Too-hot cars make BART riders steamed; updates under way

Sarah Musiker, 24, chats with David Lopez, 26, as he fans himself on a BART car. Riders say commuting can be uncomfortable enough without the temperature being 10 to 15 degrees higher than usual. Sarah Musiker, 24, chats with David Lopez, 26, as he fans himself on a BART car. Riders say commuting can be uncomfortable enough without the temperature being 10 to 15 degrees higher than usual. Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Too-hot cars make BART riders steamed; updates under way 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

Getting up and going to work is difficult enough. Add to that a commute in a sweltering hot BART car and it can feel like hell.

Every so often, people who regularly ride BART find themselves in a warmer-than-usual car. Much warmer than usual - 10 or 15 degrees, which can be unpleasant in a lightly populated car and much worse when you're packed nose to armpit.

Although it's faster to take BART home to Glen Park from her job in the South of Market, Natalie Burney, 34, said she's started taking the bus more often to avoid the overheated cars.

"It's unbearable sometimes," she said. "Some people stay and take it, but I have to keep going down the line until I find one that's not hot."

The issue is with the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems of 230 BART cars that did not go through a rehabilitation process that modernized the 439 other cars in the late 1990s, said BART spokesman Jim Allison.

The 230 cars use a system that is "under-designed" to adjust temperatures to a comfortable level, Allison said. The systems are equipped to keep the temperature steady for 56 people - the seating capacity of each compartment - but have trouble during peak commute periods when more body heat is crammed into each car, Allison said.

More than half the temperature complaints that BART gets from passengers are due to those old-fashioned systems, Allison said.

One-third or so of complaints are the result of temperature control units, which have remote sensors within air ducts and are supposed to cool things off when it gets too hot.

The units are designed to kick in at a set temperature - and if a car hits 76 degrees, they should be going full blast. But the units don't always catch the temperature changes, making for some overly hot cars.

The rest of passengers' complaints about too-hot cars are the result of power supply glitches that keep air-control systems from activating, Allison said.

BART also insists it almost never hears from people about steamy cars - maybe once every few months. But the agency is well aware of the issue and working to upgrade all the systems in the cars that were not upgraded in the '90s, Allison said.

Each of these cars has two heating-cooling units, and BART has already replaced about 80, Allison said. The agency's goal is to update 24 units each month and finish the job within a year.

If all else fails, BART's "Fleet of the Future" rail cars are expected to take to the rails in three years, and will all be equipped with more "efficient and reliable" heating and cooling systems, Allison said.

What's not working Issue: Some BART cars seem to run 10 to 15 degrees warmer than other BART cars because of old heating and ventilation systems. What's been done: BART is working to replace the faulty heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in cars that did not go through a restoration process in the late 1990s. The agency hopes to finish the job within a year. Who's responsible: Grace Crunican, BART general manager - (510) 464-6065. GCrunic@bart.gov