On May 25, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) held a unique open house for the public. After years of construction, #BART finally opened up its new train extension connecting the city of #PittsburgBayPoint to its nearby neighbor, the city of Antioch.
However, whereas the future BART extension to downtown San Jose (scheduled to open sometime next year) was an extension of the “main BART line,” the new extension to Antioch is not connected to the main BART line. Instead the new extension uses powered mini trains to shuttle passengers between Bay Point and the new Antioch stations.
To help new riders understand the difference, BART allowed the public to tour the new stations and ride the new diesel trains for free.
Surprisingly, numerous riders and their families took BART up on its offer and flooded the new train stations for a chance to ride the new trains.
Although some riders have griped about the fact they have to “transfer” between the new trains and the main line, BART stated that the diesel train option allowed them to save hundreds of millions of dollars and helped to open the new line ahead of schedule.
