At our September 11 meeting, the BART Board were presented with an overview of the Demand Management Study, which will examine the use of variable fares and better parking pricing to manage overcrowding during the morning and afternoon rush hours (or our rush 15 minutes, as the study showed).
For many in the region, the media coverage of this presentation was the first news that BART faces an urgent need to address capacity, although regular BART riders are experiencing BART capacity constraints firsthand.
The issue of BART’s capacity to carry its increasing ridership has been simmering for about a decade, since the ridership surge during the dot-com boom revealed some bottlenecks at BART stations. Simply put, reaching capacity means that a portion of a system can no longer physically carry the number of passengers who wish to use it. Addressing the capacity constraints of a transit system like BART is a complex problem which necessitates a systems approach, although BART’s capacity issues are relatively straightforward compared to the issues faced by larger networks like the London Underground or New York Subway. These systems have been addressing complex capacity issues for a long time, and BART has much to learn from the experience of these and other systems.
The current demands on BART capacity are driven by BART’s recent increases in ridership; despite a slowing economy, BART ridership continues to grow quickly and exceed previous records.
BART capacity is a pressing problem for BART and for the Bay Area, and how we address it will effect the future livability, sustainability, and economic health of the region. The Regional Rail Plan released last year projects that BART ridership may grow from the approximately 370,000 average weekday trips today to over 600,000 trips over the next few decades.
I have worked to draw attention to and successfully address BART capacity issues for most of my time on the BART Board. BART capacity has many dimensions, many implications, and many possible solutions, which I will address in a series of posts, to follow.