...at least until they increase service in four days. Blog: milesintransit.com Facebook: / milesintransit Twitter: / milesintransit1 Discord: / discord
@ACakeyBoi yes I'm aware, but it's funny as in most cases an E prefix means something is electric, and E-BART is the only non-electric part of the system
The fastest ride I had on BART was back in 1974. Back then you could look thru the door at the control panel. BART regularly ran at 80mph out in Contra Costa county between Orinda and Concord. One of the quirks in the automated system was a train operator could hold a train at a station and the train would go faster to make up the time. 90-95mph speeds on the downhill between Orinda and Lafayette happened on any number of occasions. On one occasion I watched the speedometer go thru 99mph and read 00. I'm pretty sure this also happened between the Berkeley Hills tunnel the other direction between the tunnel and Rockridge. On several occasions the Oakland Fire Department was called out after the dynamic brakes overheated in hot weather stopping at MacArthur. Since then the PUC told BART to slow down. The A and B cars are the original design built by Rohr in San Diego and rebuilt by BART a few times to get the bugs out. The C cars(the cars with flat front cabs) were built by Alsthom in xxxx. BART is in the process of reequiping the fleet with a new generation of cars. I am personally surprised that the Rohr cars lasted as long as they did(55 years). BART has always had problems with fare evaders. It just BART has finally decided enough. It is easy for fare evaders to jump the waist high fences & gates. In the original BART charter they had to provide service to Oakland Airport before SFO. Initially they provided a bus service and then someone took them to court. Hence the cable car steel wheel on steel rails. Sometimes you have to love politics 😅.
They still run at 80 mph when they're making up a delay in the system. The 70 mph speed limit is only operational, it's not like they recertified the track for a slower speed! They're just pretending like 70 mph is the top speed in the hope that no one notices how much the legacy fleet impacts their timeliness stats. Once all the legacy fleet is replaced with the new Alstom trains, you can expect a "surprise" announcement that BART is increasing speeds to 75 or 80 mph. Everyone knows that the legacy fleet just can't keep up with this schedule, so as soon as it's gone they'll go back to the original top speed.
when I visited I was wondering why "the metro" had 30 minute headways but learning more it makes scence that it's a regional rail with more stoping in the urban cores
@@stevenroshni1228 BART doesn't usually have 30 minute headways. That was just because of Covid. In normal times, every BART line runs every 15 minutes. And because BART is very heavily interlined, that means that every section of the system except the Yellow (Antioch) line actually has a train every 4-7.5 minutes. BART is actually pretty good with transfers so no matter which destination you have in the system there is always a way to transfer to the correct train. In effect this allows you to take any train at any station and still get to your destination with at most a single transfer. Also, the so called BART Core System (SF-Oakland-Berkeley) runs at 4 minute frequencies. This is where the vast majority of riders live and where the vast majority of destinations are located. So from the point of view of most locals, BART is in fact just a regular subway/metro/rapid rail. Unless you live somewhere out in the boonies or are going to the airport, you rarely get to experience the less dense parts of BART. The only major exception is the mentioned the Yellow line because it has a single BART service running on the track from Rockridge to Antioch. But this is about to change. BART is introducing another heavily interlined line on that spur. So in a couple of years there will be no parts of the BART system with frequencies above 7.5 minutes. At the same time, BART is in the process of installing new and better automatic train control and trains with more doors. So the frequency will further double to just over 2 minutes.
You should consider doing your ride again. All the old noisy cars have been removed from service; the new fleet is much quieter. The seats aren't as nicely padded. Service has also been increased to 20 minutes maximum but many trains shortened. One more thing, if you look out of the front of the first car on the Airport Connector at the "future infill station" you can watch the car change cables.
MUNI is much more subway/light-rail like, it is what residents of SF proper use most to get around the city. BART functions much more like a commuter rail in that it's handy to get everywhere in the Bay Area outside SF. But it is interesting that the two systems overlap for several stations in the city. Either way, definitely got LA beat on the transit front
Sadly, yes, LA still hasn't caught up to the Bay. But they are making amazing progress! The LA of yesteryear, the one that was a complete car dystopia, is gone. I have friends in LA who don't own cars now! That is completely incredible. 20 years ago it would have been impossible. We wish LA all the luck in the world in improving their transit! This is one area where NorCallers would welcome as much competition from SoCal as physically possible! May the best megacity win! 😆
I was just wondering what it’s like for locals and to not just base it on maps. To be honest, I haven’t yet been to the Bay Area, but looking at the maps a figured a similar thing happens in central SF and Oakland that happens with DC and Atlanta’s similar systems: It ends up being a subway for people that live in the central city. Your explanation about MUNI makes sense because between this video and the fare structure you’d have to be a sadist to try to use BART like a subway if you were say just trying to get around the city just using BART.
