BATWG, an independent group of volunteers, is often critical of Bay Area transportation policies and practices. However once in a while a project comes along that engenders respect. BART’s new Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) line running between the Pittsburgh Bay Point BART terminal and Antioch is such a project. The new line began carrying paying customers on May 26, 2018. By all accounts it is proving to be an outstanding success.

Most impressively, the 10-mile extension including vehicles was completed at a per mile cost of less than one sixth the estimated cost of building the much ballyhooed all-BART extension to Livermore.

The DMU project is notable for several reasons:  Continue reading →

The Bay Area Transportation Working Group (BATWG) is an all volunteer organization dedicated to rebalancing the Bay Area’s transportation network. Our program is based upon the conviction that even a 15% to 25% shift from automotive to nonautomotive means of travel would do wondrous things for the Region.

On a number of occasions BATWG has expressed its support for the BART/Livermore Express Bus Alternative. While it is recognized that there are advantages to extending BART eastward, the fact remains that the very modest resulting increase in BART ridership (11,900 a day) would have no discernible effect on I-580 traffic and come nowhere close to justifying a $1.6 billion capital cost followed by a $22.8 million a year increase in BART’s annual operating costs.    Continue reading →

The following Bay Area Transportation Working Group (BATWG) report responds to BART’s analysis of the various ways of improving access to the BART system from Livermore and the rest of eastern Alameda County:

In 1963 the voters of the three original BART Counties; namely Alameda, San Francisco and Contra Costa, formed the BART District and have been paying taxes into the system ever since.

At the BART Board hearing on May 24, 2018 a number of Livermore residents voiced their strong desire for BART to be extended 5 miles from the existing East Dublin BART station to Isabel Avenue in Livermore at a cost of $1.635 billion.  And that would be fine, if money were no object.  But money is an object.  In fact it’s in short supply and the existing BART system has many maintenance and improvement needs that go unmet for the lack of funding.  Continue reading →

Bay Area hi-technology companies are being panned in the New York Times and elsewhere for failing to apply their high tech and management skills to benefit the areas in the proximity of their campuses. Nowhere is this more evident than in the traffic agonies surrounding Silicon Valley. In fact, Southbay and Peninsula cities are now talking of imposing payroll and gross receipt taxes on hi-tech companies to help pay for public sector efforts to alleviate Southbay transportation problems…..the very same problems that the public sector has failed to address effectively for decades.
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Once in a while a project comes along that warrants special attention, respect and  support.  The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority and BART’s planned upgrading of the high quality Capitol Corridor passenger rail service  that runs from Auburn via Sacramento and Oakland to San Jose is such a project.  On April 26, 2018, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA) received notification from the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) that it had received $80,340,000 in State grants from Senate Bill 1 and the Cap and Trade program to be used to execute the project.

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