May 8, 2012 > BART's Fleet of the Future BART's Fleet of the Future Submitted By BART BART will replace its aging cars with a "Fleet of the Future." New cars will help keep BART punctual and reduce crowding on the trains. With high gas prices and increasing traffic, many motorists are turning to BART whose ridership has reached an all-time high of 376,000 riders on weekdays. Finding a seat on board BART's current train cars can be difficult during rush hour periods. To help ease crowding issues, improvements are being considered for the "Fleet of the Future" that will begin to enter service after 2018. BART seeks funding to increase the number of cars in the BART fleet from 669, currently, to 775 which could increase the number of seats significantly. New train cars will have three doors on each side instead of two to facilitate faster boarding and alighting. Bike racks on trains will better accommodate bicyclists during hours when bikes are permitted on BART. In addition, more priority seating is planned for seniors and people with disabilities. Higher seats mean more storage space. Preliminary designs for the new fleet include open seating areas designed to accommodate riders who want to keep their luggage close to them, customers with strollers and customers who want a little more leg-room. The new cars will enable BART to split trains at transfer stations and send each part to a different destination. This could provide more customers with direct service to their destination without transferring to another train on evenings and Sundays when some BART routes do not operate. BART plans to increase the number of poles, handholds and/or hand straps to better meet the needs of those who cannot reach overhead stanchions, as well as elderly and disabled customers who have told us they want more handholds near the doors to avoid losing their balance as trains accelerate or decelerate. For more information about BART's Fleet of the Future, visit http://bart.gov/cars.