@@tarik158 This! You got it! If you live in certain areas in the Bay, the whole rail system works perfectly for you. You're spoiled for choice of extremely frequent subway/metro services that also happen to stretch out extremely far into the outlying areas. If you live in the boonies, it's all very meh to you. BART and Muni, and even the VTA, become surprisingly high-frequency and extremely usable as subways/metros on certain stretches. At the same time, in some places BART is basically just a very high quality regional rail/S-bahn. Same thing for Muni, sort of. In the city center Muni is a light metro. If you live somewhere along those Muni lines and never go into the suburbs, you'd never even know that Muni is not just a regular metro. And the absolute caper is that even good ol' dysfunctional VTA light rail is actually extremely usable as an "almost light metro" in North San Jose. I've only recently discovered this and was completely shocked. The green and blue lines are very blah, but the orange line is actually great.
Unless they changed it, BART is the same minimum fare between any two stations within San Francisco. Now what they need to do is include Day City in that, since it's TWO INCHES from SF and served by several Muni buses.
I didn't expect to ride the whole 20 minutes (well, 19:49) with you but I was too into your quest to make your schedule and to catch one of the new trains. Congrats, and congrats!
When I worked in Milpitas I used to ride the "Green" line (Fremont /Embarcadero) and then when I was working on a model train kit with a friend I rode the "Yellow" line (Daily City/Walnut Creek) quite frequently and yes THE TUNNELS ARE VERY ANNOYING LOUD! I haven't ridden since I fled SF due to the shutdowns but this brings back a ton of nostalgia. Also, if you want to mess with the CalTrain crews, call it "The Millberry"
you’re so right with the mediocre subway great commuter rail analogy. the BART stops in SF aren’t super useful and so many people won’t be taking it as transit within the city but rather a wide spanning commuter system. the size and the speed of the trains makes it even more like a commuter. the average speed of BART is more twice the average of other large subway systems, like new york or chicago. i’ve ridden BART from El Cerrito to San Jose a couple times before, which is over an hour long and most of it is on elevated tracks. or from SFO to Concord, an equally long and above ground trip. Both of these feel like a trip on a weird, subway-inspired commuter rail network.
TfL has recently improved the quality of the Northern, Central, Victoria, and Jubilee lines. Now some of the drivers wear PPE over their ears and many passengers use noise cancelling headphones. Look for news articles on it!
That was just a bit of synthetic drama. BART transfers are actually all timed so this was completely unnecessary. The other trains were literally waiting for his train to arrive so that transfer passengers could switch trains. 😁😁😁
Dude, chill with the running. BART transfers are always timed at transfer stations. The other trains were literally waiting for your train so that transfer passengers like yourself can switch trains. This is the way that the BART system is designed to work. It's key to smooth BART operations due to the very heavy interlining on BART. This is also why delays on one line cascade to other lines and why the new trains and modernization that BART is doing are so important in making the system efficient. The old trains were really doing a number on BART timeliness statistics because of the equipment delays that cascaded through the entire schedule.
I get that now, but it's not something they make clear at all in their maps or materials. The only place it's specified on the map is at the two Oakland stops where they specifically reference northbound and southbound timed transfers, which implies that other transfer locations AREN'T timed. Also, I have to imagine that the one at Richmond was dumb luck because it wouldn't make sense to hold for a transfer there for people just turning right around!
¡Congratulations on your record! If you ever do this again, if you sit in the first car of new trains and look through the operator's door, the control panel shows the speed in big numbers, as long as the operator isn't leaning in, which happened the other day. (Well, it still shows the numbers, I'd guess, can't testify to it, but you can't see them.) I think the red number shows the goal speed and the green number shows the actual speed. Since the speed is computer-controlled, I'm not sure what the operator can do about it. Haven't been on the e-BART or OAK Airport trains yet. Thanks for the preview. The tube sounds *are* loud, but I hear them as music. I even recorded it once for the full length of Embarcadero to West Oakland so I could include it in compositions. I see that as of this coming Sunday (8/4/23), there's a 32˚ temperature difference between the highs for Antioch (99˚) and Daly City (67˚). That's not unusual. Depending on when you traveled, it might not be that extreme. You didn't mention it, so I'm guessing you didn't experience it. They've replaced the SFO-Millbrae shuttle with an extension of the Richmond-Millbrae line. No added or removed stations. That Clipper® card makes it look like the BART car is beaming down from above. ¡Thanks Justin! If you're on a tight schedule, it can be really harrowing on the Berryessa-Bayfair segment when they stop in the South Hayward yard for an operator change. However, I've only ever seen it happen on a southbound trip.
I've been on northbound trains that had operator swaps too. Also, I've experienced operator swaps in both directions between Concord and Pleasant Hill.
Miles, I want to invite you to Washington, D.C., for the Nov. 15 grand opening of the Silver Line Metrorail Phase 2 to Washington Dulles International Airport and onward to Ashburn, Loudoun County, Virginia. It would be fun to set the new Metrorail speed record visiting every currently open Metrorail station in as litle time as possible (as you did for San Francisco BART). What do you think? I'd love to do a video like this with you on the newly expanded Washington Metrorail system.
Not yet, although I have a California Zephyr video that should come out on the "sooner" side, along with a big project about riding every trolleybus route in the US that will take a lot longer to edit.
