BART and Bicycles

By taking BART instead of driving, travelers generally reduce the amount of air pollution their trips produce. However, this reduction in air pollution is greatly diminished when riders drive to the BART station. This is due to cold starting. For shorter trips (generally, less than 5-10 miles), cold starting can produce the majority of total trip hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions (which contribute to photochemical smog and numerous respiratory and circulatory problems). Thus, to make BART and other rail transit systems most effective for reducing air pollution, we need to maximize the percentage of riders accessing the systems by modes other than single-occupancy vehicle, e.g. bicycling.

In December, the Berkeley City Council took a step in the right direction by (finally) allocating funds for a new bicycle garage for BART riders. The garage will be located in a Shattuck Ave. storefront and will replace the current, and much smaller (~90 bike capacity), facility inside the Downtown Berkeley station. It will have a 250 bike capacity and come replete with a guard, mechanic services and potentially even a coffee shop - and the parking will remain free. If all goes well, the new facility could be opened as soon as next spring. Still, despite this localized progress, bicycle-BART integration is still not where it should be in order to maximize BART's potential to reduce air pollution.

We need to make it easier for bicyclists to use BART, particularly during those commute hours when bicycles are prohibited on most or all BART cars. The creation of a new, expanded capacity bike garage at the Downtown Berkeley station is a great step, but it will not make a huge impact on its own. Free parking garages (with ample capacity, unlike the current Berkeley facility) should be provided in or near all BART stations - and widely publicized. Currently, such facilities exist only at the Downtown Berkeley, Embarcadero and Fruitvale stations. BART and the cities housing BART stations should also secure funds to staff the garages for longer, and more continuous, hours. In addition, BART and the host cities should work together to provide networks of safe and accessible bike routes, boulevards, paths, etc. that lead to the stations. Planning for these improvements should start now.

You might say argue that these investments are too costly, especially in our current economic climate. However, these investments would create jobs (or at least create work for existing workers) and could be designed to become self-sufficient. For instance, the new Downtown Berkeley bike station might include a coffee shop whose revenues would be used to offset the garage's operating costs. Fees for bicycle maintenance provided at the bike stations could be similarly used. Another option would be to raise the car parking rates at BART stations, which would have the concomitant benefit of forcing drivers to internalize some of the negative externalities of driving.

In any case, regardless of cost, it is clear that for BART to reach its full potential (to reduce air pollution) we need to significantly reduce the number of riders who access BART stations via single-occupancy vehicles. Increasing access for bicyclists is one essential component of any such effort, alongside improvements in service, frequency and geographical reach of transit feeder systems, land use changes near stations, and numerous other things.