Comments on: Get on the Bart: you have nothing to lose but your chains http://www.davosnewbies.com/2006/06/06/get-on-the-bart-you-have-nothing-to-lost-but-your-chains/ A year-round Davos of the mind, written since 1999 by Lance Knobel Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:26:21 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Lance Knobel http://www.davosnewbies.com/2006/06/06/get-on-the-bart-you-have-nothing-to-lost-but-your-chains/comment-page-1/#comment-10890 Lance Knobel Thu, 08 Jun 2006 23:36:14 +0000 http://www.davosnewbies.com/2006/06/06/get-on-the-bart-you-have-nothing-to-lost-but-your-chains/#comment-10890 Peter, you're absolutely right. But the coverage in the East Bay is reasonably good and if people are going into downtown San Francisco, there's no excuse. The lack of interconnection between Bart and CalTrain is a complete mystery. There must have been some political issue, because in planning terms it's a mess. My wife goes occasionally to Palo Alto and wants to go by public transport, but that Bart-CalTrain failure makes it very, very inefficient. Peter, you’re absolutely right. But the coverage in the East Bay is reasonably good and if people are going into downtown San Francisco, there’s no excuse.

The lack of interconnection between Bart and CalTrain is a complete mystery. There must have been some political issue, because in planning terms it’s a mess. My wife goes occasionally to Palo Alto and wants to go by public transport, but that Bart-CalTrain failure makes it very, very inefficient.

]]> By: Peter Tenenbaum http://www.davosnewbies.com/2006/06/06/get-on-the-bart-you-have-nothing-to-lost-but-your-chains/comment-page-1/#comment-10889 Peter Tenenbaum Thu, 08 Jun 2006 22:23:19 +0000 http://www.davosnewbies.com/2006/06/06/get-on-the-bart-you-have-nothing-to-lost-but-your-chains/#comment-10889 I'm a resident of San Francisco, and I take BART whenever I can. I grew up in NYC, where I also used public transit a lot (and I mean a lot -- I lived in south-east Queens and went to high school in the north central Bronx). I think that BART's real problem is that it's actually not very convenient. It's fine if you are going to and from locations with a BART station nearby; the amount of the SF Bay Area which does not fit that definition is very large! Consider, for example, my commute to work: I can get in my car, get onto 280, drive down to Sand Hill Road exit, drive a few stoplights to Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and park a couple minutes' walk from my office; or I can walk 20 minutes to BART, take BART for about 25 minutes to Millbrae, change to CalTrain (instantaneous if the gods of transit smile upon me, up to an hour wait otherwise), ride another 30 minutes or so to Palo Alto or Menlo Park, take a shuttle to Stanford and another shuttle to SLAC. And in the Bay Area, this is considered "convenient" for public transit because neither terminus is more than 20 minutes on foot from a transit stop, even though I have to make 3 connections! I’m a resident of San Francisco, and I take BART whenever I can. I grew up in NYC, where I also used public transit a lot (and I mean a lot — I lived in south-east Queens and went to high school in the north central Bronx). I think that BART’s real problem is that it’s actually not very convenient. It’s fine if you are going to and from locations with a BART station nearby; the amount of the SF Bay Area which does not fit that definition is very large! Consider, for example, my commute to work: I can get in my car, get onto 280, drive down to Sand Hill Road exit, drive a few stoplights to Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and park a couple minutes’ walk from my office; or I can walk 20 minutes to BART, take BART for about 25 minutes to Millbrae, change to CalTrain (instantaneous if the gods of transit smile upon me, up to an hour wait otherwise), ride another 30 minutes or so to Palo Alto or Menlo Park, take a shuttle to Stanford and another shuttle to SLAC. And in the Bay Area, this is considered “convenient” for public transit because neither terminus is more than 20 minutes on foot from a transit stop, even though I have to make 3 connections!

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