Rapid bus touted as cheaper than rail to airport

[DET63]

BART's $522 million plan for an elevated tram to Oakland International Airport is 10 times more expensive than having an express bus that could move passengers as fast and for no charge, a public transit advocacy group says in a new report. 

The proposal for a bus rapid transit service costing between $45 million and $60 million was released last week by the Oakland-based TransForm, formerly known as the Transportation and Land Use Coalition. The group is making a last-ditch attempt Thursday to persuade the BART board not to go to bid with the 3.2-mile long "people mover" rail extension that would connect BART's Coliseum station with the airport.

 

BART administrators recommend that the board borrow $150 million from the federal government to provide the last piece of public financing needed for BART to proceed to bid.

 

"We think our report makes a good case that BART should look at bus rapid transit instead of rushing ahead Thursday to commit more than $500 million for a project that will carry far fewer riders at a much higher cost than when it was planned a decade ago," said John Knox White, TransForm's travel choice program director. "We believe rapid bus transit can provide a good service for one-tenth the cost of rail."

 

So much money would be saved that passengers could ride the bus for free, he said, in contrast to the $6 one-way fare BART proposes for the rail tram.

Link

The old "Bus Rapid Transit" or "Quality Bus" argument is raised again.

 

[tp49]

There are already two busses that go from the Colisseum BART station to Oakland Airport. One is the obscenely expensive at $3 one way AirBart bus and the other is run by AC Transit and is $1.75 one way. Takes about 10 minutes to get from BART to the terminal on either bus. As one who uses this service fairly frequently I'm of the opinion that the tram would be a colossal waste of money.

 

[George Harris]

Having used the AirBart bus on more than one occasion, I would say it works just fine.

Considering the way that BART has managed to screw up the connection between SFO and Caltrain at Milbrae, I am no fan of BART's ability to serve the passenger's need. Yes, there are also buses that do the jub, but you can not carry luggage on the bus. So, if you are coming from the south peninsula points going to SFO, you must take Caltrain to Milbrae, get on BART and ride to San Bruno and cross the platform to get on an SFO train, this despite Milbrae being literally in sight of the airport.

 

[Alice]

BART board voted 7-1 today to seek $150 million federal loan and put the airport extension project out to bid.

Article here

 

[sechs]

Considering the way that BART has managed to screw up the connection between SFO and Caltrain at Milbrae, I am no fan of BART's ability to serve the passenger's need. Yes, there are also buses that do the jub, but you can not carry luggage on the bus. So, if you are coming from the south peninsula points going to SFO, you must take Caltrain to Milbrae, get on BART and ride to San Bruno and cross the platform to get on an SFO train, this despite Milbrae being literally in sight of the airport.

Agreed. It is bad enough that they replaced a free shuttle, timed to meet the trains, with a $1.50 ride on BART, which runs a barely correlated schedule. But, when they eliminated, first, the shuttle train, and, then, any direct service between Milbrae and SFO, it was hard to believe. I now take the SamTrans KX when I go to SFO.

The only advantage that I can see a tramway giving is automation.