BART Noise Level - Any Plans for Change?

[rkwalton]

Originally Posted by peudedieu

Hi,

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I was astonished at the terrible level of noise on BART. I live in Vancouver and the Sky Train here is much quieter. Does anyone know if there are plans to rebuild or renovate parts of the BART as to reduce the noise?

The noise level is fine. Well, fine when compared to NYC's A train at any given time. I've been on better systems and on worse systems. The noise level isn't ideal when there is an announcement but, otherwise, you can't tell people to shut up on something like public transit. That's more a cultural thing than not and the noise level adjusts depending on who is on it. Get on a train with a bunch of kids who've just gotten out of school? Hell. Get on a train with a bunch of tired travelers coming in from SFO? Pretty quiet (unless they're lost then if you speak their language, help them out so they'll shut up.)

As others have commented, I guess the new cars will deal with the ambient noise the train and tube makes. I almost always have headphones on, so I don't really experience it.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by rkwalton

The noise level is fine. Well, fine when compared to NYC's A train at any given time. I've been on better systems and on worse systems. The noise level isn't ideal when there is an announcement but, otherwise, you can't tell people to shut up on something like public transit. That's more a cultural thing than not and the noise level adjusts depending on who is on it. Get on a train with a bunch of kids who've just gotten out of school? Hell. Get on a train with a bunch of tired travelers coming in from SFO? Pretty quiet (unless they're lost then if you speak their language, help them out so they'll shut up.)

As others have commented, I guess the new cars will deal with the ambient noise the train and tube makes. I almost always have headphones on, so I don't really experience it.

We're talking about the noise the train makes and this is anything but ambient! In downtown Oakland the trains are underground yet if youre at Grand ave and MacArthur you can hear it at times and this is through urban noise as well except during the busiest times.

[rkwalton]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

We're talking about the noise the train makes and this is anything but ambient! In downtown Oakland the trains are underground yet if youre at Grand ave and MacArthur you can hear it at times and this is through urban noise as well except during the busiest times.

Whatever you call it, fine. I was just addressing the noise from people and noting that I realize that the noise from the trains is also an issue.

[peudedieu]

Well, somehow, Vancouver SkyTrain manages to keep its light rail pretty quiet--certainly not bothersome...whoever is planning a new BART rail should look to it as an example.

Blocking out noise with more noise is a bad idea. You could be causing yourself some serious hearing damage. I suggest going with some good quality earplugs.

[Natural510]

BART's problem kinda mirrors that of those multi-purpose bowl stadiums built in its time period (like the Oakland Coliseum)...it's old enough to be clunky, outdated and annoying, but not old enough to be charming. And unlike a sports stadium, you can't force a private company to pay for it (or a sizable chunk of the expense). A complete overhaul of BART would cost billions, and with taxes and fares what they are already, I doubt the public will go for it.

[DocGoldstein]

Originally Posted by Natural510

BART's problem kinda mirrors that of those multi-purpose bowl stadiums built in its time period (like the Oakland Coliseum)...it's old enough to be clunky, outdated and annoying, but not old enough to be charming. And unlike a sports stadium, you can't force a private company to pay for it (or a sizable chunk of the expense). A complete overhaul of BART would cost billions, and with taxes and fares what they are already, I doubt the public will go for it.

Funny enough, part of their future budget is "infrastructure" improvements and it also represents one of their biggest on paper deficits.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by rkwalton

Whatever you call it, fine. I was just addressing the noise from people and noting that I realize that the noise from the trains is also an issue.

This whole topic is about the noise from the trains. BART patrons are actually rather silent.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by peudedieu

Well, somehow, Vancouver SkyTrain manages to keep its light rail pretty quiet--certainly not bothersome...whoever is planning a new BART rail should look to it as an example.

Blocking out noise with more noise is a bad idea. You could be causing yourself some serious hearing damage. I suggest going with some good quality earplugs.

Light rail in general is quieter although the San Diego Trolley at times can have Bart like noise, just not quite as loud.

[ccm123]

Yeah, I took some visitors on BART last month and they could not believe how noisy the trains were. That would be one of the main improvements I would recommend on the system.