A Tale of Two Systems
Recently, I had the opportunity to ride New Jersey Transit trains into New York City for a week. Here are my observations based on this (admittedly) limited experience.
NJ Transit Trains were newer and much cleaner than BART. They were double-decker trains, plastic/cloth seats, and every person got a seat even during rush hour. The trains had overhead racks for storing luggage and backpacks.
The fare was $15 round trip for a distance roughly equal to Pleasanton to SF ($12 round trip). A monthly pass would have made this cheaper.
The trains ran far less frequently than BART, about once every 45 minutes during rush hour and once every hour during off-peak hours.
There were no station agents except during the morning rush hour. In the morning, those agents sold tickets. The rest of the time, the stations were empty of employees. Most of the stations were outdoors with indoor sitting areas. The sitting areas were locked, except during the morning commute time.
The stations were patrolled by the local police of the towns in which the stations were located. There didn't appear to be a separate police force just for the transit system.
The NJ Transit trains had conductors who collected tickets (and sold them during off peak hours). A conductor walked through the train after each stop. There were probably 4-5 conductors per train. This had the added benefit of keeping passengers, particularly kids, in line. It seems logical that people would be less likely to throw their crap around or act up if they knew someone was going to walk through the train every few minutes.
The NJ Transit trains stopped a lot longer at each station than BART does--at least a full minute vs. the 15-20 seconds or so on BART. This could add 10 minutes to a trip from the outer regions served by the train. There was also a bottleneck of trains during the final stretch into NYC which probably added another 5-10 minutes to the trip.
NJ Transit abandoned stations in some of the worst neighborhoods, i.e. the stations were still there but the trains just went through without stopping. This made for a faster (and probably safer) trip. BART could probably save money, time, and increase passenger safety by doing this at some of the rougher stations such as West Oakland, Coliseum (except when there's a game), and 16th St. Mission.
In short: NJ Transit seemed cleaner and safer, but was slightly more expensive, had slightly longer trips, and had a considerably longer wait between trains.
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Both systems have comparable
Both systems have comparable farebox recovery (above 50%) and comparable pricing, although, as you observe, monthly passes make it cheaper. New Jersey parking would also be cheaper with an annual pass. I would assume the conductors "know everyone" who is monthly, and only have to check the occasional one-time traveler. But the presence of authority is a big plus, BART could copy this technique and have a presence, similar to the Fare Enforcement Officers on ACE, San Diego Trolley, VTA,...
I would guess some of the smaller stations do not have full height platforms, so boarding is slower. But High level platforms would speed up loading. And there is congestion approaching NYC, which limits how many trains a day are possible. BART's congestion is more a function of dwell time at Embarcadero and Montgomery, rather than the tube. If BART built a third platform between the switches at Embarcadero and Montgomery Station, some trains could stop there, instead of the other two stations. That would maximize the Transbay Tube Thruput. And some trains could skip east bay stations, speeding up the ride. That's half a billion bucks, about the same cost as an airport connector, but used by four times as many people.
I don't think NJ Transit still has bar cars (like the LIRR) but I thihnk you can eat and drink, just like Caltrain.
On BART, I think about 2/3 of the passengers downtown walk to their jobs, and 1/3 transfer to Muni, etc. But in NYC, I think 3/4 transfer to the Subway. So, the total fare is somewhat comparable? New Yorkers are somewhat flexible, If their jobs move to the other side of Manhattan, then many will move to the other side of the metro area (i.e. a Long Islander would move to Jersey). Housing and schools are comparable.
Off-topic -
Instead of the 20 minute off peak service, I wish BART had kept 15 minute service, but used a shuttle between Dublin and Bayfair. And in the daytime, turned Fremont-SF (green) trains at 24th. That's about the same train-hour reduction, but 15 minute service all the time.
Dwell times at Embarcadero
Dwell times at Embarcadero and Montgomery are directly proportional to the number of riders who are off boarding at those stations. I believe 25 (maybe 30 seconds max.) seconds is the standard station dwell at those stations, but if it is a 10-car train and a majority of riders get off at those stations, the dwell will be over 25 seconds. it is not uncommon for trains to be a few minutes late by the time they clear Powell St. on their way to Daly City, not because of the built in dwell times, but because of the patrons off boarding.
The trains that might become later than 5 minutes are usually some of the late night trains, which could extend their dwell at some of the transfer stations, Bay Fair, Mac Arthur, 12th St. for example. For the most part BART runs on time to 95%. That is not too bad.
Interesting comment on skip stopping or stopping service in the "bad neighborhoods." I don't think in a system to ingrained in the Bay Area you could close any station at this point. That would need to be something that was done when the system open. Now maybe heading south to San Jose, that could be a consideration, but who knows.
I don't think BART would ever
I don't think BART would ever skip "bad neighborhoods", but I could see running A-B trains like Chicago used to do. A trains would skip North Concord, Pleasant Hill, Lafayette, Rockridge, and 19th Street. B Trains would skip Concord, Walnut Creek, Orinda, 12th Street and West Oakland. On the A line (during commute times), trains from Dublin would skip Coliseum and West Oakland, trains from Fremont would skip San Leandro and Fruitvale. (Also, there would be a couple of commute trains from Bayfair to 24th).
I'd rather have so many manufacturing jobs in Oakland that the R line would need 10 car trains, and I'd get 3 minute dwells at Fruitvale and Coliseum with all the workers getting on and aoff.
I think that you were on an
I think that you were on an express train. Not every train stops at every station on NJ Jersey Transit, LIRR or Metro-North. The farther our your destination, the fewer close in stops your train will make. I have never heard of abandoned stations for bad neighborhoods.