I really hate the new cars. Yay more standing room but now everywhere you stand you are awkwardly in the way. So happy I’m moving out of the bay and won’t have to ride them more than once or twice a year anymore.
BART slows rollout of new trains as it contends with more repairs than expected
101–109 of 109 posts
Re: BART slows rollout of new trains as it contends with more repairs than expected
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
While true, once you reach a certain point, that's all water under the bridge, and the only question that remains is how motivating it is to pursue that last 5%.
I’m not sure about civil projects. I’m mildly familiar with commercial construction projects. Those have milestones and due dates built in. And if those are missed the GC doesn’t get paid until they are met. If dates are missed they can incur penalties. This is done to ensure the GC doesn’t pull resources off to another project.
I guess it would all depend on the rules or how the contract is written. Certainly taking care to have the right incentives in place is a good idea, though I'm not sure it's always practiced.
Re: BART slows rollout of new trains as it contends with more repairs than expected
#103Most of BART’s challenges stem from 180 software packages and 30 microprocessors that make up each Bombardier vehicle. Each is a complex symphony of systems that communicate over an Ethernet backbone. A bug in one line of code could shut the whole thing down, requiring a rigorous safety review process that may take months before engineers can reinstall the software."
Not that this makes the Bombardier problem trivial, but that seems fairly simple compared to most cars on the road today, which have over 100 micros. Software can be done well in complicated systems if you have the expertise, design, time and money to get it right.
Re: BART slows rollout of new trains as it contends with more repairs than expected
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think realistically that level of surveillance is going to be needed to keep people safe and accountable on public transport somewhere like the Bay Area where people are very vulnerable.
How are people in the Bay Area any more vulnerable than people anywhere else? I agree with the GP; this feels like oversurveillance and scares me.
Once you witness a robbery or an act of violence on one of those trains and it scares you silly, you'll quickly rethink the "over surveillance" stance..
Re: BART slows rollout of new trains as it contends with more repairs than expected
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's complete hogwash. It is very common to commute 60 minutes, for example looks like half the workforce at Salesforce lives in Fremont. In the morning the train fills up right at warm springs and gets empty at embarcadero. This legend that Bart is mostly for short rides is just that, a legend. Most people using Bart have pretty long commute from Concord, Dublin and Fremont into the city.
I don’t know if that is true or not but rider enter/exit flows are open data provided by BART in their web site, in case anyone wants to settle the debate. I will say that Warm Springs is one of the least-used stations so I somewhat doubt this story of full trains departing. It only has 4400 pax/day.
at warm springs you get about 70% of the seats filled on an old style train and it's rapidly increasing week over week as more people start using it. At Fremont you have every single seat occupied and several people standing. By the time the train leaves Union City most cars are what you would consider at capacity. After that it gets more and more uncomfortable until the pressure is released at Embarcadero.
I also don't believe Bart's stats, the incompetence of the people running it is so massive that everything they do is suspect in my eyes. An example: https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/BART-escalator-repairs-...
Re: BART slows rollout of new trains as it contends with more repairs than expected
#106I think there’s a general feeling (propaganda?) that the US is a technological leader, but... there’s nothing to support that, especially when it comes to infrastructure. The US is really far behind other developed countries in a lot of ways but few people in the US notice because most Americans rarely ever look outside their culture bubble or see another country. There are big-ass tech companies, of course, but the…
Please don't take HN threads into nationalistic flamewar. I'm sure that wasn't your intent, but that's the probable outcome of comments like this. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20547137 and marked it off-topic.
Thanks - I just opened HN and saw the replies to the comment now and it does seem like it descended into unproductive discussion. I’m glad it was marked off-topic and removed.
Re: BART slows rollout of new trains as it contends with more repairs than expected
#107Most of BART’s challenges stem from 180 software packages and 30 microprocessors that make up each Bombardier vehicle. Each is a complex symphony of systems that communicate over an Ethernet backbone. A bug in one line of code could shut the whole thing down, requiring a rigorous safety review process that may take months before engineers can reinstall the software."
Makes you ask just one question: why? Why is the architecture not controlled by a redundant master system and a bunch of microcontrollers that act as glorified relays.
Re: BART slows rollout of new trains as it contends with more repairs than expected
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bart trains are very custom due to them using a track with not used anywhere else in the world, for unknown reasons.
The worry was that gusts would blow the trains off the track when crossing the Golden Gate. The trains were made wider for stability. The line across the Golden Gate was never built.
Crossing the Golden Gate was never in the cards. Marin County was never part of BART. And the Bay crossing is an underwater tube.
Re: BART slows rollout of new trains as it contends with more repairs than expected
#109Man, i wish they had included isb power or power outlets on the new cars.
If they did, those spots on the cars would be constantly occupied by homeless people.
They should have the entire window bank’s row of sill filled with countless usb ports. A fucking ford f150 has like 6.
A bart train car (an electric train) should have like 50 - in Silicon fucking Valley) - and/or a giant induction charger in the middle.
Dont give me crap about the homeless - give that to the city.
We are silicon freaking valley and if you hVe never been to any other country with public transport we look like freaking idiots.
Sweden, japan, Singapore, china, all have severely more advanced transport systems than we.
Bart is a pos embarrassment.