511 Contra Costa

“BART’s revolutionary rapid transit car, designed to make interurban travel a pleasure, is now on display in Bay Area communities.” Image credit: Eric Fischer
What will the future of urban transportation look like? Will there be more hybrid cars, bicycles, and light-rail? Probably. But among the usual suspects believed to reduce congestion and pollution, there is a new candidate reminiscent of people mover convert belts proposed over a century ago!
The latest idea to move beyond the wasteful single passenger automobile is a PAT (people and thing) mover.Imagine moving in a self-operated, personalized car without the waste of, say, a single person commuting in an SUV that seats eight– that’s PAT…. Read the rest

Will BART’s fleet of the future have seats two inches narrower than its fleet of the present?
Over 89 percent of participants in BART’s Fleet of the Future mobile test lab say that would be fine by them.
BART’s seats are currently 22 inches wide, among the widest public transportation seats in the country. Shaving off a few inches would still make BART’s seats wider than those from most other systems, but would create wider aisles and easier movement throughout the trains…. Read the rest