BART's Richmond line (MacArthur station to Richmond) opened 50 years ago today. This was 4 1/2 months after the MacArthur to Fremont section opened.
On that evening, some friends and I took a Fremont train from the main Berkeley station to MacArthur, exited and then re-entered the gates and the rode another Fremont train to Oakland Airport/Coliseum station got off the train and then rode a Richmond train back to the Berkeley station.
Being a new system, the experience was a bit like riding the DisneyLand Monorail, with the electronic ticket machines, the fancy "turnstiles" and the clean cars. Adding to the modern feel was the 310 Hz hum of the smoothing reactors (inductors) used in the chopper supplying the traction motors.
So how has the line stood the test of time?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BART's still there and that line is still in use.
Last time I rode BART was in 2002, and noticed that the rails had some -um- interesting wear patterns along with the ride not being as smooth as I remembered. Did most of my riding on the system first year of grad school (1977), with an apartment on the hill overlooking Lake Merrit. It was a short walk to the 19th Street station, followed by a short ride to the main Berkeley station - cheaper than trying to find a parking spot near the Cal campus.
It's providing a useful service, but wonder what the future holds for the SF Bay Area.
Erik_Mag On that evening, some friends and I took a Fremont train from the main Berkeley station to MacArthur, exited and then re-entered the gates and the rode another Fremont train to Oakland Airport/Coliseum station got off the train and then rode a Richmond train back to the Berkeley station.
If you hadn't gone out through the gates at MacArthur, your whole joyride would have only cost you a quarter.
Ed
7j43k If you hadn't gone out through the gates at MacArthur, your whole joyride would have only cost you a quarter.
Main Berkeley to MacArthur and vice versa was $0.30, so we spent a total of $0.60. At that time, BART was charging $0.60 for exiting the same station that was entered so we didn't pay any than by not exiting and re-entering at MacArthur. My recollection was that I put $1.00 down for that first ticket. I plunked down $10.00 on my second ticket of which I used all but ~$1.00 and still have it in my desk as a souvenir (checked to see it again while typing this post).
Before BART reduced maximum speed to 70 from 80mph, the start to stop trip between Ashby and Main Berkeley would take 95 seconds and would be doing 80mph for maybe 10 seconds. There would be quite the blast of air at the main Berkeley station just before the train from Ashby would enter the station.
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