I use to ride BART Richmond to SF, then Richmond to Pleasanton for years! So glad that's over with! (Although BART is a great idea.....it just needs some execution adjustments) You're not kidding about the ear bleeding! What did it for you.....the overall loudness or the screeching of the train wheels going around a turn? Fun (maybe??) Fact: BART is fully automated - maybe they showed you that in HQ. Although there is a driver, they're not actually doing anything. Not uncommon to see a driver just sitting in there reading a book.... Due to the automation, every once in a while, the trains would misaligned themselves on the platform, refuse to open the doors, and then just continue forward without letting anyone on or off.
I'm holding you to that, my friend ;) Maybe once that opens up, it WILL be more efficient to use Caltrain for part of it, spicing the run up at least a bit!
i wonder if you could somehow speed up the time by using Caltrain+bus to get from Millbrae to Berryessa, particularly now that service on both Bart and Caltrain is returning.
The VTA shuttle? You mean the Rapid 500? Right now, according to google maps, taking the Rapid 500 from Berryessa to San Jose Diridon and Caltrain the rest of the way can take as little at 90 min if you get a good transfer, which depending on how the BART train times line up *might* be able to save some time, especially with the new better BART frequencies.
@@coolstarorg On my channel, I have a related speedrun, where I get from San Jose to San Francisco using the 4 major systems (VTA, Caltrain, BART and MUNI). Not quite the same thing, but similar.
@@gigglesmurf2004 India uses the same wide gauge as BART. But even then BART cars are insanely wide by Indian standards. BART is just really really chonky, while being a super light train type and technically classified as "light rail" due to the aluminum body. (not lightrail/streetcar!) It feels unlike any other subway train. The only thing I can compare it to is some of the wider monorail trains in Asia. The wider gauge was supposed to be the "new and improved rail experience of the space-age", but never caught on due to the increased costs.
@@gamereric2189 I mean he did go across the country on Greyhound… I’d imagine it’d be hard to coordinate getting food. He’d have to have people meet him at the stations and bring him like a pizza or something.
The record is around 21 and a half hours! But no one's officially done it since 2nd Ave so theoretically any time would beat it...that would be kind of awesome to do.
It is sort of a Frankentransit. Even the rail gauge is different than any other place in North America. It is the same gauge as used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, and Chile.
@@MilesinTransit Oh, that explains it. I first rode BART from Milpitas last autumn. I didn't realize it was open for that long, or that there was gonna be a station in the south side of my city. (I thought it ended in Warm Springs)
niice how long are you here in the bay for? lol also dont worry we call it by the colors here too even BART. Also the stations seem dark cuz the windows are tinted but yeah some are dark. Also the app tells you if its a new train.
I dunno, they seemed pretty dark to me, having used Embarcadero at one point. BART said they're doing a station lighting campaign, which has made a big difference at 19th Street Oakland. I'm back home already!
The new train is still loud in the transbay tube. We went through it in both new and old trains and it's both around 95 dB. The old car did break 100 dB at one point though.
This depends more on the schedule than on the train. I've ridden both the old and the new trains in the Transbay tube. The old cars are about 20% than the new cars. The new cars can still get loud when BART is making up a system delay and the speeds are increased. But even then the new cars are much quieter than the old cars at regular speed. In other words, the new cars don't completely fix the old technical issue with BART's weird wheel profile, but they reduce to normal levels regardless of speed. This is a big upgrade.
bart is a great system, but I wish it was more available through the bay. I can connect to BART from the southbay, but I must use caltrain to Millbrae.
I gave up on The Bay Area when BART installed those diesel train extensions to "save money" when those towns have been paying their fare share of directed taxes for BART since the 1950s. "Here you go, 40 years later you're going to get half-assed transit."
That's not how that went at all. Originally, this extension was supposed to use freight right of way to extend further into east Contra Costa county. It was supposed to go at least as far down as Brentwood on old freight right of way. That's why they went with the DMUs. There were also long term plans to extend this e-BART line all the way toward the Tracy area. The freight railroad pulled out at the last moment, so we got this stub of DMU track. They had to stay in the highway median for the whole extension and terminate at Antioch instead of Brentwood. This switcharoo and longer than expected highway median section ate up all the budget so they just built what they could and left it as is for now. But eventually BART will resume this process and try to extend at least as far as Brentwood. They'll have to coerce the freight railroad again, but this time they know what they're up against.
The new Alstom trains are whisper quiet. There are still louder turns and tunnels, but you can have a conversation pretty much throughout your entire ride without raising your voice. Given the weird BART wheel profile that is a real achievement. Now we get BART superior suspension stability, but without the wheel squeal!
Really enjoy your videos, but I'm wondering why you still are wearing the masks-- I can understand whn the pandemic was on, but why now-- keep sharing these awesome videos
Yeah, those don't work. They make you feel like you can't hear the noises but that is all electronically simulated. They basically just "paint in" _more_ noise to fool you into thinking that the noise level is steady. Your brain does the rest to complete the illusion. If you want ear protection you need actual ear plugs. That being said, this guy is exaggerating. BART does get noisy in the transbay tube, but its not really dangerous in a real sense. If you listen to music in your regular Apple wired headphones above 80% then you're doing more damage to your ears than on BART. BART actually does regular instrumented studies for the Feds on this. Believe it or not, BART is among the quietest rapid rail systems in the country. This is just a Bay Area meme because BART used to be extremely quiet when they used a less safe, but much quieter type of wheel design with a rubber insert.
