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Bay Area Rapid Transit recently took steps to prepare for the January 2003 launch of service to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and exercised a $23 million contract option with General Electric Transportation Systems (GETS) Global Signaling to begin the third phase of implementing an Advanced Automatic Train Control (AATC) system.



On Aug. 22, BART’s board approved a long-term parking plan providing 500 spaces split among three stations. The board also approved reducing the daily parking limit for all other areas from 72 hours to 24, and increased the violation fine from $25 to $100.



Then, Aug. 23, the board adopted a fare schedule for the 8.7-mile route extension linking the BART system to SFO. The project currently is 97 percent complete. Officials expect daily ridership on the new line to reach 70,000 by 2010.



And, as the SFO project winds down, BART’s program to install AATC on its Alameda Line is entering its third phase.



BART began operating the system in revenue service July 15 as an overlay to the railroad’s existing train-control system, which marked an end to the demonstration, or second, phase of the project.



BART recently exercised an option with GETS to begin the third phase, which involves extending the AATC system to a 25-mile segment from San Leandro and Oakland through the transbay tube — where four lines feed into a single track in each direction — and the East Bay to Daly City.



When complete, BART officials expect to tighten headways on equipped portions of its right of way from 18 to 20 trains per hour to 27 to 30 trains per hour.