BART : the dramatic history of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system / Michael C. Healy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Healy, Michael C., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Local transit--California--San Francisco Bay Area--History.

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (Calif.)--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 365 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : Heyday, [2016]

Summary:

An insider's "indispensible" behind-the-scenes history of the transit system of San Francisco and surrounding counties ( Houston Chronicle ). In the first-ever history book about BART, longtime agency spokesman Michael C. Healy gives an insider's account of the rapid transit system's inception, hard-won approval, construction, and operations, warts and all. With a master storyteller's wit and sharp attention to detail, Healy recreates the politically fraught venture to bring a new kind of public transit to the West Coast. What emerges is a sense of the individuals who made (and make) BART happen. From tales of staying up until 3: 00 a.m. with BART pioneers Bill Stokes and Jack Everson to hear the election results for the rapid transit vote to stories of weathering scandals, strikes, and growing pains, this look behind the scenes of an iconic, seemingly monolithic structure reveals people at their most human-and determined to change the status quo. "The Metro. The T. The Tube. The world's most famous subway systems are known by simple monikers, and San Francisco's BART belongs in that class. Michael C. Healy delivers a tour-de-force telling of its roots, hard-fought approval, and challenging construction that will delight fans of American urban history."-Doug Most, author of The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway

Contents:

Foreword / by John King

Introduction

San Francisco, November 6, 1962

The birth of the San Francisco bay area

Seeking a way

The bartd board begins its work

The composite report

What the voters voted on

Beginning on a turbulent road

The 1960s : various issues plague the work

Rebellion in Berkeley

The ripple effect from Berkeley

Two of the most challenging structures : the tunnel and the tube

San Francisco subway construction presents new challenges

The contract for transit cars goes to an aerospace company

The bart board vs. stokes

The long knives

A critical decade ahead as atc challenges persist

The specter of bankruptcy

The 1970s : precarious times continue

1977 and 1978 see several improvements and added service

Close headways get the okay

The 1980s : a decade of progress and scandal

Loma Prieta becomes BART's finest hour

A rocky road to expansion during the 1990s

The 1990s are a bridge to the future

With the millennium come new challenges

Acknowledgments

Index

About the author.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781597143813

1597143812