BART fixes the wrong problem
A couple days ago, the Contra Costa Times wrote a front-page article about BART providing more information about the train arrival times in many different formats – pager, email, web, phone, telepathy, etc. – and how excited riders were to get the information. One was quoted: ‘”I had to park way far away today and I had no idea when the next train was coming,” Munzell said. “If I heard something that said seven minutes, I would not have had to jog here.”‘
He’s right, but it’s the wrong problem. Look at the BART director’s quote, and tell me what’s being overlooked here…
“It’ll reduce the time you have to wait for transit or allow you to just keep doing what you’re doing for longer instead of rushing to wait on a platform for the next train or bus,” said BART board Director Bob Franklin of Berkeley. “I think it will make transit overall more convenient.”
Errr… no, it won’t. You’ll just know how long the wait is.
So another rider: “A lot of times you get here and your train is just leaving. It’s kind of frustrating.”
OK, let’s solve that problem instead. Your train just left and you missed it. What’s the best way to make you feel good?
Provide another train.
The problem with BART is the disconnect within the system’s directors and the system itself… between moving riders conveniently – their stated goal – and moving riders in bulk, which is what they keep addressing with policies to increase ridership and with goals to get cars off the road. Those are good goals and worthy of working toward, but not the ones that they tout.
So then solve the problem: run trains more frequently so when you miss a train, the next one is right behind it. This is the same theory as the London Underground uses in the heart of the city, and when I commuted on that I never cared if I missed a train. There was always another one 2-5 minutes away. BART should run every 5 minutes.
To do this, budget will always come up. The right answer is to then cut routes, always synchronize transfers, and only run two sets of trains – Concord to Daly City and Richmond to Dublin/Fremont. All stops are covered by those two routes and if you are going between routes, you transfer.
“Wait!” you say, “I was going Fremont-SF and now I have to wait longer! Not fair!”
Not so. You arrive just after work, at 5:07pm. You’ve missed the train and have to wait 14 minutes to catch the 5:21 train. If they ran every 5 minutes, you would have an equivalent turnaround with a transfer at 12th Street. The same travel time of 45 minutes, either way.
It also makes all people going on one route 5-10 minutes faster, and everyone who needs to transfer today go more quickly. Everyone wins, riders get happier, and BART gets more riders because the service is more reliable. More riders, and maybe they can add that direct route for commute hours.
Now that’s a solution BART should consider.