Re: [Ebbc-Talk] Lessons for BART bike access from Caltrain and SFBC (WAS: Fwd: my presentation from BBATF meeting)

Eric, Mike, and all,

The BART board rarely hears from its bicycling customers or from bike advocacy groups--on any issues. This leads to the current marginalization 
of cyclists who use the system. Pushing BART to move more quickly on some of the solutions below--many of which are championed by a minority 
of BART board members, including Robert Raburn--will help all riders by expanding system capacity and improving access to BART. 

Several technical solutions are on the horizon that could improve BART's capacity: 

-Better traffic control systems (computers)

-Increased and improved tracks (to offer more options for switching, passing, and reversing trains), 

-Platform modifications that would prevent passengers from falling in the horizontal gap between the platforms and the cars.

-Extensive station renovations--now necessary but still unfunded--could include wider stairwells and escalators, multiple elevators of larger size, 
more fare gates with better bike and wheelchair access, and inside-fare-gate bike parking racks and bike stations. (These are just some of the
potential improvements.)

As the new vinyl seat replacement program attests, BART responds to public pressure--something cyclists have not provided very well in recent years.

It is quite true that BART trains to and from SF are at capacity now during commute hours. The bottlenecks are in the Transbay Tube, the current two-door car access, and the platform safety and capacity limitations in downtown SF and Oakland stations that prevent more people from standing on them, 
boarding trains, etc. 

I think the need right now for us as cyclists is:

1) To push BART to recognize that bike-using passengers are legitimate BART riders at all hours and on all routes/trains.

2) To push BART to move faster and more responsively to accommodate more bicyclists, whether they ride to BART and park their bikes at stations or
take their bikes on board. Specific objectives we have discussed in the BBATF have included:

a) End the blackout periods so at least SOME cyclists can take BART to/from SF during peak periods. (Why should cyclists be the only group
of BART riders prevented from using the system just because it is crowded? Airport passengers with luggage, parents with strollers, and others
with "cargo" are currently permitted during the bike blackouts.) 

b) Allowing bikes to use BART escalators as well as stairs and elevators.
 
c) Providing more and better bike parking and bike security (lockers, in-station racks, better crime prevention and anti-theft policing, etc.)

d) Push for as much of an increase in bike capacity as possible in all new BART cars as well as in retrofitted older cars. (Technical challenges 
abound in how to do this--bike racks like Capitol Corridor trains and Caltrain seem impractical and inflexible for multiple-use BART cars, 
which are already jammed with all kinds of different kinds of users from station to station.)

BART is an expensive, complex, and aging system that was never properly designed to fully accommodate the number of cyclists, 
parents with strollers, the handicapped, travelers with luggage, and just plain passengers it now carries. Retrofitting the entire system "on the fly"
is very costly but also absolutely necessary, and cyclists need to contribute their ideas, creativity, political pressure, and support for 
improving the system. Otherwise it will continue to not serve us--or other passengers--well.

Jon




On Apr 11, 2012, at 9:30 AM, Eric McCaughrin wrote:

