Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Francisco - Oakland
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-25-2013, 01:16 AM
 
Location: Seattle,WA
2,148 posts, read 2,925,869 times
Reputation: 890

Advertisements

There is a rumor that BART plans to build a line and expand into Marin County. Is that true?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-25-2013, 01:52 AM
 
24,407 posts, read 26,956,157 times
Reputation: 19977
Quote:
Originally Posted by annonymous0381 View Post
There is a rumor that BART plans to build a line and expand into Marin County. Is that true?
Not true...

Two studies were conducted in the 1950's and the 1960's to determine whether the Golden Gate Bridge could handle BART trains by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission. Both studies said the bridge was capable, but bridge district officials opposed the idea because they thought it would hurt toll revenue too much. They funded a panel of engineers who said the bridge wasn't capable to hold BART trains. BART officials worried that Marin County voters would also reject BART, which would have possibly prevented BART from even becoming a reality, so they asked the Marin County Board of Supervisors to vote the county out of the system. Marin County later decided to get on board with BART, but they were locked out of the system in 1962. In 1990, the estimated cost to bring BART to Marin County was $3 billion, which was too costly. In 2008, Marin and Sonoma voters approved a sales tax increase to fund a commuter train between Larkspur and Cloverdale.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2013, 08:07 AM
 
Location: Lafayette, CA
2,518 posts, read 4,010,977 times
Reputation: 624
Never going to happen. Marin, and Solano county would benefit greatly from BART access, but at $10 billion in debt, major infrastructure upgrades needed, and the Silicon Valley line taking up resources for the next 10+ years, the odds of getting a line to the North bay in the next 20-30 years is slim to none.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2013, 09:12 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,210 posts, read 107,904,670 times
Reputation: 116153
Quote:
Originally Posted by annonymous0381 View Post
There is a rumor that BART plans to build a line and expand into Marin County. Is that true?
Not feasible, due to the strong currents that flow through the GG from the ocean. Building a tube like the east bay to SF one wouldn't work, and there's no way feasibly to build a bridge or a 2nd tier to the GG Bridge for BART.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2013, 09:15 AM
 
Location: Lafayette, CA
2,518 posts, read 4,010,977 times
Reputation: 624
They could probably build it from Richmond to San Rafael to continue the East Bay Line into the North Bay.

Of course this is all fantasy talk anyway, BART would have to go into another few billion in debt just to get this off the ground.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2013, 09:20 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,210 posts, read 107,904,670 times
Reputation: 116153
Quote:
Originally Posted by DocGoldstein View Post
They could probably build it from Richmond to San Rafael to continue the East Bay Line into the North Bay.

Of course this is all fantasy talk anyway, BART would have to go into another few billion in debt just to get this off the ground.
That would be the more feasible way to connect Marin to BART, but that wouldn't do anything to help people who want to commute to SF from Marin. That would take hours, to go the long way around, through Richmond.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2013, 09:30 AM
 
Location: Lafayette, CA
2,518 posts, read 4,010,977 times
Reputation: 624
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
That would be the more feasible way to connect Marin to BART, but that wouldn't do anything to help people who want to commute to SF from Marin. That would take hours, to go the long way around, through Richmond.
I think that's a slight exaggeration. It wouldn't take HOURS, more like AN HOUR.

From Richmond to Embarcadero, it takes about 35-40 minutes. I would guess about an hour or so from a station in San Rafael.

The solution makes sense because the cost of building across the GG gap, and then connecting BART to an existing S.F station through the city would be extremely expensive, especially since the line would have to be underground.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2013, 09:35 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,210 posts, read 107,904,670 times
Reputation: 116153
I wouldn't want to commute to SF that way, though. And allowing for wait time for train connections, it would be safer to assume a longer commute.

Oh well. That option isn't likely to happen, anyway.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2013, 10:32 AM
 
Location: Liminal Space
1,023 posts, read 1,552,147 times
Reputation: 1324
No
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2013, 10:43 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,210 posts, read 107,904,670 times
Reputation: 116153
I have an idea for this fantasy extension from Richmond to San Rafael. They could run express trains during commute hours, that would speed by the podunk stops in the East Bay. Those all have their own line to SF, anyway. So they could run a higher-speed train that would power past all the stops and get to SF in 1/2 hr. But I guess that would only work if the north Bay line had its own dedicated tracks.

meh. Another great idea bites the dust.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Francisco - Oakland
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:11 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top