BART's long-awaited (and very expensive) Oakland Airport Connector light rail is set to open by the holidays*. And all we can say is: yay!
Like the AirTrain at SFO, the $484 million Oakland Airport Connector is driverless. The three-car trains can carry up to 120 passengers at a time, and are set to leave every five minutes from the Coliseum BART station and follow the 3.2-mile route to the airport and adjacent parking lots for a total travel time of about twelve (measly) minutes.
The ride will cost you an additional $6 on top of your BART fare, but the transit agency plans to use the revenue to defray maintenance costs (estimated at $8 million per year).
Still, it'll be worth it to never again have to drag your luggage through a tiny bus door and sit in traffic for 30 minutes. See you on the runway.
* BART has since announced that the extension will start running on Saturday, November 22.
