BART Woes Build Day After Day

CA: BART Woes Build Day After Day

ANDREW MCGALL ON JUL 10, 2015
SOURCE: CONTRA COSTA TIMES


July 10--OAKLAND -- Even as BART directors on Thursday morning agonized over more than $9 billion worth of renovations needed to modernize their outmoded computer train controls, aging tracks and dilapidated trains -- and how to rally support for a bond measure -- another major breakdown shook riders' waning confidence.

The tide of big breakdowns seems endless: An out-of-service train derailed in February; a rail broke in San Francisco in May; BART's proudly introduced $484 million elevated cable car to the Oakland Airport broke down three weeks after opening in late 2014; and a train's brakes failed in the Berkeley hills tunnel in late 2013. Minor delays of 10 to 20 minutes riddle the daily schedule.

Fed-up riders railed against the system Thursday after an early morning electrical arc filled a train with smoke and stopped the commute to and from southern Alameda County stations south of the Lake Merritt station for 4 hours.

Their sentiments do not presage a surge of voter love.

Stranded commuters at the San Leandro BART station greeted the indefinite delay with gallows humor and a shrug, barely masking frustration. .................(more)

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