BART picks a fight with Elon Musk on Twitter over tunnels

Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk and a BART train. Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk and a BART train. Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images And Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images And Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close BART picks a fight with Elon Musk on Twitter over tunnels 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

In an attempt to hype up The Boring Company's tunnel projects, Elon Musk inadvertently drew the ire of BART's official Twitter account.

The bizarre Twitter fight began Friday afternoon when Musk tweeted an FAQ page from The Boring Company and wrote, "Boring Company guide to why tunnels are awesome & safest place to be in an earthquake."

A Twitter user responded to Musk's tweet with, "Tunnels are great things to run trains through. Not cars," which led the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to take a dig at trains running underground.

"Opposite is true: you can have 100's of layers of tunnels, but only one layer on surface (to first approximation), therefore trains should be on surface, cars below," he wrote.

ALSO: Elon Musk was paid more in 2018 than the next 65 highest-paid CEOs combined

Musk's suggestion that trains should run on the surface clearly irked the official Twitter account of BART.

"We carry 28,000 people per hour through our Transbay Tube under the bay because of the capacity of a train," the agency wrote. "That's nearly twice as much as cars over the bay. Why wouldn't you prioritize something that carries far more (and safely with automatic train control) over cars?"

Opposite is true: you can have 100’s of layers of tunnels, but only one layer on surface (to first approximation), therefore trains should be on surface, cars below — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2019 Here it is. We also run on electricity. pic.twitter.com/leK1mLzcrc — SFBART (@SFBART) May 25, 2019

BART then attached a graphic comparing the number of people driving across the Bay Bridge during rush hour to the number of people on a BART train moving through the Transbay Tube at rush hour.

Musk did not respond directly to BART, but continued to make his case for underground tunnels designed for cars and not trains.

"Fundamental advantage of layers of tunnels is you can have as many lanes as you want going in any direction," he wrote. "Will feel like folding space from one part of a city to another."

READ MORE: Elon Musk's Boring Company staged a race between a Tesla in a tunnel and one on the road — and the winner was clear

Meanwhile, BART was attacked by a number of Musk fans and other BART critics, and was forced to defend everything from the odor on cars to the amount of public money the agency receives.

"Your 'cars' smell like piss," one user wrote. BART responded with a video of crews cleaning the floor of one of the cars.

"Sounds pretty revolutionary. When does your stock IPO?" another user wrote at BART.

"Public transit is not for profit," BART responded. "BTW our system relies on fares for 2/3rd of our operating budget. Why isn't there greater public investment? Why?"

MORE: Everything we know about the Berryessa and Milpitas BART stations that are set to open this year

The Boring Company completed its test tunnel in Hawthorne, Calif. late last year and recently secured a contract to build another tunnel under Las Vegas.

In February, The Boring Company was reported to be in discussions with the city of San Jose to build a tunnel connecting San Jose International Airport and the future Diridon Station transit hub. Musk's company has no other known Bay Area tunnel projects in the works.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting

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