9/11    Why do we need a rail line on the new bay bridge "to reduce car flows"?
        Doesn't BART already cross the bay?
        \_Maybe to accommodate Amtrak, freight and other commuter line
        trains? Such a solution would help divert some car and truck flow.
        \_BART's resources are already somewhat maxed out, as any BART
        commuter can tell you.  We're packed like sardines in there during
        peak commute hours.
        \_ They're trying to pack more trains in, but I don't think it
        will work that well.  People still need to enter/exit at stops and
        the trains stop in the tube often already.
        \_ BART is non-standard rail, for one thing.  It's also run
           incompetently and, as noted above, is near maximum train
           capacity already.  A train line over the bridge could, for example,
           hook up with CalTrain's tracks and provide a way to get directly
           to the Peninsula or San Jose from Oakland, for example.  -tom
        \_ BART's train spacing could be much shorter, tho.  And, you would
           have to replace 20%! of the bay bridge traffic, shifting them
           to mass transit, to even break even, which I find highly doubtful.
           \_ if you put a new rail line in, you double the person-capacity
              of the bridge.  If car traffic gets worse, there is impetus
              to use more responsible means of transporation.  -tom
                \_ THE STATE SHOULD PROVIDE BICYCLES FOR EVERYONE.
                \_ No, they should provide cars, since that is the most
                 responsible way to get around.  Remember, consumption
                 keeps our economy strong.  Buy stuff.  Work your ass off.
                  eat stuff.
        \_ I wish the new bay bridge had double the lanes as well.  Car's
           rule!  I don't like waiting in line to go to the northern
           peninsula..
                \_ Umm, the new bay bridge only goes from oakland to
                   treasure island - what would the point of double the
                   lanes be?  Get to treasure island fast, then wait there
                   forever?
           \_ No, they should have a conveyor belt instead that runs at
                50mph.  That way cars could cross much faster.  And for
                pedestrians they should have a giant catapolt and a net on
                the other side.  Those damn civil engineers don't know
                what they're talking about.
              \_ Me too, but without the net.
           \_ On the side of ludicrousy, there should some mass relocation
              of where EVERYONE lives so 90% of all people are within 5 miles
              of where they work. But I really do want to see the catapult
              idea implemented.
                \_ Better yet, we should build really tall sky scrappers
                   so that way the entire bay area lives within a few
                   blocks of each other.
\        \_ It's for the psycological impact. To get people sitting incars to
            be forced to watch the people in the trains grinning at them as
            they whiz by.