation).

BART diverted 44,000 trips made by private cars by 1976, this fell well short of the anticipated 157,000.

BART's cost in 1976 was pegged at $1.586 billion, which included both the initial system, rolling stock and the Transbay Tube. (Adjusted for inflation, equivalent to $9.081 billion in 2016.) Critics have said BART took four decades to develop at a high cost.

Infill Station

Service at Embarcadero began on May 27, 1976, three years after the other San Francisco stations. The station was not part of the original plans for the system. As a result of increasing development in the lower Market Street area, the basic structure of the station was added into the construction of the Market Street subway, anticipating a later opening.

Automation

BART was one of the first U.S. systems of any size to have substantial automated operations. As a first-generation installation, the automation system was plagued with numerous operational problems during its first years of service. Shortly after revenue service began, an on-board electronics failure caused one two-car test train (with car 143 as the lead car) to run off the end of the elevated track at the Fremont station and into a parking lot. This incident was dubbed the Fremont Flyer, and there were no serious injuries.

The original signaling technology and subsequent enhancements used to control the trains was developed by Westinghouse. When revenue service began, "ghost trains" (or false occupancies), trains that show up on the computer system as being in a specific place but don't physically exist, were common, and real trains could at times disappear from the system. This was the result of dew on the tracks and too low of a voltage (at 0.6 volts rather than the industry standard 15 volts) being passed through the rails for train detection. Under such circumstances, trains had to be operated manually and were restricted to a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h). Enhancements were made to the train control system to address these "ghost trains" (or false occupancies). However, manual blocking — operators in a booth on the platform at alternate stations, with a telephone and red/green lights — that kept trains in stations until the train ahead had left its station were mandated for several years. This caused a great outcry in the press and led to a flurry of litigation between Westinghouse, the original controls contractor, and BART, as well as public battles between the state government (advised by University of California professor Dr. Bill Wattenburg), the federal government, and the district, but in time these problems were resolved and BART became a reliable service. Ghost trains persisted on the system as late as 2007, and while usually cleared quickly enough to avoid significant delay, they can occasionally cause an extended backup of manually operated trains in the system. In addition, the fare card system was easily hackable with equipment commonly found in universities, although most of these flaws have been fixed.

Running logistics were originally handled from a central control room, but that was replaced by the more modern Operations Control Center (OCC) and headquarters at the Kaiser Center in Downtown Oakland.

Loma Prieta earthquake

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake severed the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge for a month and destroyed the Cypress Street Viaduct. With some Bay Area freeways damaged or destroyed, BART trains, within five hours of the earthquake, were again running; full service resumed at 5 am the next day. Even with service interruptions following aftershocks for inspection of tracks, over- and under-crossings, and tunnels, BART continued to run on a 24-hour timetable until December 3 of that year.

San Francisco International Airport extension (1984–2003)

As early as 1984, planning was underway for extension south from San Francisco, the first step being the Daly City Tailtrack Project, upon which turnaround project the San Francisco Airport Extension would later build. Expansion of the system was finally made possible by an agreement under which San Mateo County was to contribute $200 million ($314 million adjusted for inflation) to East Bay extensions as a "buy-in" to the system without actually joining the BART district.

Service into San Mateo (outside of Daly City) commenced in 1996 with the opening of Colma station. At that time, funding had not been secured for the full airport extension. This station served as the end of the line for over seven years.

Ground was broken on the project in November 1997. Four new stations were added to the system: the SFO station, South San Francisco, San Bruno, and Millbrae. The Millbrae station has a cross-platform connection to Caltrain, the first of its kind west of the Mississippi. The $1.5 billion ($2 billion adjusted for inflation) extension of BART southward to San Francisco International Airport's (SFO) Garage G, adjacent to the International Terminal, was opened to the public on June 22, 2003. The right of way had been served by Muni's 40 San Mateo interurban (previously the San Francisco and San Mateo Electric Railway) streetcar line until 1949. The airport extension between SFO and Millbrae station was initially hosted a shuttle service which operated with two train operators—one on each end of the train—between the San Bruno and Millbrae stations to reduce dwell time at SFO during peak hours. The train entered the SFO stub-end station under the control of the primary operator and exited in the opposite direction towards Millbrae controlled by the secondary. Since SFO is now the terminus of the line that serves it, this practice was discontinued as it would not reduce the in-transit time for any trips.

