Imaginative maps show what Bay Area transit could look like in 2050

A map shows how Jacob Berman would redesign Bay Area transit in the future, if given the chance and funds. Click through the slideshow to see how it looks close up. A map shows how Jacob Berman would redesign Bay Area transit in the future, if given the chance and funds. Click through the slideshow to see how it looks close up. Photo: Jacob Berman / Fiftythree.studio Photo: Jacob Berman / Fiftythree.studio Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Imaginative maps show what Bay Area transit could look like in 2050 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

Can you imagine if you could hop on BART to Alameda? What about a train that would take you from downtown San Francisco to the Outer Richmond in a matter of minutes? Or a light rail that runs from downtown Berkeley all the way to the Oakland Coliseum? Keep dreaming, right?

Wrong, says Jacob Berman, a lawyer from the Bay Area who has taken on quite the passion project of reimagining our region's transit.

"The Bay Area is suffering from a lack of vision," said Berman. "Things don't have to be as they are now. Things can be better."

So Berman asked himself what he would do if he were named "dictator of mass transit" in the Bay Area. He started sketching it out while stuck on BART one day in the transbay tube. The results of his thought experiment — and hundreds of hours of work — are outlined in the maps above.

ALSO: In the days before BART, how did people get across the bay?

First, he tackled better rail coverage of SoMa and Mission Bay, two hotspots for commuting in San Francisco. He also added subway lines down Van Ness and through the Richmond District. Not to mention a second transbay tube.

Also important was increasing coverage in the East Bay, which was better served by rail than it is now.

"The old Key System that ran in the East Bay is something that Oaklanders and Berkeleyites would kill to have," Berman said. (See where the Key System used to run from 1903 to 1960 here.)

In order to accomplish his lofty dreams, Berman said we would first need to cut construction costs in the Bay Area, looking to other countries with more thorough rail systems as an example. But whether the changes he wishes to see ever come to fruition is somewhat besides the point, he explained.

"The reason that we have the BART system is because somebody had the vision to build something where it didn't exist before."

In a region known for imagination and innovation, Berman is confident that where there's a will, there's a way.

See what one person thinks Bay Area public transit should look like in 2050 in the gallery at the top of this story.

See more maps at Berman's website.

Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com.

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