- My understanding is that BART was originally intended to go around the entire bay, but budget squabbles among the counties led Santa Clara (San Jose), San Mateo (the Peninsula), and Marina to drop out (c.f. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Bay_Area_Rapid_T...).
- The D.C. Metro is actually based on BART and uses the same trains, ticketing system, and fare structure originally designed for BART.
It was always optimistic to think that BART would ring the bay. Santa Clara County was never part of the District to begin with. San Mateo County dropped out because they already had the SP commuter service (today's Caltrain) and didn't think BART was worth the money. Marin County was asked to leave after San Mateo County did because of doubt over whether the Golden Gate Bridge was structurally capable of carrying trains and because the county's low population density couldn't support their share of the cost. The Geary line within San Francisco remained in the plan at that time but was dropped to cut the cost of the initial system far enough that it could be funded.
That said, the original express intent of BART was to relieve freeway congestion from car commuters, not to provide an urban transit system. The San Francisco city government pushed the district to make BART as useful within the city as a one-line system could be, but they had to fight for it (to get three stations beyond what the BART planners wanted to build), and the district has never shaken off its suburban bias.
- My understanding is that BART was originally intended to go around the entire bay, but budget squabbles among the counties led Santa Clara (San Jose), San Mateo (the Peninsula), and Marina to drop out (c.f. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Bay_Area_Rapid_T...).
- The D.C. Metro is actually based on BART and uses the same trains, ticketing system, and fare structure originally designed for BART.