> Jon,
> I don't know that the issue is the control system (which is actually quite sophisticated in terms of headways). The main concern I had always heard from staff was the limited space on platforms and in trains. As much as I'd like to see elimination of the blackout, there needs to be a clear and realistic plan to solve the technical issues -- and I'm not understanding what the proposal is for that. 
> 
> 
> From: Jon Spangler <[email protected]>
> To: Nick Pilch <[email protected]> 
> Cc: [email protected] 
> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 11:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ebbc-Talk] Lessons for BART bike access from Caltrain and SFBC (WAS: Fwd: my presentation from BBATF meeting)
> 
> Nick,
> 
> You are correct that bottlenecks are a limiting factor--and there are a few throughout the system, thanks to cost-cutting and other short-term thinking 40-plus years ago. 
> 
> The biggest one seems to still be the single, two-track Transbay Tube. 
> 
> Replacing BART's antique electronic train control system and adding the new rail cars will both lead to shorter headways and permit shorter spacing between rush-hour trains. (I have also ridden trains eastbound at 10 PM that were only 4 cars long and were SRO-jammed.)
> 
> Bikes on BART system-wide in all directions will increase ridership but BART needs to increase both its rush hour and its overall capacities, 
> which will take lots of cash. AndBART, like all transit systems, is severely underfunded....
> 
> Many of us on the BBATF still believe that the best short-term solution is to start ending the blackout periods now, with the expectation that
> ridership system-wide will increase and the rush-hour crunch will eventually be resolved--or at least improved--with our new cars, 
> redesigning and refurbishing the old ones, and updating as many BART stations and systems as rapidly as possible.
> 
> BART needs to hear from more cyclists who ride BART than it has heard from recently: EBBC and SFBC need to attend and speak up 
> regularly at BART board meetings, and those of us who ride BART need to keep letting BART know that we:
> 
> a) like what BART has been doing to add more bike stations, more inside-fare-gates bike parking, more bike lockers, etc., and
> 
> b) still want and need an end to the blackout periods, more and better bike-friendly accommodations both at BART stations and 
> on BART trains, bikes on escalators, and more....
> 
> Those of us on the BART Bicycle Advisory Task Force can't do this on our own: we need backup from riders like you.
> 
> Appreciatively yours,
> 
> Jon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Apr 10, 2012, at 11:06 PM, Nick Pilch wrote:
> 
> > How about removing some of the seats so that bikes and the people that are driving them can be in the same car?
> > 
> > I wish I knew more about BART capacity. It seems like BART is at capacity during commute hours now. As someone who leaves Embarcadero in the afternoon/evening heading towards the East Bay, I have to really game it to try to get a seat. Most trains have many people standing and some trains are packed to the gills. I don't understand why all commute hour trains through SF are not 10 car. Lack of stock? Also, since SF is a bottleneck, and there are only two tracks, this limits growth, I've heard.
> > 
> > At 3:03 PM -0700 4/9/12, Scott Mace wrote:
> >> These are rehashes of arguments from 10 years ago and before. I remain unconvinced that BART should remove all the seats from one car, Copenhagen-style. But if the political will is there, seats could be removed and the blackout could end. Then, that bike capacity will be maxed out too, and the number of Bay Area commuters impacted by bike bumpings will skyrocket from its current levels.
> >> 
> >> Scott Mace
> >> 
> >> At 12:32 PM 4/9/2012, Jon Spangler wrote:
> >>> Cyclists,
> >>> 
> >>> Shirley Johnson, Ph.D, presented the results of the SFBC's "Bikes on Board" campaign to increase Caltrain's
> >>> bike capacity and ridership to the BART Bicycle Advisory Task Force meeting last Monday, April 2, (Two BART board
> >>> members and BART General Manager, Grace Crunican, were also in attendance.)
> >>> 
> >>> SFBC's experience with Caltrain indicates that BART could gain significant ridership by ending its blackout periods and
> >>> adding additional bike capacity to BART's trains. Please take a look at it and let the BBATF and BART Board know
> >>> your views on this:
> >>> 
> >>>> ttps://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7qJ2svk6gEGRkthRWdkbFRUVml1cXZkS2JLTWp2dw
> >>> 
> >>> Is it time to end the bike blackout?
> >>> 
> >>> Jon Spangler
> >>> BBATF member representing Alameda County
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> Begin forwarded message:
> >>> 
> >>>> From: Shirley Johnson <dr_shirley_johnson-/[email protected]>
> >>>> Date: April 3, 2012 3:43:41 PM PDT
> >>>> To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
> >>>> Cc: Andy Thornley <[email protected]>
> >>>> Subject: my presentation from BBATF meeting
> >>>> 
> >>>> Hello All,
> >>>> 
> >>>> Here is a link to my presentation from last night's meeting. I added some notes along with the slides.
> >>>> 
> >>>> https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7qJ2svk6gEGRkthRWdkbFRUVml1cXZkS2JLTWp2dw
> >>>> 
> >>>> Thank you very much for affording me the time to speak to you. I was very impressed with the level of engagement of BART staff and board members, and I'm thrilled that BART is pursuing bike racks onboard trains. One concern I have is that three racks per car may be insufficient. I'd encourage you to review the notes I added to the last slide regarding number of bike racks needed per car.
> >>>> 
> >>>> I sent the presentation link to Grace Crunican in a separate email already. Please forward to others. I don't have everyone's email address. Thanks!
> >>>> 
> >>>> With kind regards,
> >>>> Shirley
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> Jon Spangler
> >>> Writer/editor
> >>> Linda Hudson Writing
> >>> TEL  510-864-2144
> >>> CEL 510-846-5356
> >>> [email protected]
> >>> www.linkedin.com/in/jonmspangler
> >>> www.twitter.com/jonmspangler
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> "She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life."
> >>>  —Frances E. Willard, in A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle (1895)
> >>> 
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >> 
> >> -----
> >> 
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> > 
> > -- 
> > 
> > 
> > Nick Pilch / [email protected]
> > Yahoo IM: npilch
> > GTalk: npilch
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> 
> 
> 
> Jon Spangler
> Writer/editor
> Linda Hudson Writing
> TEL  510-864-2144
> CEL 510-846-5356
> [email protected] 
> www.linkedin.com/in/jonmspangler
> www.twitter.com/jonmspangler
> 
> 
> "She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life."
>   —Frances E. Willard, in A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle (1895)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ebbc-Talk mailing list
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> 
> 



Jon Spangler
Writer/editor
Linda Hudson Writing
TEL  510-864-2144
CEL 510-846-5356
[email protected] 
www.linkedin.com/in/jonmspangler
www.twitter.com/jonmspangler


"She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life."
  —Frances E. Willard, in A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle (1895)

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