@@TohaBgood2 Afaik the transbay tube tested at 100 dB at some point, with multiple stretches reaching over 90 dB, though some work was performed to lower it. The new trains should have a lower noise level anyway due to some changes to the doors and such.
@@zephyros256 The noise is not cause by the tunnel it's caused by the trains. The old trains have a sub-optimal wheel profile that was meant for stability at speed. There were not supposed to be any sharp turns or high speed sections with any turning at all. Unfortunately, the super-straight right of way idea was later abandoned due to the insanely high cost and political shenanigans (famous DT Oakland sharp turn). So what we got with the old trains was a suboptimal wheel profile that would screech on even the mildest turn. This has been somewhat improved over the years by griding the wheels to a less speed oriented profile that screeches less. But it hasn't fixed the problem with the old trains. The new Alstom trains simply don't have that problem. They're still trains so they will still be louder when turning sharply or turning on a high speed section. But the noise levels are faaaaaaar improved. The new trains also have fully sealed doors and extensive soundproofing. I have never felt the same noise level on a new train as on the old trains. I've even tested this with a noise meter app. The new trains are whisper quiet compared to the old fleet. The old fleet is both overall noisier on a constant basis and has much sharper noise spikes on all the turns. You can even see this in this video. The OP mentions the famous "Transbay Tube noise" before the ride, but doesn't actually address it in the video. It's basically gone for all intents and purposes. Now the Transbay tube is just a regular track section with regular train noise.
Not really. BART is an S-Bahn commuter type system. Unlike a regular subway/metro these systems charge by distance. BART costs about average for the type of system it is.
They have fare gates. These types of fare inspections are extremely rare. I've only seen them stop a train for this type of fare inspection a single time. And they do have fare gates everywhere. There are no entrances without fare gates on BART (unless you make your own and jump a barricade.)
@@3506Dodge BART gets busy when traffic worsens. The return to work has been slow in the Bay Area because a ton of people work in tech and can be remote if needed. But the return to the office is catching up to them too. After spending more and more hours in traffic people give up and take BART instead. Over time the commuters will return and BART will be busy again. Don't forget that even in this "empty" state BART still carries more people than the Bay Bridge! Without BART the number of cars on the road would more than double. That would paralyze the entire Bay Area and beyond. The traffic would stretch all the way to Nevada!
Развлечения
The record has been beaten by Hayden! Check out his Twitter thread here: twitter.com/HaydenM16/status/1544778549785083904
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One of my favorite things about BART is that the only non-electric section of it is specifically called E-BART
Hahaha, that's a really good point!
It’s called eBART as it serves East Contra Costa County. Therefore E-BART.
@ACakeyBoi yes I'm aware, but it's funny as in most cases an E prefix means something is electric, and E-BART is the only non-electric part of the system
@@owenreese2216 🤓 well ahkshually, the Stadler GTW units used on Ebart use electric motors for propulsion.
kinda wish this was just 17 minutes of the doors closing and opening again
The fastest ride I had on BART was back in 1974. Back then you could look thru the door at the control panel. BART regularly ran at 80mph out in Contra Costa county between Orinda and Concord. One of the quirks in the automated system was a train operator could hold a train at a station and the train would go faster to make up the time.
90-95mph speeds on the downhill between Orinda and Lafayette happened on any number of occasions. On one occasion I watched the speedometer go thru 99mph and read 00. I'm pretty sure this also happened between the Berkeley Hills tunnel the other direction between the tunnel and Rockridge.
On several occasions the Oakland Fire Department was called out after the dynamic brakes overheated in hot weather stopping at MacArthur.
Since then the PUC told BART to slow down.
The A and B cars are the original design built by Rohr in San Diego and rebuilt by BART a few times to get the bugs out. The C cars(the cars with flat front cabs) were built by Alsthom in xxxx. BART is in the process of reequiping the fleet with a new generation of cars. I am personally surprised that the Rohr cars lasted as long as they did(55 years).
BART has always had problems with fare evaders. It just BART has finally decided enough. It is easy for fare evaders to jump the waist high fences & gates.
In the original BART charter they had to provide service to Oakland Airport before SFO. Initially they provided a bus service and then someone took them to court. Hence the cable car steel wheel on steel rails. Sometimes you have to love politics 😅.
They still run at 80 mph when they're making up a delay in the system. The 70 mph speed limit is only operational, it's not like they recertified the track for a slower speed! They're just pretending like 70 mph is the top speed in the hope that no one notices how much the legacy fleet impacts their timeliness stats.
Once all the legacy fleet is replaced with the new Alstom trains, you can expect a "surprise" announcement that BART is increasing speeds to 75 or 80 mph. Everyone knows that the legacy fleet just can't keep up with this schedule, so as soon as it's gone they'll go back to the original top speed.
