Bart fail yet again

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Well, really we need to end bart and replace it with something better. But it is easier to cut salaries of people who make 100k for an UNSKILLED JOB than it is to somehow magically make bart no longer require maintenance etc.

And make no mistake. A software engineer at Google is performing a job that requires skill. A cashier at BART is not. The same guy who flips burgers at McDonalds for $12/hr could sit in a bart train and wait for an emergency to press the stop button for $100k. I support a union at McDonalds because it is a for-profit operation. I do not support them at BART.

I feel the same way about other government agencies like VTA and CalTrain.

Part of my main issue with BART is how astronomically-expensive it is to build/expand. Caltrain has a ton of issues (mostly related to it's lack of any dedicated funding), but one huge advantage is it's so much cheaper to expand/improve upon. And we keep expanding BART whereas we ignore viable solutions that are much cheaper for long-distance rail transit.


My ideal scenario for Bay Area rail expansion would consist of building out a true commuter rail system, similar to what is found in NYC/Boston/Philly/Chicago. BART is kind of doing that now, but it's limited (slow, no ability to have express trains because there are no passing tracks, and expensive to build/maintain over long commuter rail distances), and it doesn't go nearly far enough to be a powerful commuter-rail system.

We could have a line going up to the North Bay (basically what SMART is going to be - although it doesn't cross the Bay at all), multiple lines throughout the East Bay that extend all of the way into the Central Valley (could terminate in Oakland at a large multimodal statin (BART, Commuter Rail, and Bus) or cross the Bay over the Dumbarton Rail bridge), and a few lines through the South Bay down to the Monterrey area.

We actually already have some of the rail lines in place to make this happen...building it wouldn't be as far-fetched as some might think.

Unfortunately, we'll just keep expanding BART out further and further wasting tons of money in the process...BART should really be focusing on improving its lines already in place and making the urban sections better (build some passing tracks in some parts, maybe add some infill stations, build another transbay tube, and maybe add another line in SF (Geary?)). I'd take that over BART to Livermore (or beyond).

So this is obviously my pipe dream - but all of this is doable with the correct political motivation.

[Tipmart87]

Maybe come negotiations they won't waste $2m on a union buster, 5 separate press people to denounce the workers, buses to transport people which were never used and they have yet to receive fines for the deaths of the two workers that management caused

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by Tipmart87

Maybe come negotiations they won't waste $2m on a union buster, 5 separate press people to denounce the workers, buses to transport people which were never used and they have yet to receive fines for the deaths of the two workers that management caused

Oh yeah the BART workers are SO oppressed with their 100k salary for unskilled labor.