Underperforming Asphalt: Giants

November 4, 2010

Giants Fans Overwhelm BART, Muni, Bay Bridge, Caltrains, Air, Space

I read that Giants fans overwhelmed all forms of transportation in getting to the parade today, but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

This is the line to get BART tickets at the Dublin Pleasanton station at around 9am on November 3rd. Those of you who know the station know that this line stretches at least 100 yards away from the ticketing area. I mean, the station isn't even in the frame! It's another 30-40 yards off to the left! Blows. My. Mind. I've never even seen a line more than 10 people deep, and this looks like 30 times that amount.

Apparently the Bay Bridge was a parking lot, and Muni and BART were standing room only to the point where agents were turning people away from the platform.

Update: grabbed some sweet pics from Flickr.

Premise

Suburban areas are automobile scale. This requires surfeits of space and asphalt, generating lower densities and further necessitating automobiles. The positive feedback (and resource consumption) loop goes on and on.

This blog is first and foremost about establishing that suburbs need to change, and deconstructing the assumption that such places cannot evolve toward more sustainable patterns. With smart retooling, suburbs can accommodate more diverse uses than their land-use lets on.

I'll explore suburban busing, biking, BARTing, walking, parking, building designing, retrofitting, greening, funding, and zoning, all with an eye toward rethinking the shape and function of the suburbs.