Regular readers may know that I’m obsessed with the neglect of public transport in the Bay Area. Bart is wonderful, but woefully underutilized. This morning, I discovered a quasi-public alternative.
The morning radio provided the alert that a power failure had closed the Transbay Tunnel, so Bart wasn’t connecting the East Bay and San Francisco. Great. This was one morning when I had to get into the city for a meeting. What could I do? Fortunately, there is an informal carpool system here. On the street next to our local Safeway, solitary drivers wait to pick up a couple of riders so they can have the privilege of speeding through the carpool lane on the Bay Bridge.
It worked wonderfully. I had no wait to find a ride and I travelled across the bridge in the comfort of my driver’s Lexus. He must have saved 30 minutes on his journey, with the non-carpool lanes very backed up at commuter hours. Why would anyone not pick someone up?
I’m distressed to learn that “Bart is … woefully underutilized”. I remember reading with envy about it when it was being constructed and wishing that the UK would similarly invest in public transport. But those were the days when I thought that cars would soon become historical curiosities as the oil ran out (because that’s what the ‘experts’ were telling us)! Maybe Steve Norris was right, people would rather travel slowly in the comfort of their cars than risk associating with strangers on a train. Maybe there are similar reasons why they’re happier to sit in jammed lanes rather than give someone else a ride…..