
BART's Warm Springs extension to open March 25th - apsec112
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-s-long-awaited-Warm-Springs-extension-to-10993146.php
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dmnd
> The gleaming new glass and white-painted-steel station sat finished but
> empty, disconnected from the rest of the BART system. Nevertheless, it was
> staffed with five station agents, two janitors and a train controller
> because of a quirk in the way BART schedules workers.

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idoh
5.4 miles, $890,000,000.

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jeffdavis
Do infrastructure projects in the US cost more, or am I imagining it? Is it
proportional to what the local population can pay or something?

Anyone have an idea why or how it coild be fixed?

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ubernostrum
It depends.

When you hear about massive projects being done cheaper (especially in per-
mile costs), often it's because the project _isn 't_ running through an
established, densely-populated area. So what you end up getting is "cost of
building in a wilderness" versus "cost of building in a dense established
city". The latter is going to be more expensive.

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kalleboo
You're right, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, they're not densely populated at all!

Not to say there _aren 't_ valid reasons for some projects to be more
expensive (especially when you're tunneling), but by all accounts the US
manages to have outsized costs for pretty much any infrastructure project.

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mateo411
Are infrastructure projects a lot cheaper in Japan, South Korea and Singapore?
I honestly don't know. I know they have better rail infrastructure, but those
societies also pay higher taxes and make rail infrastructure a higher
priority.

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m-j-fox
I often go to work at a lab that is as close to the Warm Springs BART station
as any business could be, but I will still drive because walkability is so bad
it will still be a 15 minute walk. Maybe someday they will build something
near these East Bay BART stations.

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JamilD
In Santa Clara County they have a pretty strong vision for more transit-
oriented development, for the Milpitas and Berryessa Stations [0]. We'll see
if that actually happens though, it seems like a lot of those East Bay
stations are just meant to be driven to.

[0] [http://www.vta.org/News-and-Media/Connect-with-
VTA/Milpitas-...](http://www.vta.org/News-and-Media/Connect-with-VTA/Milpitas-
Stands-Ground-on-Vision-for-a-Vibrant-Urban-BART-Station-Area)

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kkylin
The Berryessa station, at least, should be bikable from a decently-sized
residential area, not to mention reachable by light rail or bus. We'll see
what people actually do.

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m-j-fox
There's this frustrating principle of public transit where I've never lived in
a place that I could take it and get there faster than I could by some other
means. There's a bus stop right in front of my house, and light rail station a
few minutes walk away. The train stops in front of my office, but I can still
bike or drive to work faster.

When I lived far out in the suburbs there was a commuter train once an hour
and I could always count on being able to drive the freeway faster, even in
traffic even though it was miserable.

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closeparen
Don't worry, we will soon enough "improve" public transportation by slowing
down, banning, and pricing you out of the alternatives.

EDIT: Yeah, this is flippant, but far as I can tell it's the truth.
Policymakers are well aware that public transit is often not the most
attractive option, and are working to bring it to the top of your list of
options by degrading driving until it's worse. Congestion pricing, parking
scarcity, reducing road throughput, etc. I guess in principle some of this
might make buses more attractive, but not trains.

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Manishearth
If anything, it's the opposite. Public transport in the U.S. sucks, and
driving _always_ gets the upper hand in policymaking. These two go hand in
hand, as the more people drive, the less money and effort goes into making the
public transport systems better.

Stuff like congestion pricing isn't intended to increase use of public
transport (that's a side effect), it's intended to reduce traffic and make
driving "better" (by pricing lower-income folks out of it, but that's
generally how "better" works in the U.S. anyway).

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protomyth
_Valley Transportation Authority buses will not serve Warm Springs /South
Fremont station_

Is there a reason for this?

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ts4z
VTA serves Santa Clara County and the station is in Alameda County; and the
next BART station will connect with VTA's light rail and be next to a large
transportation center.

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ZanyProgrammer
They have inter county busses, just see Fremont BART.

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ts4z
Sure, but given they are already planning on making massive changes to the bus
schedule as well as light rail, might as well wait for BART to be in Milpitas
before doing that, since it's supposed to be "this year".

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ben174
It was great while it lasted. Living walking distance from Fremont station -
end of the line - meant I could guarantee a seat on the train in the mornings.
But now the train will be full by the time it gets to Fremont station if it is
before 9am. On a positive note there will be far fewer people getting off at
5pm at the Fremont station and clogging up the escalators.

Stand on the right, walk on the left, people!!

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emilyfm
How high (long) are the escalators? Above 18.5 metres (60 feet in the US) it's
more efficient to stand on both sides:
[http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/01/subway-escalator-
stan...](http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/01/subway-escalator-standing-
study-tfl-london/424950/)

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donretag
It is more efficient on average, but those that want to walk will be slowed
down, while those willing to stand will be faster since the overcrowding will
be reduce. However, if those that are not in a hurry and are willing to stand,
they should simply deal with the overcrowding.

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ulfw
And yet they are still running trains from the 1970s which appear to not have
been cleaned (let alone been renovated) since.

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whoami2018
They look like they haven't been, but they did get new seat covers over the
last 2-3 years and they're getting new train cars.... any day now

