How To Prepare Espresso

Some of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System’s current coverage area was once served by the electrified streetcar and suburban train system called the Key System. This early 20th-century system once had regular trans-bay traffic across the lower deck of the Bay Bridge. By the mid-1950s that system had been dismantled in favor of highway travel using automobiles and buses, given the explosive growth of expressway construction.

A new rapid-transit system was proposed to take the place of the Key System during the late 1940s, and formal planning for it began in the 1950s.

A new rapid-transit system was proposed to take the place of the Key System during the late 1940s, and formal planning for it began in the 1950s.

Some funding was secured for the BART system in 1959, and construction began a few years later. Passenger service began on September 11, 1972, initially just between MacArthur and Fremont.

The new BART system was hailed by some authorities as a major step forward in subway technology, though questions were asked concerning the safety of the system and the huge expenditures necessary for the construction of the network. All nine Bay Area counties were involved in the planning and envisioned to be connected by BART.