The most significant factor in the demise of the Key System was the construction of the Oakland Bay Bridge, which made San Francisco easily accessible by car from the East Bay. Prior to the bridge, the only reasonably direct vehicular access between the two areas was by car ferry (a slow, delay prone crossing which couldn't handle anywhere near the volume of vehicular traffic the bridge could). In this environment, the combination rail-ferry services offered by the Key System and the competing SP electric commuter system (which actually handled more passengers than the Key System) were much better service alternatives.
Of course, the Bay Bridge also gave the Key System and the SP system (as well as Sacramento Northern), direct access to San Francisco via the Bridge Railway on the lower deck of the bridge (replacing the ferry service). Both Key and SP invested a lot of money to use the bridge railway, both in track facilities and (in the case of Key) new rolling stock. Undoubtedly, both companies expected the direct bridge service to help their competitive situation vis-a-vis auto traffic. But it didn't work out that way. Both companies continued to see ridership declines once they started operating over the bridge (the fact that the bridge railway didn't open until1939 - nearly 3 years after the bridge opened to auto traffic - didn't help). Once this pattern became clear, SP pulled the plug and abandoned its service in 1941 (so did SN).
The demise of the SP service probably helped the Key System in the short term, since many of SP's passengers went over to Key (Key also took over some of SP's routes). The war, of course, resulted in a deluge of passengers. But, after the war, the declining traffic patterns reemerged. The end of Key's rail service came in 1958, primarily as a result of the bridge authority's decision to use the track area on the bridge for additional vehicle lanes. Some sources indicate that Key wanted out before this, but would have been saddled with the costs of converting the Transbay Terminal for bus use. The decision by the bridge authority to convert the track area to highway use allowed Key to shut down without bearing this cost.
If you look at maps of the Key System and the SP system, you can see that the two systems had much more comprehensive covereage of their service territory (roughly Berkeley to San Leandro) than the existing BART system. That's because both systems were conceived in a day when most patrons walked to a station (also, in the heady days of expansion, they built several competing lines close to each other, sometimes in the same corridor). However, much of their East Bay trackage was in city streets, so they could not offer the level of service that BART offers today. Trains were also restricted to 35 mph over the Bay Bridge because of structural considerations.
Interestingly, the Transbay Terminal was not considered to be very well designed for the volume of passengers it was called upon to handle in its heyday as a rail terminal.
The Transbay Terminal Demolition was a mistake. Almost like NYC Penn Station in its Airy Station Platforms. The place opened in 1935 0r so a great expample of Great Depression WPA Deco Style.
http://www.oberail.org/page/transbay_terminal/
Oh and thanks for the link
Activated above links:
Polish Falcon Map of BART http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/BARTMapNight.svg Map of Key http://oaklandwiki.org/Key_System/_files/Key%20System%20map.gif/_info/ Long Train on street who says U cant run heavy rail on streets http://oaklandwiki.org/Key_System/_files/Key%20System%2012th%20&%20Broadway.jpg/_info/
Map of BART
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/BARTMapNight.svg
Map of Key
http://oaklandwiki.org/Key_System/_files/Key%20System%20map.gif/_info/
Long Train on street who says U cant run heavy rail on streets
http://oaklandwiki.org/Key_System/_files/Key%20System%2012th%20&%20Broadway.jpg/_info/
The Key System, being privately owned, had little ambition (and capital) to expand outside of their Oakland and Berkeley 'suburb' coverage. The Great Depression and automobile centric developments like the Caldecott Tunnel contributed to its demise.The OBERail site has interactive Google maps of the system.
More of the Sacramento Northern infrastructure could have served the East Bay suburbs just abuilding when they discontinued service from Oakland in 1957. BART eventually reused the SN ROW from Walnut Creek to north Concord.
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
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