BART is a short-distance commuter rail that acts like a metro in SF and Oakland. So it may look weird to a rapid transit rider.
when I visited I was wondering why "the metro" had 30 minute headways but learning more it makes scence that it's a regional rail with more stoping in the urban cores
@@stevenroshni1228 BART doesn't usually have 30 minute headways. That was just because of Covid. In normal times, every BART line runs every 15 minutes. And because BART is very heavily interlined, that means that every section of the system except the Yellow (Antioch) line actually has a train every 4-7.5 minutes. BART is actually pretty good with transfers so no matter which destination you have in the system there is always a way to transfer to the correct train. In effect this allows you to take any train at any station and still get to your destination with at most a single transfer.
Also, the so called BART Core System (SF-Oakland-Berkeley) runs at 4 minute frequencies. This is where the vast majority of riders live and where the vast majority of destinations are located. So from the point of view of most locals, BART is in fact just a regular subway/metro/rapid rail. Unless you live somewhere out in the boonies or are going to the airport, you rarely get to experience the less dense parts of BART.
The only major exception is the mentioned the Yellow line because it has a single BART service running on the track from Rockridge to Antioch. But this is about to change. BART is introducing another heavily interlined line on that spur. So in a couple of years there will be no parts of the BART system with frequencies above 7.5 minutes.
At the same time, BART is in the process of installing new and better automatic train control and trains with more doors. So the frequency will further double to just over 2 minutes.
BART and Caltrain ought to be under the same system with a free transfer but ya know.
You should consider doing your ride again. All the old noisy cars have been removed from service; the new fleet is much quieter. The seats aren't as nicely padded. Service has also been increased to 20 minutes maximum but many trains shortened. One more thing, if you look out of the front of the first car on the Airport Connector at the "future infill station" you can watch the car change cables.
3:26 that junction has always been a pain for BART. Its a severe bottleneck for the system. The trains can typically hit 80mph in the tunnel sections.
Thank you for showing the map inserts where for example you are stopped. This helps the viewer so much. Please keep doing. 3:15
Duly noted!
MUNI is much more subway/light-rail like, it is what residents of SF proper use most to get around the city. BART functions much more like a commuter rail in that it's handy to get everywhere in the Bay Area outside SF. But it is interesting that the two systems overlap for several stations in the city.
Either way, definitely got LA beat on the transit front
Sadly, yes, LA still hasn't caught up to the Bay. But they are making amazing progress! The LA of yesteryear, the one that was a complete car dystopia, is gone. I have friends in LA who don't own cars now! That is completely incredible. 20 years ago it would have been impossible.
We wish LA all the luck in the world in improving their transit! This is one area where NorCallers would welcome as much competition from SoCal as physically possible! May the best megacity win! 😆
I was just wondering what it’s like for locals and to not just base it on maps. To be honest, I haven’t yet been to the Bay Area, but looking at the maps a figured a similar thing happens in central SF and Oakland that happens with DC and Atlanta’s similar systems: It ends up being a subway for people that live in the central city. Your explanation about MUNI makes sense because between this video and the fare structure you’d have to be a sadist to try to use BART like a subway if you were say just trying to get around the city just using BART.
@@tarik158 This! You got it! If you live in certain areas in the Bay, the whole rail system works perfectly for you. You're spoiled for choice of extremely frequent subway/metro services that also happen to stretch out extremely far into the outlying areas. If you live in the boonies, it's all very meh to you.
BART and Muni, and even the VTA, become surprisingly high-frequency and extremely usable as subways/metros on certain stretches. At the same time, in some places BART is basically just a very high quality regional rail/S-bahn. Same thing for Muni, sort of. In the city center Muni is a light metro. If you live somewhere along those Muni lines and never go into the suburbs, you'd never even know that Muni is not just a regular metro.
And the absolute caper is that even good ol' dysfunctional VTA light rail is actually extremely usable as an "almost light metro" in North San Jose. I've only recently discovered this and was completely shocked. The green and blue lines are very blah, but the orange line is actually great.
Unless they changed it, BART is the same minimum fare between any two stations within San Francisco. Now what they need to do is include Day City in that, since it's TWO INCHES from SF and served by several Muni buses.
I didn't expect to ride the whole 20 minutes (well, 19:49) with you but I was too into your quest to make your schedule and to catch one of the new trains. Congrats, and congrats!
After 5 years of "The Fastest MBTA Rider Alive" now this time is BART
Miles on the West Coast! Nice! Also excellent demo of appropriate face covering protocols!
Love your videos. You and your friends are so enthusiastic about buses and trains. Keep up the good work. Safe travels.
Thank you so much!!
When I worked in Milpitas I used to ride the "Green" line (Fremont /Embarcadero) and then when I was working on a model train kit with a friend I rode the "Yellow" line (Daily City/Walnut Creek) quite frequently and yes THE TUNNELS ARE VERY ANNOYING LOUD! I haven't ridden since I fled SF due to the shutdowns but this brings back a ton of nostalgia. Also, if you want to mess with the CalTrain crews, call it "The Millberry"
Lol, you moved out of SF "due to shutdowns"? What kind of "shutdowns" were those?
Haa! The pivot from SEPTA to BART.
Nice videos miles keep up the good work
You'll never know how great a pretzel can taste until you've tasted Snyder's of Hanover!
Fantastically entertaining and interesting. Also your jokes and video editing are funny.
Thank you!
