BART: The new look in rapid transit

The electorate of the three-county core of the San Francisco Bay Area voted in November, 1962, to finance and construct the largest locally financed public works project in the history of the United States. The Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), in the fall of 1963, began organizing for the separate but overlapping tasks of system design, construction, and operation. Within four years, most of the 3600 parcels of property needed for right-of-way, approximately half of the construction contract commitment, and virtually all of the basic design for the 75 miles of aerial, tunnel, subaqueous tube, and freeway median track had been completed. Revenue operations are scheduled to begin in 1970. Three engineering firms in a joint venture have had principal responsibility for design and construction supervision, subject to direction by District engineers and managers. Efforts by these consultants will gradually dwindle as construction of the initial system is completed and District personnel take over the operation of the automated system. The District and its consultants have attempted to make each phase of the system attractive and inviting. The most significant technical advancements of the art have been in the areas of automatic train operation and automated fare collection.