BART Riders Test New Seats for Future Trains

Riders sat down on three seat prototypes Tuesday  afternoon at the Pittsburg/Bay Point BART station as part of a survey to determine what BART'S "Fleet of the Future" will look and feel like.

BART has narrowed down the type of cushions it will use on its new train seats to three options -- "soft, medium and firm."

All three are being tried out by riders at three East Bay events this week. From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, riders tested out the seats at the Pittsburg/Bay Point station, located at 1700 W. Leland Road.

There will be another chance to check out the prototypes at the Downtown Berkeley station Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

At a similar event at the Union City station on Monday, as many as 150 people participated in the survey.

Six more yet-to-be-scheduled seat-testing events will be held at the Pleasant Hill, Balboa Park, West Dublin/Pleasanton, El Cerrito del Norte, Lake Merritt and Powell Street stations.

"The idea is to get feedback back to the manufacturer" as soon as possible, BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said.

Testers are assessing the seats' comfort and the functionality of other features such as armrests, Trost said. As part of the "Goldilocks" tests, participants will give their feedback and preferences, Trost said.

All three options use a vinyl material built to last, retain its shape and stay clean, Trost said. The color and pattern of the seats has not yet been decided, she said.

The seats will be manufactured by Bombardier, the Montreal-based company charged with building the new train cars, which will start to be integrated into the aging BART system in 2017.

The integration of the new cars will be carried out over a 15- to 20-year period. The "Fleet of the Future" will eventually consist of 1,000 train cars, up from the current total of 669.

In the meantime, BART is swapping out decades-old cloth covers on its existing seat cushions in favor of more sanitary vinyl seat covers, and is removing carpets on trains.

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