The airport extension project added 8.7 miles (14.0 km) of new railway; 6.1 miles (9.8 km) of subway, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of aerial, and 1.4 miles (2.3 km) of at-grade track. The launch point was the Daly City Tailtrack project, which extended the tracks further south of the existing terminus in San Francisco and was completed in the 1980s.

The project has not been without problems, however. The SFO extension drew 35,107 daily riders by 2008, significantly less than its opening target of 50,000 average weekday riders. The most use the new line has gotten on any single day was 37,200; the SFO Station received an average of 6,781 daily passenger exits in 2015. Another significant problem of note had been the rocky relationship between BART and San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) which was not a part of the BART district, but by agreement was responsible for the extension's operating costs. Fueled by the reality that the extension was not paying for itself, the acrimony between BART and SamTrans over changes and reductions in bus and train service reached a high. BART wanted to increase service to attract ridership, while SamTrans wanted to reduce service to trim costs. Thus, service along the extension was changed several times. Eventually SamTrans and BART worked out a deal in which SamTrans paid BART $32 million, plus approximately $2 million a year, and BART assumed all costs and control of operating the extension.

The disappointing passenger numbers and the fight with SamTrans meant that between 2003 and 2010, BART repeatedly changed its routing patterns on the line south of Daly City, offering at least five distinct service patterns on different lines (Richmond, Pittsburg/Bay Point, Dublin/Pleasanton), with trips terminating at either Millbrae or SFO. The January 1, 2008 change eliminated most direct service between SFO and Millbrae on weekdays, except for a few morning and evening trips. Finally, in 2010 BART settled on a routing pattern that has Pittsburg/Bay Point trains running to SFO at all times. During peak times Mondays through Fridays, Richmond trains run directly to Millbrae without stopping at SFO. During off-peak hours (nights and weekends), Pittsburg/Bay Point trains serve both SFO and Millbrae sequentially. Passengers on the Fremont, Richmond, and Dublin/Pleasanton lines must make a transfer to the Pittsburg/Bay Point line to reach the airport. In addition, the cessation of direct BART service between Millbrae and SFO during weekday peak hours requires Caltrain passengers wanting to travel to the airport from Millbrae to travel to San Bruno Station and make a transfer to an SFO train.

Many critics of the SFO Extension contend the project was merely a cover for BART's ultimate goal of ringing the bay, eliminating Caltrain altogether.

Spur lines (1995–present)

Trains to North Concord/Martinez began on December 16, 1995 and to Pittsburg/Bay Point on December 7, 1996. On May 10, 1997 a new branch to Castro Valley and Dublin/Pleasanton opened via a right of way constructed in the median of Interstate 580. The Dublin/Pleasanton extension now has transbay trains, but it was planned to have just shuttle trains between Dublin/Pleasanton and Bay Fair. (Long term plans involve running short trains to a coupling point at Bay Fair to increase system-wide capacity while still providing a one seat ride.) This line has at various times extended further south from Daly City, and was most recently truncated in 2009.

To save on construction cost compared to a "traditional" third-rail BART buildout, two spur lines were constructed using different technologies; they are neither heavy rail nor electrified. The Oakland Airport Connector was built as a replacement for the bus-serviced AirBART and brought the airport into the system's fare zone. The Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line, as it came to be known, utilizes automated guideway transit (AGT) technology: cable-drawn cars that operate in discreet cable loops on guided rubber tires. The AGT’s connection to the existing BART system at Coliseum Station resembles the AirTrain JFK and AirTrain Newark airport people movers' existing off-airport connections to other rail transit lines, though it is run by the transit authority itself rather than an out-of-system operator. Service along the line began on November 22, 2014.

eBART was conceived to bring service to the eastern communities in Contra Costa County. Initially studied for full BART service buildout, it was decided to construct the line with standard gauge rail and utilizing diesel multiple unit light rail trains. This allowed BART to roll out service at 60% the cost of traditional buildout with the option to regauge and electrify the route at a later date.