Really awesome!
you’re so right with the mediocre subway great commuter rail analogy. the BART stops in SF aren’t super useful and so many people won’t be taking it as transit within the city but rather a wide spanning commuter system. the size and the speed of the trains makes it even more like a commuter. the average speed of BART is more twice the average of other large subway systems, like new york or chicago. i’ve ridden BART from El Cerrito to San Jose a couple times before, which is over an hour long and most of it is on elevated tracks. or from SFO to Concord, an equally long and above ground trip. Both of these feel like a trip on a weird, subway-inspired commuter rail network.
TfL has recently improved the quality of the Northern, Central, Victoria, and Jubilee lines.
Now some of the drivers wear PPE over their ears and many passengers use noise cancelling headphones. Look for news articles on it!
I watched this video on my old account, i love this video so much!
Thank you!
I love seeing you run for the train! So thrilling!
That was just a bit of synthetic drama. BART transfers are actually all timed so this was completely unnecessary. The other trains were literally waiting for his train to arrive so that transfer passengers could switch trains. 😁😁😁
Dude, chill with the running. BART transfers are always timed at transfer stations. The other trains were literally waiting for your train so that transfer passengers like yourself can switch trains.
This is the way that the BART system is designed to work. It's key to smooth BART operations due to the very heavy interlining on BART. This is also why delays on one line cascade to other lines and why the new trains and modernization that BART is doing are so important in making the system efficient. The old trains were really doing a number on BART timeliness statistics because of the equipment delays that cascaded through the entire schedule.
I get that now, but it's not something they make clear at all in their maps or materials. The only place it's specified on the map is at the two Oakland stops where they specifically reference northbound and southbound timed transfers, which implies that other transfer locations AREN'T timed. Also, I have to imagine that the one at Richmond was dumb luck because it wouldn't make sense to hold for a transfer there for people just turning right around!
¡Congratulations on your record!
If you ever do this again, if you sit in the first car of new trains and look through the operator's door, the control panel shows the speed in big numbers, as long as the operator isn't leaning in, which happened the other day. (Well, it still shows the numbers, I'd guess, can't testify to it, but you can't see them.) I think the red number shows the goal speed and the green number shows the actual speed. Since the speed is computer-controlled, I'm not sure what the operator can do about it.
Haven't been on the e-BART or OAK Airport trains yet. Thanks for the preview.
The tube sounds *are* loud, but I hear them as music. I even recorded it once for the full length of Embarcadero to West Oakland so I could include it in compositions.
I see that as of this coming Sunday (8/4/23), there's a 32˚ temperature difference between the highs for Antioch (99˚) and Daly City (67˚). That's not unusual. Depending on when you traveled, it might not be that extreme. You didn't mention it, so I'm guessing you didn't experience it.
They've replaced the SFO-Millbrae shuttle with an extension of the Richmond-Millbrae line. No added or removed stations.
That Clipper® card makes it look like the BART car is beaming down from above. ¡Thanks Justin!
If you're on a tight schedule, it can be really harrowing on the Berryessa-Bayfair segment when they stop in the South Hayward yard for an operator change. However, I've only ever seen it happen on a southbound trip.
I've been on northbound trains that had operator swaps too. Also, I've experienced operator swaps in both directions between Concord and Pleasant Hill.
I was just in the Bay Area about a month ago. Great system
It is HERE!
Conical wheels have *not* entered the chat.
Can't believe I met him!
Cool Video
18:54 I can see horses. Take that NYC & Chicago.😀
I've noticed this is in many of your videos. 0:39 you need to put the text on screen for longer than 2 seconds. Goes by too fast to read it.
My home commuter rail ❤
1:24 door chime sounds like a microwave
Lmao it does!
So good to see you in our area!
The connection at Richmond to Amtrak is nice. A pretty ride to Sacramento if you can do it sometime
I will have to do it sometime to ride SacRT!
Miles, I want to invite you to Washington, D.C., for the Nov. 15 grand opening of the Silver Line Metrorail Phase 2 to Washington Dulles International Airport and onward to Ashburn, Loudoun County, Virginia. It would be fun to set the new Metrorail speed record visiting every currently open Metrorail station in as litle time as possible (as you did for San Francisco BART). What do you think? I'd love to do a video like this with you on the newly expanded Washington Metrorail system.
I'll be there :)
@@MilesinTransit Awesome. What do you have planned? How can we meet up?
Damg do you have anymore vids in California? I know you have this and the one when you took greyhound, but would love to see more California stuff
Not yet, although I have a California Zephyr video that should come out on the "sooner" side, along with a big project about riding every trolleybus route in the US that will take a lot longer to edit.
@@MilesinTransit awesome no rush haha I look forward to your vids! Love from los angeles
Also that was a less anticlimactic ending than Riverside
13:13 Hopefully there is wayfinding signage too. OAK is an international airport, so not all passengers can read English.
I use to ride BART Richmond to SF, then Richmond to Pleasanton for years! So glad that's over with! (Although BART is a great idea.....it just needs some execution adjustments) You're not kidding about the ear bleeding! What did it for you.....the overall loudness or the screeching of the train wheels going around a turn?
