BART to offer final rides on original equipment on April 20

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Bay Area Rapid Transit is retiring its original 1970s-era train cars, prompting nostalgia for features like carpeted floors and fabric “living room” seating as well as relief that unsanitary, hard‑to‑maintain interiors are finally gone. Commenters use BART’s history to critique its nonstandard engineering choices (such as unusual track gauge and wheel profiles), noisy and sometimes uncomfortable ride quality, and fragmented regional transit planning, while comparing U.S. design, maintenance, and safety regulations to more standardized and better-enforced systems in Europe and Japan. Many conclude that technical quirks like track gauge now matter less than governance, enforcement, and investment in creating an integrated, frequent, and pleasant transit network for the Bay Area.

Nostalgia and rider memories

  • Many recall the original BART era fondly: “family seating” living‑room nooks, wool seats, carpeted floors, and paper magnetic tickets with printed balances.
  • Some describe BART’s early years as “glory days” when it felt airline‑like, clean, and respected, with perks like free parking.
  • Others share childhood memories of tracks near their homes and youthful mischief, seeing BART as part of Bay Area identity.

Seating, cleanliness, and materials

  • Strong sentiment that carpet and fabric seats were comfortable and quieter but ultimately unhygienic and often disgusting (wet seats, MRSA reports).
  • Several contrast this with Japanese, London, and Austrian systems that still successfully use fabric, attributing the US problem to lax enforcement and social conditions rather than materials alone.
  • Vinyl and hard surfaces are seen as necessary compromises against vandalism, dirt, and bedbugs.

Track gauge, system design, and interoperability

  • Long debate over BART’s non‑standard broad gauge (“Indian gauge”).
  • Critics say it blocks track‑sharing with Caltrain/freight, forces multiple incompatible fleets (mainline BART, eBART DMUs, Oakland Airport Connector), and complicates maintenance and power systems.
  • Others argue gauge is overstated as a problem: BART doesn’t need mixed traffic, similar gauges are common worldwide, and interoperability would still be limited by platform heights, signaling, power, and crash standards.
  • Dual‑gauge track is mentioned as technically possible but probably not cost‑effective at this stage.

Rolling stock, regulations, and procurement

  • Discussion of US mainline crash (“buff strength”) rules and how recent changes allow lighter European‑style stock, though agencies have been slow to adopt.
  • Some emphasize that long, heavy US freight trains drove earlier strength requirements; others stress prevention technologies like Positive Train Control.
  • Caltrain’s new Stadler EMUs are cited as semi off‑the‑shelf but heavily customized and encumbered by “Buy America” rules that increased costs while adding limited domestic expertise.

Transit integration and governance

  • Multiple comments lament the fragmented Bay Area ecosystem (BART, Caltrain, Muni, ferries, dozens of agencies) and misaligned fares.
  • Some argue a unified authority could still fail to deliver integration, citing other US regions; others point to European‑style regional associations as better models.
  • Fare integration via Clipper reportedly met resistance from agencies worried about losing direct control of cash flow.

Caltrain, freight, and electrification

  • Caltrain’s corridor is freight‑owned; freight is expected to keep running post‑electrification, including double‑stack container traffic that complicates wire clearances.
  • Some view freight on the corridor as environmentally positive; others find it operationally and design‑wise constraining and wish for separate tracks.

Service quality, comfort, and noise

  • Mixed views on current BART: some describe 2010s stations and cars as creepy, dilapidated, and unsafe; others still see BART as one of the better US systems.
  • New trains are widely regarded as superior but criticized for odd oscillations causing motion sickness and for wet‑weather braking issues that force slowdowns and create wheel flats.
  • The signature high‑pitched tunnel noise divides opinion: iconic and recognizable for some, “deafening and unbearable” for others; earplugs are half‑seriously recommended.

Alternatives and urban form

  • Several recommend ferries as a slower but far more pleasant Oakland/SF option, complete with bar service and scenic bike‑and‑ferry routes via Sausalito or Tiburon.
  • Broader critique appears of US, especially West Coast, car‑centric sprawl and weak transit, with some seeing remote work and better land‑use planning as key levers to reduce dependence on cars.