BART has elements of both traditional rapid transit (high-frequency urban service with close station spacing) and commuter rail/regional rail (lower-frequency suburban service with wider station spacing).
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They are the same: electric multiple-unit rapid transit trains. Metro train can run in subways (tunnels), at grade level, or on elevated trackways—referred to as el's in North America. Metro systems are thus frequently referred to as the subway or the underground, the el, or just the train.
Children 4 and under ride free but everyone else must have a Clipper card (a plastic card or in your digital wallet) or a BART paper ticket (no longer sold at stations except SFO) with funds loaded.
Taking the train has long been less expensive than driving when considering bridge tolls and parking — and now it's an even more affordable option when you consider most Bay Area gas stations are charging more than $6 a gallon.
BART Ridership Quick FactsDuring peak commute hours, nearly 25,000 people ride through the Transbay Tube into Downtown San Francisco. BART's Pittsburg/Bay Point (yellow) line carries the largest number of people. The busiest stations in the BART system are Embarcadero and Montgomery.
Safety is BART's top priority.To help keep passengers and our employees safe, BART has more than 4,000 working cameras throughout our system and we are working very hard to increase both sworn officers and ambassador presence.
To connect to BART from the new T Third line via Central Subway, riders should get off at Union Square/Market Street Station and walk underground to Powell Station, which is served by both Muni and BART.
BART makes it extremely easy to get a ticket from the San Francisco airport to downtown San Francisco. All you need to do is use one of the ticket vending machines to buy a one-way ticket for each passenger, which costs about $10.15 per person for a one-way ticket and $20.30 for a round trip.
All BART Stations have Clipper vending machines which accept cash, credit cards and debit cards as payment. You can add cash value to Clipper cards at all BART ticket machines. Clipper cards can be ordered online at www.clippercard.com. Many retail outlets throughout the region also sell Clipper cards.
The Clipper card is a smart, contactless travel card that can be used all over the Sasn Francisco Bay Area. Travelers, both residents and tourists, can add value to their card either as they go or automatically, depending on what works best for them.
During peak commute times, over 28,000 passengers per hour travel through the tunnel with headways as short as 2.5 minutes. BART trains can reach their highest speeds in the tube, up to 80 miles per hour (129 km/h), although trains typically operate at 70 miles per hour (113 km/h) unless trying to recover from a delay.
Taking BART, he noted, is also faster than driving the highly trafficked highways into San Francisco. “Being on BART makes me feel relieved. It's way more stressful driving,” he said. “It's tough commuting this far, but public transit makes it more manageable.”
Taking BART, he noted, is also faster than driving the highly trafficked highways into San Francisco. “Being on BART makes me feel relieved. It's way more stressful driving,” he said. “It's tough commuting this far, but public transit makes it more manageable.”