
Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says - jseliger
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/04/27/milpitas-bart-station-to-open-in-december-vta-says/
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niftich
Funny that BART got to SJ via the East Bay first, but I hope they make the
most of it. This does complete a missing (edit: _rail_ ) link around the Bay
-- though sadly across three different transit systems.

Some time ago I wrote that the geography of the Bay is unfortunate for transit
in many ways [1] but notably because there's no express way to get from one
side to the other; instead you have to travel along the Ring touching all
stops between.

One of the later plans of the HSR along the Caltrain corridor wants to operate
it as a hybrid system (which sounds like a big deal, but really just means
operating express and slow trains on the same corridor), which would greatly
improve mobility between Downtown SF and SJ, as well as regions adjacent to
those with zoned trains. Similarly, the Dumbarton Rail Corridor (between
Fremont and Palo Alto) would provide a radial transbay option.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12283335](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12283335)

~~~
ende
When a large body of water is the primary geographical obstacle, investing in
boats seems the logical choice.

~~~
Sanddancer
There's already a ferry system in the bay to points where it's feasible to to
put docks. However, much of the bay is less than ten feet deep, with gentle
slopes, which make ferries to other points, especially in the south bay,
difficult.

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temp246810
Trains to SF on the Fremont line are already crowded as hell before you even
get to Oakland.

If you live there and are trying to get to the city, good luck finding a seat,
plan to stand for as long as 30 minutes in a crowded cart.

I hope they thought this through and are adding more trains so that it doesn't
make it even more unbearable.

~~~
killedbydeath
Well in many big cities nobody expects to be able to sit on a subway train
anytime during peak hours. Where I lived, seats were mostly for seniors,
children, people with disabilities. That's just what mass transit looks like
in a busy city. It is not unusual for cars to be packed so dense you can't
move or even get on a train. And all that with trains coming every couple
minutes.

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ricw
Can someone explain why 162 employees are needed to drive a single station?!
This sounds extremely inefficient to me, particularly as it closes as night
too. I'm generally curious what the break down would be.

~~~
Sanddancer
It's open 20 hours a day, so you're going to need at least 3 shifts. It's open
7 days a week, so you're going to need at least two sets of employees per
shift, and there are two stations for the extension. When you start
considering ticket agents, janitorial staff, security, etc, having 13-14
people on site per shift seems pretty reasonable.

~~~
wahern
The Washington Metro keeps a single attendant at each station, so maybe 3
attendants per day. And employed what seemed like less than 1 janitorial
person per station, given that you only saw one person cleaning at any one
time, and that was only for an hour or two each day. You don't need double
those numbers for a 7 day week because employees are a system-wide resource.

I understand you're going to need more maintenance personnel, etc, but 162
additional staff for two stations sounds like a concession to the unions.
Which in the grand scheme of the whole system might be defensible--more
employees as a compromise for capping wage growth. But let's call a spade a
spade.

~~~
Sanddancer
These are completely separate hires from the rest of the BART system. Because
Santa Clara County didn't buy into the system in the 60s, choosing to build a
network of expressways instead, VTA is operating these stations completely
separate of the rest of the BART network. So that means you're going to need
redundancies that you wouldn't need if you had a bigger station and employee
pool.

~~~
wahern
How are they separate? The article says,

    
    
      [the VTA] is building the new station and handing off its
      operation to BART once complete
    

Then later on

    
    
      Alicia Trost, a BART spokeswoman, said her transit agency
      will ramp up to hire 162 positions, funded by and dedicated
      for the Berryessa extension. She added BART is estimating it
      will cost $27.5 million to provide service at the new
      stations.
    

Finally,

    
    
      VTA will reimburse BART for the cost for staffing the two
      new stations.
    

I missed the last part the first time through. If VTA agreed to reimburse BART
for operating costs, then as a union negotiator it would seem an easy sell for
BART to hire an excessive number of employees given that they wouldn't be
footing the bill. And in any event, it would be in BART's best interest to
inflate its operating cost estimates for the two stations to minimize its risk
going forward. Inflating the number of positions needed is one way to do that.

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CaliforniaKarl
Related, but not mentioned in the article, is that the start of BART service
in Milpitas will trigger a large reorganization of the VTA bus network. The
existing BART stations with VTA service, and the surrounding region north of
Santa Clara county, will lose VTA service as those routes move to target
Milpitas.

Also, to be clear, the "Next Network" affects more than the lines connecting
to BART, but the opening of the new stations is one of the main reasons for
the reorg (another is a change to the coverage/ridership ratio).

More info here: [http://nextnetwork.vta.org](http://nextnetwork.vta.org)

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dopeboy
This is fantastic. I live in the east bay and have close friends in south SJ.
The best option thus far has been going to Fremont, taking the 181 bus to
downtown SJ, and ridesharing it down. This will shorten that ride.

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tarbism
Not Capitol Corridor rail direct to SJ?

