BART Goes Bankrupt Due To Shortsighted 50 Year Plan

June 23, 2007 | by Fritz | No Comments

“We really should have seen this coming.” Bob Irwin Ticket booth monitor

by Fritz

San Francisco- As BART laid out its goals for the next 50 years as to the transit system of the future BART exec’s found themselves filing for bankruptcy Friday indicating that it would not have the funds to pay off the future debt it would have to incur for these goals.

Fifty years ago the Bay Area Rapid Transit was started with a rig-shaw and homeless guy pulling a wealthy businessman named Clyde Breen. Breen is not talked about much in the history books of BART because of embarrassing allegations involving his non-tollerent looks toward people different than himself and something having to do with his neighbors wife. But Breen was the mastermind who dreamed up the idea of a train system that would run on clouds and would have huge wings and would have women that would serve peanuts. This idea, as it turned out, was an airplane that had already been invented. Nevertheless Breens’ “cloud train”, as people called it, would serve as the inspiration for a railway train built to join all the cities surrounding the San Francisco Bay.

Recent complaints about BART has stirred up some top brass of BART to start looking toward the future to what does it mean to be BART. The trains are messy, they smell, and they don’t fly as many passengers would like. The odor of the BART cars leads one to ponder more serious questions about this mode of transportation. Where is BART going? What would BART do? Why is BART here? Who should BART be? All questions that all of us have asked to ourselves on many occasions.

Elizabeth Deakin, UC Berkeley Transportation Planning Professor, called a meeting among other transportation planners to discuss the problem and figure out some answers. They met at a deli and they drew up a plan on a napkin that would later be the cause of BART to go broke.

One of the first ideas was offered up by Hugh Johnston from Concord who wanted to see a BART train that would have a 2nd deck. He said everyone would be able to get a seat on the “double decker BART”.

Other ideas started coming out. Disco cars, bunk beds, walk-in humidors, Oakland passengers, and the most popular was what became known as the “Beer & XBox Car”. Most of the ideas provided where passed by unanimous vote on the spot and a timeline was set. The 50 year plan for the BART of the future was scheduled to take 15 years.

Soon after leaving the “Napkin Meeting” Deakin approached BART with the plan and in an hour after BART approved the “napkin goals”, BART filed for bankruptcy with Oakland County Superior Federal Civil Court.

“The costs of these future plans got way out of hand.” Chief Financial Officer for BART Jake Lindley said. “I don’t know why we expected how these goals could be met with the future earnings not in yet.”

“I feel sorry for everyone who has to stand.” Johnston said after hearing the news. “My double-decker BART would have been the bomb.”

BART officials plan to hold a “Looking Back Meeting” that will discuss how to save money in the past so as to prevent any further future disasters like this again.