BART moving start time from 4 to 5 a.m. in 2019 for retrofit project
QI’ve heard that BART is going to change its schedule to a start time of 5 a.m. instead of 4 a.m. next year. Please tell me this isn’t true. What will that do to our already horrible traffic? — Debra Troxell, Rodeo
ABART will change its start time systemwide to 5 a.m. beginning Feb. 11 for about four years to allow crews extra time needed for a critical retrofit of the Transbay Tube. The tube is structurally sound, but in a very large earthquake the outer shell and concrete liner are predicted to crack.
The project to install an inner steel liner will help ensure any earthquake-caused leaking is slowed to give people time to evacuate and keep leakage low enough that the tube can eventually be repaired.
BART carries 2,900 riders in the first hour of service out of average weekday ridership of 420,286.
Later this month BART is expected to finalize a bus plan for the 4 to 5 a.m. period.
QAn eightcar morning BART Blue Line train had standing room only from the first station, Dublin/ Pleasanton. It was jam-packed by Bay Fair. When will BART have enough new cars that they can at least have 10car trains? — Robert Allen, Livermore
AAll trains during peak commute on the Dublin/Pleasanton Blue Line are at least nine cars, except in rare cases. An eight-car train meant there was some mechanical issue going on, so the train was shorted by taking a car out of service. It does not happen often.
BART plans by next year to run 10-car trains on all Transbay lines, including the Blue Line.
QThis is a crazy story that makes no sense to me. I just got my FasTrak summary and noticed there is a $6.25 charge for my vehicle in the Interstate 680 HOV southbound lane on Aug. 17 at 5:14 p.m. I don’t know how can that be because my wife and I and my vehicle were in Martinez at 5:14 p.m. attending my daughter’s wedding.
I contacted FasTrak and a very courteous individual pulled up the picture and it was a vehicle like mine with my license plate number clearly showing. The only thing that was odd is he said no FasTrak transponder was detected in the vehicle. I have a transponder and I used it all the way to Martinez earlier that afternoon.
No reason to dispute the charge because I’m not going to win, but I am at my wits’ end trying to figure out how this could have happened. I know where I was at 5:14 on Aug. 17 and it was not in the I-680 HOV lane.
ADon’t give up hope. Write your story to FasTrak and include your account number, etc. I’m betting they will drop the toll charge. Sometimes a digit on a plate can be misread (such as a “1” for a “7”).