THE CITY: A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRIP

NOT every bad trip in San Francisco takes place in the Haight-Ashbury district. Many straight commuters endure hazardous journeys daily as they try to maneuver through stationary streams of traffic heading for Oakland, Berkeley, Sausalito or suburbs beyond. Unique in many other respects, the San Francisco Bay Area suffers from the prevalent urban malady of too many automobiles, too few highway lanes. But unlike many other metropolitan areas, San Francisco and two neighboring counties are creating an attractive alternative to clogged highways.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit district (BART), a 75-mile network of elevated, surface and subway tracks now under construction, is due to be completed by late 1972. It is a system of grandiose superlatives. First conceived in 1957, BART is primarily funded by a $792 million bond issue passed in 1962 by San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties. When inflated costs and design improvements necessitated an additional $150 million this year, the California legislature imposed a special half-cent hike in the three counties' state sales tax. This makes BART the largest locally financed public works project in U.S. history. It will also be the world's first fully automated rapid transit system and have the longest (800 ft.) subway station.

Soothing Rides. Of more interest to its future passengers, BART is designed to be fast, comfortable, convenient and cheap to use. The 7 1/2-mile trip between San Francisco and Oakland across the Bay Bridge can take 30 minutes or considerably longer in rush-hour jams. Hurtling its riders beneath San Francisco Bay through the world's longest underwater transit tube--3.6 miles--BART will make the trip in nine minutes. The BART trains will hit a top speed of 80 m.p.h. and will average 50 m.p.h., including the time taken at stops. The rides will be soothing. The new cars will have seats comparable to those in a first-class airliner compartment, cushioned and equipped with arm rests. The floors will be covered with rich brown carpets, and much of the noise will be absorbed by rubber padding.

Tracks Out. BART will serve the 2,500,000 people who live in the three-county area, extending its tracks out from San Francisco roughly 20 miles north to Richmond, 30 miles east to Concord and 40 miles south to Fremont. Moreover, BART is only the beginning. More than a million additional people are expected to surge into the entire bay area by 1980, and transportation experts envision a total BART system of 385 miles, linking the nine counties in the San Francisco area.

As massive as BART's plan is now, and as large as it may become in the future, it will never be a complete panacea for the traffic problems facing San Francisco. Even the system's strongest adherents admit that the freeways will probably always be jammed. Still, BART is an important alternative. Without it, the next 20 years could bring total chaos on the roads leading into San Francisco--a fate that could also befall other less-prepared cities. However, help may be available for many communities in the next few years. Transportation Secretary John Volpe said last week that the Nixon Administration would ask Congress to allocate several billion dollars during the next decade for urban mass-transit facilities.

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