Fun (maybe??) Fact: BART is fully automated - maybe they showed you that in HQ. Although there is a driver, they're not actually doing anything. Not uncommon to see a driver just sitting in there reading a book.... Due to the automation, every once in a while, the trains would misaligned themselves on the platform, refuse to open the doors, and then just continue forward without letting anyone on or off.
The screeching really brings it over the top!
Maybe I'll join you for the whole thing if you redo it with the Silicon Valley extension! ;)
I'm holding you to that, my friend ;) Maybe once that opens up, it WILL be more efficient to use Caltrain for part of it, spicing the run up at least a bit!
RECLAIM BOSTON!!
It resets once the Green Line Extension opens, so I'm waiting for that!
The Sequel!!!
Well done Miles, well done. And don’t worry, the newer cars are coming thru, though I enjoyed the older legacy cars. The acceleration sounds are epic!
Thank you!
alright now lets see someone ride every muni route bus and rail
i wonder if you could somehow speed up the time by using Caltrain+bus to get from Millbrae to Berryessa, particularly now that service on both Bart and Caltrain is returning.
The VTA shuttle isn’t short (and VTA is a little tough to rely on right now, understandably), but once they extend to Santa Clara, absolutely!
The VTA shuttle? You mean the Rapid 500? Right now, according to google maps, taking the Rapid 500 from Berryessa to San Jose Diridon and Caltrain the rest of the way can take as little at 90 min if you get a good transfer, which depending on how the BART train times line up *might* be able to save some time, especially with the new better BART frequencies.
@@MilesinTransit I do wonder what a speedrun around the bay would look like with Caltrain expected to complete electrification this year
@@coolstarorg On my channel, I have a related speedrun, where I get from San Jose to San Francisco using the 4 major systems (VTA, Caltrain, BART and MUNI). Not quite the same thing, but similar.
congrats for getting on sfgate
Thanks!
13:11 Montreal metro jumpscare
@ 15:06 pretzels are gross 😝! Snyder's Potato Chips products are awesome ( they sell Snyder's in all the corner stores in Baltimore)!
I used Colliseum Station when I attended Golden State Warriors games at Oracle. Now they are at Chase Center in San Francisco.
is it just me or are those trains really wide?
Yeah, BART uses a wider gauge than most American trains - 5ft, 6in!
BART thinks it’s Indian lol
@@qjtvaddict Are Indian railways that wide as well?
@@gigglesmurf2004 India uses the same wide gauge as BART. But even then BART cars are insanely wide by Indian standards. BART is just really really chonky, while being a super light train type and technically classified as "light rail" due to the aluminum body. (not lightrail/streetcar!)
It feels unlike any other subway train. The only thing I can compare it to is some of the wider monorail trains in Asia. The wider gauge was supposed to be the "new and improved rail experience of the space-age", but never caught on due to the increased costs.
Now you have to do this in New York.
Lol thats a bit harsh - 24H plus running at best!
@@gamereric2189 I mean he did go across the country on Greyhound…
I’d imagine it’d be hard to coordinate getting food. He’d have to have people meet him at the stations and bring him like a pizza or something.
The record is around 21 and a half hours! But no one's officially done it since 2nd Ave so theoretically any time would beat it...that would be kind of awesome to do.
BART seems more like suburban rail than metro
It is sort of a Frankentransit. Even the rail gauge is different than any other place in North America. It is the same gauge as used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, and Chile.
Guy is laying on the tracks.
Me: Oh we love you Bay Area
This no record no more
yeh
NVM I thought Berryessa was your last stop but yeah You didn't forget.
When you held the door open for that other passenger at Richmond
Milpitas dispenses a different clipper card? I got mine at Milpitas but i thought it was a normal one
It was a promotional card from when the station opened.
@@MilesinTransit Oh, that explains it. I first rode BART from Milpitas last autumn. I didn't realize it was open for that long, or that there was gonna be a station in the south side of my city. (I thought it ended in Warm Springs)
niice how long are you here in the bay for? lol also dont worry we call it by the colors here too even BART. Also the stations seem dark cuz the windows are tinted but yeah some are dark. Also the app tells you if its a new train.
I dunno, they seemed pretty dark to me, having used Embarcadero at one point. BART said they're doing a station lighting campaign, which has made a big difference at 19th Street Oakland. I'm back home already!
@@MilesinTransit nice
You forgot Dublin/Pleasanton
The new train is still loud in the transbay tube. We went through it in both new and old trains and it's both around 95 dB. The old car did break 100 dB at one point though.
This depends more on the schedule than on the train. I've ridden both the old and the new trains in the Transbay tube. The old cars are about 20% than the new cars. The new cars can still get loud when BART is making up a system delay and the speeds are increased. But even then the new cars are much quieter than the old cars at regular speed.
In other words, the new cars don't completely fix the old technical issue with BART's weird wheel profile, but they reduce to normal levels regardless of speed. This is a big upgrade.
bart is a great system, but I wish it was more available through the bay. I can connect to BART from the southbay, but I must use caltrain to Millbrae.
I gave up on The Bay Area when BART installed those diesel train extensions to "save money" when those towns have been paying their fare share of directed taxes for BART since the 1950s.
"Here you go, 40 years later you're going to get half-assed transit."