Infill station

Because West Dublin / Pleasanton station was originally planned to enter into service as part of the original extension to Dublin/Pleasanton, the station's foundation along with some communication and train control facilities already existed on-site. Final construction of the station for revenue service began on October 29, 2006. Possible faulty construction delayed its opening until 2011. Its cost was estimated at $106 million, with funding coming from a unique public-private partnership and the proceeds of planned transit-oriented development (TOD) on adjacent BART-owned property.

Silicon Valley extension (2009–present)

Santa Clara County was originally going to have been part of the BART system, but local leaders voted it down. Minor service at Palo Alto right over the border from San Mateo County was also planned originally. However, San Mateo County also opted out, leaving Fremont the closest end of line. In 2000, Santa Clara County voters approved a 30-year-long half cent sales tax increase to fund a BART extension to San Jose.

Construction of the Warms Springs extension began in 2009, planned to open in 2014. As of early 2017, the start of revenue service had been delayed over two years. The extension to Berryessa started construction in 2012.

Earthquake safety

Despite the robustness of the system following the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, a 2010 study showed that BART overhead structures could collapse in a major earthquake, which has a significant probability of occurring within three decades. Seismic retrofits were necessary to address these deficiencies, although one in particular, the penetration of the Hayward Fault Zone by the Berkeley Hills Tunnel, will be left for correction after a large earthquake.

An earthquake early warning system called ShakeAlert, sponsored by the United States Geological Survey, was instituted in 2012 with the help of UC Berkeley seismologists who linked BART to 200 stations of the California Integrated Seismic Network. These electronic signals travel much faster than seismic waves. For quakes outside the Bay Area, they provide advance notice that shaking is on the way; for quakes in the Bay Area, they provide an earlier warning. If the seismic network warns of ground motion above a threshold, the train control computers will order “service” braking, slowing from normal speeds of up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) to 26 miles per hour (42 km/h) .

“The earthquake early warning system will enable BART to stop trains before earthquake shaking starts and thereby prevent derailment, and save passengers from potential injuries”, said BART Board President John McPartland. “We are the first transit agency in the United States to provide this early warning and intervention.”

The 3.6-mile (5.8 km) Transbay Tube has also required earthquake retrofitting. The immersed tube lies in a shallow trench dredged on the bottom of San Francisco Bay, and was anchored to the bottom by packing around the sides and top with mud and gravel. This fill may be prone to soil liquefaction during an earthquake, which could allow the buoyant hollow tube to break loose from its anchorages. Retrofitting outside the tube compacted the fill, to make it denser and less prone to liquefaction. Inside the tube, BART installed heavy steel plates, to reduce sideways movement in an earthquake. The work was performed between March and December 2013, and BART closed one of the two bores of the tube early on some weeknights. Trains shared a single tunnel between Embarcadero and West Oakland after 10 pm, with travel delays of 15–20 minutes. The work, estimated to take 14 months, was completed after 8 months.

Replacement fleet (2012–present)

As the age of the main fleet passed 40 years, BART sought to replace all of its cars. In 2012 BART awarded a $900 million contract to Canadian railcar manufacturer Bombardier Transportation for 410 new cars, 260 with an option for 150 more. The cars are designed by Morelli Designers of Canada. In late 2013, BART purchased 365 more cars, for a total fleet size of 775, accelerated the delivery schedule by 21 months (from 10 cars per month up to 16 cars per month) and lowered cost.

The 10-car test pilot train had been previously scheduled for delivery in 2015, followed by an 18-month testing period. Due to potential access issues for people with disabilities, the pilot car layout was modified by the BART board in February 2015 to include two wheelchair spaces in the center of the car, as well as alternative layouts for bike and flexible open spaces. More recently, the Canadian manufacturer of the cars encountered delays in other cities and a cancellation in Toronto. A loan bailout from the Canadian government is pending. As of early 2016, the scheduled delivery of the 10-car test train was delayed one year until late 2016. The first 140 cars had been set to begin service in 2017, but this number has since been cut to 54 cars. Delivery of all 775 cars was delayed from 2021 to 2022.

Labor

BART workers are currently organized in 4 unions: the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3333, and the BART Police Officer's Association.

BART has a unionized work force that went on strike for two weeks in 1976 in solidarity with the BART Police Officers Association. During the 1970s BART union workers received quarterly cost of living increases.

