First BART ( Local Train ) Ride

Latha and I decided to experiment with the BART local train system on 31 Jul 08 (Thurs). We live in Strawberry village, Mill valley which is located in the North Bay. Surprisingly North Bay is not connected by BART at all. They are planning to construct one soon (thanks to the rising fuel prices).So we had to travel by bus, for more than an hour from Strawberry village to San Rafael and then catch another bus to El Cerrito del Norte from where we took a BART train to Berkeley, just three stops away, merely to see how convenient and comfortable the train is.

We did not inform Sai about our trip at all .But when we spoke to him on the mobile about our location he was quite upset because El Cerrito, Oakland and Richmond are crime prone areas where we could easily be mugged and not exactly the places where tourists should visit unaccompanied by local people .Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) connects the San Francisco Peninsula with Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont, Walnut Creek, Dublin/Pleasanton and other cities in the East Bay.

It has been in existence fro the past 35 years and is like the Mumbai or Chennai suburban electric train systems. The big difference is the crowds which are minimal and the comforts in the train which are maximal! The train is air-conditioned and the seats are cushioned and very comfortable .The doors open and close automatically. The train travels both over ground and underground. See the photo of the BART system map given on the side. Double click on the photo to see an expanded version to get a clearer picture.

Everything is automatic and there is no human involvement at all .We put our dollar bills into a machine which not only indicated the fare from El Cerrito del Norte to Berkeley but also gave us the return ticket to Berkeley which cost us 3 USD each .To move to one of the two platforms we walked through a small gate which opened up once we inserted the ticket into the machine there .We took the help of a Lady Agent (only one present there) to get on to the correct train. She also gave us the Map as requested by me.

The train journey was just for 10 mts but really enjoyable !Surprisingly however BART does not seem to be very popular .The train frequencies are less even during commute hours - once every half hour only as the demand is obviously less. This is because in the States road and air transport is most sought after and rail travel is not patronised much - unlike in the UK and Europe where public transportation is very good ,efficient and in demand.There is no equivalent of a Euro rail here .If we have to go from San Francisco to New York we may take almost 6 days yto reach the destination and change many trains en route. However things may change due to the recession which the Americn economy is undergoing and the massive increase in oil prices leading to air travel becoming much more costly .

At Berkeley we got down from the station and had some coffee at Starbucks Coffee there and then traveled by BART train, back to El Cerrito del Norte from where we took a return bus to San Rafael . Sai was waiting there to pick us up as it was already 7.30 pm.Incidentally there was still bright sunlight. Here the Sun sets at 9.00 pm!