January 30, 2020

You're Really, Really Curious About BART

18 minutes

We get a lot of BART questions from our listeners, so this week we're answering a slew of them with long-time transit reporter Dan Brekke.

How did they build the underwater tunnels for BART?

In its nearly 50 years of existence, why has BART taken so long to extend into Santa Clara County? And only normally protruded into San Mateo County and never expanded into any of the North Bay counties?

Why are there news kiosks in the BART station that are closed? Why doesn't BART let people run these news kiosks? What is the history?

At the West Oakland BART Station there are ads right next to the third rail. How on earth do they change those out without getting electrocuted?

Why does it seem like the escalators are constantly broken?

Why does BART announce elevator status all the time?

Our question askers this week were Briana, Brad Meyer, Jay Quigley, Mark, Dan and Eric.

Additional Goodies

Why are BART trains so loud? (Apple Podcasts)

The Bay: An Unspoken Guide to Riding BART (Apple Podcasts)

Why are BART Escalators Nearly Always Broken? And How Did They Build Those Tunnels?

Credits

Produced by Jessica Placzek and Olivia Allen-Price. Featuring KQED's transit editor Dan Brekke. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Patricia Yollin, Carly Severn, Christopher Cox, Bianca Hernandez, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Holly Kernan.

...more