In 1979 there was a 90-day lockout by management, or a strike by union workers, depending on who one believes. Trains ran during this period because one of the unions, AFSCME, was then only an informal association known as BARTSPA, and management and BARTSPA had enough staff to keep trains running. One result of this strike is that the cost-of-living increases were greatly reduced to an amount far below the Consumer Price Index, and such raises are only received if no other raise occurs in a particular year.

For six days in September 1997, a BART strike caused a system-wide shutdown. This resulted in a four-year contract offering a 7% raise, and a one-time payment of $3,000 to all employees in lieu of a raise the first year. Such one-time payments are becoming more common as a way to prevent the effects of compounding on wages and salaries.

In addition, BART began large scale layoffs of rank and file workers, increasing the workload on those remaining.

In its 2001 negotiations, the BART unions fought for, and won, a 24 percent wage increase over four years with continuing benefits for employees and retirees.

Another threatened strike on July 6, 2005 was averted by a last-minute agreement between management and the unions. In this agreement, Union workers received a 7% raise over four years, and paid an increase in the cost of medical insurance. The net increase (3%) was well below inflation, which was about 10% cumulative (about 2.4% per year) over the period of the contract. The net increase was also below the average private sector raise, which was 4.6% for 2006.

The outcome of the 2009 contract negotiations were a four-year wage freeze, reduced pensions, and changes to work rules. These new terms provided a $100 million savings to BART from 2009 to 2013.

BART employees went on strike on July 1, 2013, over pay and safety issues. The strike was ended July 5, when both sides agreed to a 30-day cooling off period (which ended Monday, August 5). A second strike began on Friday, October 18, 2013, over unresolved compensation and work rule issues. Management offered a 12% wage increase over 4 years, of which 4% would be taken back as an increase in the required pension contribution; 9.5% increase in healthcare premiums, and changes to work rules including fewer fixed work schedules. Unions were willing to accept the financial terms but requested binding arbitration for the work rules. Management refused the arbitration offer.

Awards

BART was designated a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1997, calling it the "most advanced automated urban rail transit system incorporating many innovations, marking a new generation of rail travel."

In October 2004 BART received the American Public Transportation Association's Outstanding Public Transportation System Award for 2004 in the category of transit systems with 30 million or more annual passenger trips. BART issued announcements and began a promotional campaign declaring that it had been named Number One Transit System in America. In 2006 the same industry trade group presented BART with the token AdWheel award for 'creative approaches to marketing transit' in recognition for BART's development of an iPod-based trip planner.

Incidents and accidents

There have been no accidents attributed to brake failure. The following incidents are known to have occurred on the BART system:

Defunct lines

In the one year between the openings of the Market Street Subway and the Transbay Tube (1973–4), the San Francisco segment to Daly City operated as a dedicated line. This was discontinued with through service to Oakland.

In 1996, when the I-680/State Route 24 interchange in Walnut Creek was overhauled for construction, BART added temporary commuter train service during rush hours, which ran between South Hayward and Concord stations. The service ceased when the interchange was finished.

At the time when the BART-SFO Extension opened on June 22, 2003, there was a Millbrae–SFO Line, a shuttle line that operated every 20 minutes between Millbrae and San Francisco Airport, formerly depicted as a purple line. This line has been defunct as of February 2004. It was replaced by the Pittsburg/Bay Point line and the Richmond Line, and in 2005 by the Dublin/Pleasanton line. On January 1, 2008, direct service between Millbrae and SFO was eliminated; passengers traveling between Millbrae and SFO have the inconvenience of boarding a train at Millbrae, traveling to San Bruno, and then take a different train back to the airport. Direct service to SFO from Millbrae was restored in September 2009, but only during off-peak hours and weekends.

AirBART, a dedicated bus line, operated between the current Coliseum Station and the Oakland International Airport. The service was discontinued on November 22, 2014 with the opening of the Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line automated guideway transit system. AirBART was a joint project of BART and the Port of Oakland, which owns and operates the airport. It was operated by Veolia Transportation under contract. As of December 2009, the AirBART fleet consisted of five Eldorado Axess buses running on compressed natural gas (CNG).

Timeline of openings

Automated guideway transit line
Standard gauge track