That's not how that went at all. Originally, this extension was supposed to use freight right of way to extend further into east Contra Costa county. It was supposed to go at least as far down as Brentwood on old freight right of way. That's why they went with the DMUs. There were also long term plans to extend this e-BART line all the way toward the Tracy area.
The freight railroad pulled out at the last moment, so we got this stub of DMU track. They had to stay in the highway median for the whole extension and terminate at Antioch instead of Brentwood.
This switcharoo and longer than expected highway median section ate up all the budget so they just built what they could and left it as is for now. But eventually BART will resume this process and try to extend at least as far as Brentwood. They'll have to coerce the freight railroad again, but this time they know what they're up against.
so nostalgia Been Passenger for 15 years, but now I'm here in my Home Country Philippines hahaha, BART never change still Noisy as Hell!
The new Alstom trains are whisper quiet. There are still louder turns and tunnels, but you can have a conversation pretty much throughout your entire ride without raising your voice. Given the weird BART wheel profile that is a real achievement. Now we get BART superior suspension stability, but without the wheel squeal!
Too bad you didn't get any FOTF trains
The last one was a FOTF
Your ears were sacrificed for a noble cause.
Really enjoy your videos, but I'm wondering why you still are wearing the masks-- I can understand whn the pandemic was on, but why now-- keep sharing these awesome videos
They were required on BART when this video was filmed
EAR CANCELLING HEADPHONES! The only way to save your hearing is to cancel your ears before the noise from the tunnels gets to them
Yeah, those don't work. They make you feel like you can't hear the noises but that is all electronically simulated. They basically just "paint in" _more_ noise to fool you into thinking that the noise level is steady. Your brain does the rest to complete the illusion. If you want ear protection you need actual ear plugs.
That being said, this guy is exaggerating. BART does get noisy in the transbay tube, but its not really dangerous in a real sense. If you listen to music in your regular Apple wired headphones above 80% then you're doing more damage to your ears than on BART.
BART actually does regular instrumented studies for the Feds on this. Believe it or not, BART is among the quietest rapid rail systems in the country. This is just a Bay Area meme because BART used to be extremely quiet when they used a less safe, but much quieter type of wheel design with a rubber insert.
@@TohaBgood2 Afaik the transbay tube tested at 100 dB at some point, with multiple stretches reaching over 90 dB, though some work was performed to lower it. The new trains should have a lower noise level anyway due to some changes to the doors and such.
@@zephyros256 The noise is not cause by the tunnel it's caused by the trains. The old trains have a sub-optimal wheel profile that was meant for stability at speed. There were not supposed to be any sharp turns or high speed sections with any turning at all. Unfortunately, the super-straight right of way idea was later abandoned due to the insanely high cost and political shenanigans (famous DT Oakland sharp turn).
So what we got with the old trains was a suboptimal wheel profile that would screech on even the mildest turn. This has been somewhat improved over the years by griding the wheels to a less speed oriented profile that screeches less. But it hasn't fixed the problem with the old trains.
The new Alstom trains simply don't have that problem. They're still trains so they will still be louder when turning sharply or turning on a high speed section. But the noise levels are faaaaaaar improved. The new trains also have fully sealed doors and extensive soundproofing. I have never felt the same noise level on a new train as on the old trains. I've even tested this with a noise meter app. The new trains are whisper quiet compared to the old fleet. The old fleet is both overall noisier on a constant basis and has much sharper noise spikes on all the turns.
You can even see this in this video. The OP mentions the famous "Transbay Tube noise" before the ride, but doesn't actually address it in the video. It's basically gone for all intents and purposes. Now the Transbay tube is just a regular track section with regular train noise.
If you ever visit Munich, Germany hmu, I'd be down for some pointless public transport stuff :D
LOl how much did this cost if you left the station BART is so expensive
Not really. BART is an S-Bahn commuter type system. Unlike a regular subway/metro these systems charge by distance. BART costs about average for the type of system it is.
usually it'd just an excursion fare of 6.4 USD
but idk the OAK shuttle's goofy
It's the same cars that are on the River line.
They need to just have faregates fare checks are stupid for rapid transit portions
Then how do they get the money for the train that is new dummy
They have fare gates. These types of fare inspections are extremely rare. I've only seen them stop a train for this type of fare inspection a single time.
And they do have fare gates everywhere. There are no entrances without fare gates on BART (unless you make your own and jump a barricade.)
Wait till he finds out how much he paid for the oakland shuttle
Why so little ridership?
Covid, techies work from home.
@@TohaBgood2 What is the point of trains if no one uses them?
@@3506Dodge BART gets busy when traffic worsens. The return to work has been slow in the Bay Area because a ton of people work in tech and can be remote if needed. But the return to the office is catching up to them too. After spending more and more hours in traffic people give up and take BART instead. Over time the commuters will return and BART will be busy again.
Don't forget that even in this "empty" state BART still carries more people than the Bay Bridge! Without BART the number of cars on the road would more than double. That would paralyze the entire Bay Area and beyond. The traffic would stretch all the way to Nevada!
Fastest SEPTA rider alive? You can skip the 15 and the subway-surface trolleys after the tunnels.
Also fastest MTA rider alive? I dare you.