Depending upon which Bay Area newspaper you read, the new 3.2-mile Oakland Airport connector, an elevated, driverless tram that takes eight minutes and costs $6, is either a huge success or a $484 million boondoggle. It began service on November 22.
"The new tram might be a big improvement from the bus shuttle it replaced, but it still has critics," writes Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez of the San Francisco Examiner on the new airport connector running between the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District's Oakland Coliseum Station and Oakland Airport.
Image by Doppelmayr
TransForm, a transportation advocacy group, says the new connector is a boondoggle -- too costly with little potential for heavy ridership, and constructed at a time when nearly $5 billion in funding is needed for major systemwide improvements to the BART network.
"This is frankly going to serve 1 percent of the daily ridership," said Joël Ramos, a community planner with TransForm and also a board member of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Projected ridership is 2,745 daily passengers.
As a result of a successful Title VI (civil rights) complaint filed by TransForm and other critics in 2009, the project lost some federal funding, writes Rodriguez.
For a far more flattering review of BART's nearly half a billion dollar investment (plus $3 million annual operating budget), Jaxon Van Derbeken of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that notwithstanding a rare Bay Area downpour, "nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of its jubilant first-day riders."
A San Francisco State student summed-up the difference between bus and rail by saying that "old Air BART shuttle was slow and the ride bumpy," writes Van Derbeken. “This ride is way smooth and nice," he said.
Apparently the ride was so nice that the student wasn't irritated by the $6 fare, twice the cost of the bus shuttle that the connector replaced.
"BART defends (the cost) as reasonable when compared to the cost of parking at the airport or hiring a taxi, van or limousine," writes Dennis Cuff for the Contra Costa Times.
As we noted earlier, the connector was built by Doppelmayr/Garaventa, a Swiss and Austrian company perhaps better known for funicular railways than modern airport connectors. They will also operate the connector.
BART has an instructional (and promotional) video (YouTube) on the webpage for its new service geared to those flying into Oakland Airport who plan to use the connector that additionally provides helpful information on how to use BART. The local CBS news story also provides a helpful "how to" guide.
FULL STORY: Controversial BART tram to Oakland Airport opens, but questions remain
Pricey AirTrain To Oakland Airport Proves Popular with Riders
The eight-minute elevated, driverless tram costs twice as much as the AirBus shuttle it replaced, which riders aren't happy about, but you wouldn't know it from the ridership numbers. The new connector service opened just over four months ago.
Trains Are Always Better than Buses, Right?
Josh Barro provide examples galore of why the answer to that question isn't always yes—where costly rail investment has been to the detriment of existing transit. His column targets proposed projects, such as New York's LaGuardia Airport AirTrain.
'Modern' Cable Car Coming to Oakland in 2014
BART's Oakland Airport Connector will not look at all like the familiar cable car found across the Bay, but will be propelled by a moving cable similar to the Clay Street Hill RR in S.F. almost 140 years ago. The 3-mile ride to OAK will be 8 minutes.
Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Study: Maui’s Plan to Convert Vacation Rentals to Long-Term Housing Could Cause Nearly $1 Billion Economic Loss
The plan would reduce visitor accommodation by 25% resulting in 1,900 jobs lost.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
This Toronto Suburb Has More Bus Riders Than Columbus, Ohio
Brampton, Ontario used gradual improvements in service to prove that if you build it, they will ride.
Paris Bike Boom Leads to Steep Drop in Air Pollution
The French city’s air quality has improved dramatically in the past 20 years, coinciding with a growth in cycling.
Why Housing Costs More to Build in California Than in Texas
Hard costs like labor and materials combined with ‘soft’ costs such as permitting make building in the San Francisco Bay Area almost three times as costly as in Texas cities.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Smith Gee Studio
Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
City of Santa Clarita
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service