Earlier today, Bay Area Rapid Transit System officials announced its 2011-2012 budget ahead of schedule. The budget offers solutions to some of the agency’s most controversial subjects with new ideas and technologies.

OAK Airport Connector extended to SJC, SMF, STS airports

The controversial Oakland Airport Connector, which would build a $484 million, 3.2-mile people mover between Coliseum BART and the far parking lot of the Oakland Airport, gained new momentum. In addition to serving Oakland International Airport with a new monorail, BART will create similar services to reach San Jose, Sacramento and Sonoma County Airports.

The original Oakland-only design depended on BART taking out a $105.7 million loan. BART spokesperson Lyle Lanley justified the new expansions by asking: “It’s not like we even have enough money for the Oakland project, so why not?”

Lanley also announced that moving forward, the agency would officially use the metric system when discussing any airport connector: “$484 million for 5,150 meters sounds like a better value.”

BART parking fee reduced, drivers offered free A’s tickets and gasoline

Beginning today, April 1, the daily parking fee at BART stations is being reduced to 5 cents per day (still from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays only). In exchange for driving into the BART parking lot, drivers will receive a coupon good for admission to an A’s home game or two gallons of regular gasoline at a participating fuel station.

“At its heart, BART is a commuter service,” Lanley opined at this morning’s press conference. “We subsidize parking lots and garages with fares from people that don’t own cars, so that people with cars might be more inclined to take BART.”

Lanley continued.

“That nickel a day? It adds up to a quarter per week. Parking is just one more way that driving is expensive, in addition to owning, insuring, fueling and maintaining the car. Apparently it’s not enough that BART is cheaper, less stressful and more reliable than driving, because people keep driving. We need to start hyper-incentivizing transit.”

Bike parking resolved with new bike-powered cars

The new budget temporarily suspends construction and maintenance of all station-area bicycle parking. Instead of accommodating bikes parked at stations, or allowing more room for bikes on existing train cars, BART adopted a proposal by Robert Raburn, District 4 BART Director, to create separate, pedal-powered cars.

These new cars will run between regularly scheduled electric trains. The new cars will require passengers to connect their own bicycles or use stationary bicycles to propel the car through the BART system. The car will charge a battery during peak periods to help get riders over hills in the off-peak times.

To save further costs, the proposal was modified so that Raburn himself will construct the cars from recycled materials by hand, using a bicycle generator only when necessary.

New technology will allow BART to offer all-night service on Halloween

The budget also attempts to address smaller conflicts.

For instance, it addresses the perennial Halloween issue. Every Oct. 31, East Bay residents seek extended service to travel home by transit from the festivities in San Francisco. Borrowing a strategy from Pixar’s "Monsters Inc.," BART will acquire generators powered by human screams.

“We really hope people will support this plan by wearing extra scary costumes. If you were planning to dress up as a princess or Mark Zuckerberg, you might want to save it for a party in your own neighborhood,” Lanley advised. "Folks going into San Francisco [should] consider scary clowns or gory monsters instead … a Justin Bieber costume could go either way.”

BART will sell the power generated in these “scare trains” into the renewable power market. Given forecasts, this is expected to cover the full costs of operating hourly trains on Halloween night.

To read about more new programs and services the agency is expected to roll out later in the year, click here for full report.

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