BART making progress on overhauling escalators

Q

It is so challenging for bicyclists to get up the Powell and Montgomery street stairs and onto BART. There seem to be about 58 steps at a steep 30- degree incline. Let’s help everyone ride together.

— John Gibson, Concord

A

Help is on the way to replace six escalators and six canopies each year, staggering the work among the downtown San Francisco stations so that not all the units at any one station are out at the same time.

In 2017, BART began work to overhaul 12 of the worst performing escalators in San Francisco, located at the Embarcadero, Montgomery, 16th and 24th Mission stations. This involved a complete rebuild of the electrical system and took each unit out of service for multiple months.

This repair work is expected to be complete by 2020 and will result in more reliable escalators and access.

New things coming this year include a contract to replace escalators; the installation of canopies to protect high-use units; and a selfreporting technology pilot program to help make repairs speedier and more efficient. BART is designing the remote monitoring pilot program to make it easily expandable to the entire system.

The pilot will start with 83 high-use units at Embarcadero, Montgomery Street, Powell Street and Civic Center stations in San Francisco and the 12th Street and 19th Street stations in Oakland.

BART has 138 elevators and 175 escalators, spread throughout 48 stations. The elevators and escalators are made by 14 different companies, some of which have gone out of business.

Q

Bikes are no worse than large suitcases on wheels. — David Vartanoff, Oakland

A

Off we go.

Q

I’d take a bicyclist using the escalator over the constant breakdowns at Montgomery station. — Michael Mathews

A

That should get better by next year.

Q

A bicycle on an escalator by itself does not seem an issue to me. If the cyclist is standing on the right with her bike directly in front of her and upright, I’m not sure what the issue is.

A bicycle that is in the way of other riders is no different than riders who stand in the middle of the escalator instead of to the right. (Escalator Boulders?)

Is this a matter of banning something entirely because it’s just easier to enforce than making a judgment call?

Or are these escalators truly so crowded that, even done properly, it is dangerous to others or backs up the flow? — David J.

A

You judge.