Comments on: The March to Berryessa

By: Laying the groundwork for a Sustainable Communities Strategy « Transbay Blog

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:27:18 +0000

[...] wonder, for instance, how the Initial Vision Scenario’s statement that the area around the future Berryessa BART station in San Jose “will have grown into [a] vibrant residential communit[y]” housing 8,024 households and [...]

By: Record of Decision issued for BART to San Jose « Transbay Blog

Record of Decision issued for BART to San Jose « Transbay Blog — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:10:29 +0000

[...] marks federal approval of the project’s environmental impact statement. The ROD only covers the initial phase between Warm Springs and Berryessa, including two new stations at Milpitas and [...]

By: Shifting Funds, Shifty Priorities « Transbay Blog

Shifting Funds, Shifty Priorities « Transbay Blog — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:25:16 +0000

[...] is VTA’s recent announcement that it can only afford to build the BART extension to San Jose as far as Berryessa Station, postponing the construction of the downtown subway alignment. This, in turn, is connected to the [...]

By: Oscar Grant protests miss the big picture « FutureOakland

Oscar Grant protests miss the big picture « FutureOakland — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:40:47 +0000

[...] the local-serving projects in the tax and redirect the funds to the duplicative San Jose expansion (which won’t even go to downtown San Jose, as promised to Alameda County voters when they approved the Warm Springs [...]

By: Berryessa, and Not Downtown Might Be End of The Line For BART | Square Feet Commercial Real Estate Blog

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:42:41 +0000

[...] Chase’s Transbay Blog has an interesting perspective and rendering on the future of the extension of the BART line in [...]

By: Connor

Connor — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:57:30 +0000

I think that if BART had stuck to the unified design for stations (laid out by Donn Emmons whom also designed the award-winning elevated track structure) then these outlandish stations wouldn’t be an issue. But, they seem to have gotten lost along the way over the years. They recently threw the signage guide out the window and long before that, threw the station design out, too. Since it now costs SO much to bring BART anywhere, these little hamlets ‘think’ their station needs to be a point of civic pride. I think we need to come back down to earth and design functional stations and not formed stations.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:10:41 +0000

Far be it from me to defend counterproductive BART extensions, but that said — there is something to be said for having a transit system that is beautiful and a point of civic pride. It is, after all, a permanent infrastructure investment that reflects on the city, and BART falls short of other systems in this respect. (Though arguably that’s more of a priority at well-traveled downtown stations than somewhere like Berryessa.) I think it may be a bit too soon for us depend on that rendering as necessarily being accurate.

By: Connor

Connor — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:01:22 +0000

WTF BART? What is with these expensive and complicated looking station designs? Since when does a BART station have to be “an engineering marvel”? I say, build a SIMPLE station (single island platform, two escalators, two stairs and one elevator with a simple umbrella canopy with as much POURED RE-ENFORCED CONCRETE as possible) and save the tax-payers $100 million. Look at the simplicity of the original stations for guidance. The canvas canopy at Milbrae? Beautiful, but so dirty now and it will have to be replaced… eventually! And Colma? What an abortion that was. Three track station for a THROUGH station? Don’t design these ‘temporary terminals’ for BE the terminal. We don’t need a yard at the end of each line. Fremont doesn’t. BECAUSE it was planned properly with HOW it would function BEFORE it was built.

Sheesh BART. Why do you always re-invent the wheel?

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:21:18 +0000

Jesse, I would argue that the question here isn’t entirely really whether Berryessa is more or less “deserving” of a station than other places. (Although, that does raise the point that the BART alignment is inadequate in terms of serving job locations.) But had BART been planned rationally (rather than politically) we wouldn’t have BART in Pittsburg or Dublin either. It’s a question of balancing priorities when choosing how to make the best use of limited funding. And the “build a big parking lot” bit raises still other issues. Millbrae has a big parking garage — too big. The availability of plentiful parking isn’t enough to generate ridership if the station itself is poorly sited.

By: Jesse Lee

Jesse Lee — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:56:26 +0000

I don’t see why Berryessa is any less deserving of a BART station than say Fremont, or Colma, or Pittsburg, or Dublin. Just build a big parking lot/parking structure, and commuters will come. Sure- BART going to San Jose is the ultimate goal, but if it takes several phases to get there, I’m fine with that too.