The Train That Cannot Get to Antioch

Only in California… E is for disel. And too easy Californians Concnesme eBart runs on 100% Biodiesel

Not a bad train. It runs. People ride it. It shows up well by the standards of American public transportation, putting it near the front of the class.

But it lies to you.

Out in the Bay Area, there is a stretch of rail called eBART. The “e” stands for east. It could stand for a few other things, and I have thought of most of them.

You board a BART train. The sign says Antioch. The map says Antioch. The recorded voice says Antioch. And that train cannot go to Antioch. Not “will not.” It physically cannot. The rails do not match.1

Regular BART runs on a wide track with electric trains because somebody in the 1960s decided the future required a custom-sized railroad. eBART runs standard gauge with diesel cars. So out near Pittsburg everybody gets off, walks across a platform, and boards a completely different train.2

The map still calls it one line. The map is very confident.

NINE MILES OF PROGRESS

The eBART segment runs 9.1 miles. That buys you three stations. Well, two and a half.1

One of them is a transfer platform you cannot walk off of. BART admits this in writing. The agency’s own website says the platform is reachable only by train.3

There is no exit. It is a hallway with a view. You go there for one reason, which is to board a different train headed the same direction you were already going.

Somebody designed that. Somebody approved it. Somebody stood at the ribbon cutting and felt terrific.

The original plan was much bigger. Four cities, the county, and BART signed on to a 23-mile corridor with six stations, extending through Oakley and Brentwood toward Byron.4 That plan made the transfer worth swallowing. One hop, and you open up a whole region.

Then the money ran short, and 23 miles became nine.  Nine miles, guys, only 9 miles.  That is less than a 1/2 marathon.

When a project loses more than half its length, somebody is supposed to ask whether the design still makes sense.

Nobody pulled the fire alarm. They built the small version and kept the annoying part.

BUT IT WAS CHEAPER

Here comes the defense, right on schedule. BART puts the project at $525 million, about half the billion dollars a conventional electric extension was expected to cost.5 Real money, honestly saved.

But being cheaper than the most expensive option you could have chosen is not the same as a good deal. If I sell you half a swimming pool at half price, you have not saved money. You have purchased a hole.

Usage is not the same as value. People use the DMV.

The question is whether taxpayers got the best transportation available for the dollars spent. Would conventional BART have penciled out once the extension was chopped down? Would express buses have moved the same people for less? What is the operating subsidy per rider today?

Those are ribbon-cutting questions. They are supposed to be asked before the scissors come out.

PLEASE ENJOY THE PARKING LOT

Now, Antioch Station, the eastern end of the line.

Transit advocates love to explain that rail builds walkable communities. You live near the station, you stroll to dinner, you give up the car. Lovely picture.

So they put the terminus in a freeway median and attached a lot with 1,006 parking spaces. Three dollars a day.6

Drive your automobile to the automobile-free future.

There is not much within walking distance, mostly because several lanes of Highway 4 sit where the neighborhood should be.7 That is not transit-oriented development. That is parking-lot-oriented transit.

THE HONEST PART

To be fair, and I do try, people ride this thing. Recent counts put it near 4,900 riders on an average weekday.8 Those riders are real, and moving them out of traffic is a legitimate public purpose.

But BART expected 5,600 trips a day at the start, climbing past 10,100 by 2030.9 Seven years in, the line has not caught its own opening-day forecast.

Government does not earn credit for building something and pointing at the users. The test is value for the money.

So California got a short rail spur with different trains, different track, a mandatory transfer, a station in a freeway median, and a parking lot where the walkable neighborhood belonged. All of it marketed as one continuous yellow line.

And right in the middle sits a platform you cannot leave.

That may be the most accurate thing about the entire project.

You can arrive. You can transfer.

You cannot get out.

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ENDNOTES

1. Line length of 9.1 miles, standard gauge track, three stations, the break of gauge that makes eBART incompatible with the main system, and the single Yellow Line map treatment. “eBART,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBART
2. BART describes the diesel multiple unit vehicles, the separate standard gauge tracks in the State Route 4 median, and the cross-platform transfer just east of Pittsburg/Bay Point Station. “BART to Antioch: East Contra Costa BART Extension,” Bay Area Rapid Transit. https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/ecc
3. “The Transfer Platform is only reachable by train.” “East Contra Costa BART Extension FAQ,” Bay Area Rapid Transit. https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/ecc/faq
4. The memorandum of understanding among Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Contra Costa County, CCTA, Tri Delta Transit and BART covered a 23-mile corridor with six proposed stations; the document also notes that full build-out was limited by funding conditions. “Section 1: Introduction,” eBART Project environmental documentation, Bay Area Rapid Transit. https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/1.0_Introduction.pdf
5. “The $525 million dollar cost of the extension is about half of the $1 billion cost estimated for extending BART’s conventional electric-powered line.” “East Contra Costa BART Extension FAQ,” Bay Area Rapid Transit. https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/ecc/faq
6. Antioch Station has 1,006 parking stalls, with a $3 daily fee. “East Contra Costa BART Extension FAQ,” Bay Area Rapid Transit. https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/ecc/faq
7. The line runs entirely within the median of Highway 4, and BART officials attributed the lower cost to the absence of electrification. “Diesel-powered eBART Antioch extension opens Saturday,” KTVU FOX 2, May 26, 2018. https://www.ktvu.com/news/diesel-powered-ebart-antioch-extension-opens-saturday
8. Average weekday ridership of roughly 4,900, drawn from American Public Transportation Association quarterly ridership data. “eBART,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBART
9. “The initial expected daily ridership is 5,600 trips … Daily ridership is expected to exceed 10,100 by 2030.” “East Contra Costa BART Extension FAQ,” Bay Area Rapid Transit. https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/ecc/faq

Ian Schwartz writes on infrastructure and government accountability for Direct Line News.

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