Bay Area commuters were treated to a peak inside one of the new "Fleet of the Future" BART trains Saturday at the Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre Station.
Aside from a design overhaul, BART says that the new fleet will be quieter, cooler, more comfortable, and easier to enter and exit than the current trains running throughout the Bay Area system. BART has also introduced a mapping feature that will let riders know exactly where they are at any time as well as installing a digital display on each car to signal what station is coming next.
The soon-to-be-introduced trains do have four less seats per car, but more cars will be used on each train, BART said. A grand total of 1,081 cars are set to be unveiled by 2021, which would increase BART's seating capacity by 49 percent.
Once the testing process, which has reached an 82 percent completion mark as of Saturday, is finished and the California Public Utilities Commission has given the green light, BART plans to role out the fleet as soon as possible.
Commuters wishing to see the test train can do so Sunday by visiting the MacArthur Station in Oakland between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. BART is also scheduled to show off the new fleet at the end of the month in Dublin and El Cerrito.