~~~
ZanyProgrammer
Single tracked, UPRR has right of way, etc etc etc.

~~~
CaliforniaKarl
tarbism: To expand on what ZanyProgrammer said:

For most of the East-Bay-to-South-Bay segment (from Santa Clara to around
Fremont), there is only one track. That's not unusual in freight rail, but
what's missing here are passing points: Long sidings where one train can get
out of the way of a passing train.

You can see the route around the bay here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoyZC4LvKoI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoyZC4LvKoI)

Also, Union Pacific owns the tracks used by the Capitol Corridor, so priority
becomes a question: Yes, passenger rail is supposed to be higher priority, but
UP can (and does) charge Amtrak for using the rails. Railroads can (and have)
demand that passenger railroads pay to build/upgrade infrastructure as a
condition for running more passenger trains.

So yes, it would be doable, but it would be _expensive_.

~~~
ZanyProgrammer
If you've been to Oakland BART, you've probably seen that in an around that
part of Oakland, there are two sets of freight tracks, one set very rarely
used.

But its irrelevant till you double track Alviso.

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kabdib
I moved to the Bay Area in 1982. I'd heart about BART. "Oh boy, I get to use
BART," I thought. And I flew in from the east coast, found an apartment in
Cupertino, and . . . no BART. Quickly I found there was no chance in hell I'd
get to use it in the south bay. So I drove everywhere. I think I was on BART
maybe twice, the whole 20+ years I was in Silly Valley.

In the 90s, San Jose built light rail from useless point A to other useless
point B. I couldn't use that, either. So I was still driving everywhere.

I live in the Seattle area now. Still no happy ending, though there was a huge
push for a transit expansion (and a corresponding tax increase), and I hear
we'll get light rail in our area in maybe ten years. That'll be nice.

~~~
jrnichols
"from useless point A to other useless point B."

I laughed at this, but you're right. VTA built the slowest, dumbest light rail
system I've ever used. It was nice, and I used it on occasion, but very
rarely.

I thought the same thing about DART in Dallas 10 years ago, but it's spread
out quite a bit now, finally reaching to DFW Airport and Dallas Love Field.

[https://www.dart.org/maps/printrailmap.asp](https://www.dart.org/maps/printrailmap.asp)

Maybe VTA will continue to grow like that. One day.

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jedberg
It's a good start, but as someone who live in Cupertino, my options are now:

\- Drive to Sunnyvale (15min) and then take CalTrain to SF (45-75min)

\- Drive to the Great Mall (30 min) and then take BART to SF (60 min)

Would be nice if they let them electrify CalTrail or bring Bart all the way
south. I can keep hoping!

~~~
kevinburke
Not sure if the money's there, but VTA has plans to run BART to a location
close to San Jose Diridon station. [http://www.vta.org/bart/stationsphaseII-
diridon](http://www.vta.org/bart/stationsphaseII-diridon)

~~~
Sanddancer
The measure to fund it passed, to the money's there. It's just gonna take
10-15 years to build it.

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robbies
As a lifelong Bay Area resident, I honestly never thought I'd see this day.
I've had a lot of fun teasing my friends in the public sector about their
BART/CalTrain extension optimism, but maybe those days are coming to an end...

~~~
djrogers
Oh, don't worry - you've still got the Livermore extension to mock them about.
It's only what, 15 years since it was promised?

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tarbism
Did you mean 50 years? Livermore stands in their own way on that project. If
they had stuck to the plan of serving downtown Livermore with a direct
transfer to ACE then it would already be built. Several board members are dead
set against another sprawl-inducing freeway median extension.

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enf
Some platform signs are already referring to it:
[https://twitter.com/enf/status/860516293442543617](https://twitter.com/enf/status/860516293442543617)

~~~
e_hup
It's a shame that all those Warm Springs signs went up a month or so ago and
will have to be replaced shortly. I think when the new train cars come the
lines will be referred to by color rather than destination, which will fix
that problem.

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ZanyProgrammer
I'll believe it when I see it. You know what they said about Warm Springs...

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JamilD
The Milpitas and Berryessa stations are being built by VTA, not BART like Warm
Springs. They're already ahead of schedule and under budget; the original
timeline was for them to open in Spring 2018.

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bbrian
I'd love to see what a $2.3 billion investment in cycling could do for a
locality. A quick search says the population of East Bay is 2.5 million – that
would be a fairly decent bicycle with lights, locks and helmet for every
person. The number of cars taken off the road would make the others flow
freely.

~~~
tarbism
And a 50 mile ride to work in Sunnyvale? Get real. I bike everywhere but I
also put my bike on a train when that is possible and faster than just riding
the bike.

~~~
bbrian
I don't know where your "50 mile ride" comes from when we're talking about a
ten mile extension. I put my bike on Bart all the time.

Given ~95% of households in the locality own cars, I assume this extension is
addressing congestion or pollution; it's hardly a $2.3 billion investment so
77k people don't have to drive as far to the next Bart stop. I wasn't
suggesting taking cars away from people, I was trying to make the existing
roads work better, not just in the locality but throughout the area.

[] [http://www.governing.com/gov-data/car-ownership-numbers-
of-v...](http://www.governing.com/gov-data/car-ownership-numbers-of-vehicles-
by-city-map.html)

~~~
Sanddancer
It's "only" ten miles, but it connects BART with VTA's light rail system,
which means that the 8 miles to Sunnyvale from Great Mall. Given that part of
the schedule changes planned for once BART starts is a Mountain View - Alum
Rock line, Sunnyvale is a single transfer away. One of the things BART will do
is create proper transit hubs in east San Jose, so that a lot more trips have
decent transfers and connections.

