At long last, Wi-Fi coming to BART, Caltrain — in 3 to 4 years

A man checks his phoneat the Daly City BART station. A man checks his phoneat the Daly City BART station. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close At long last, Wi-Fi coming to BART, Caltrain — in 3 to 4 years 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

BART and Caltrain riders have been clamoring for Wi-Fi service on trains almost since the Internet was invented, while sniffing with incredulity at the absurdity of low-tech transit in a region that gave flight to a high-tech world.

Finally, they are about to get their wish — but it could take as many as three years for BART and four years on Caltrain.

BART is in negotiations with a vendor to install Wi-Fi in the transit system’s 46 stations and aboard all of its 775 new cars and hopes to have a deal by summer, said Ravi Misra, chief information officer.

The stations will come first — in a year to 18 months after a deal is signed — then the cars. That could take about three years, Misra said. Each of BART’s new Fleet of the Future cars will come outfitted for Wi-Fi, something the existing cars don’t have. BART expects to have a full fleet of the new cars by the end of 2022.

“It’s going to take some time,” Misra said.

Providing Wi-Fi for passengers on moving trains involves erecting poles and antennas along tracks to relay signals, work that primarily will have to be done when trains aren’t running, he said.

Once installed, that technology can also be used to support a variety of other services, Misra said, including better police communications, maintenance tracking, mobile payment and messaging.

Then there are applications focused on passenger convenience: sending messages to riders to inform them the train they usually take is running late or overly crowded, or even notifying them of discounts at businesses their train is approaching.

BART could also use its Wi-Fi technology to connect riders to their next mode of transit, offering directions or letting them know when their bus or shuttle will arrive. And when autonomous cars hit the roads, riders could arrange to have their car waiting for them at the station just as their train pulls in.

“We want to cater to our customers,” Misra said.

BART also expects to sell access to its Wi-Fi technology to retailers and other businesses. Misra estimates that could generate $10 million a year in revenue.

Caltrain carries some of the world’s most tech-savvy riders as its trains travel between San Francisco and Gilroy, but has never provided Wi-Fi, despite howls, and tweets, of protest. Caltrain officials had said that installing it was too costly and would steal money away from needed improvements to the 154-year-old commuter railroad.

But there’s been a change of heart.

With Caltrain’s conversion from diesel to electric under construction, the system is installing the technology that will be needed to provide Wi-Fi. Caltrain is on schedule to start running electric trains in 2022, said spokeswoman Tasha Bartholomew.

As with BART, however, Caltrain’s Wi-Fi will work only on its new trains. Plans call for 75 percent of the trains to operate under electrical power at first, with the rest running on diesel until the railroad can afford to dump its old locomotives. Caltrain hopes that a possible federal grant could allow it to replace its entire fleet of cars in four years, delivering not only faster and more frequent service but also Wi-Fi on all trains.

“Wi-Fi is a top priority,” Bartholomew said. “I know people have urged us to get it, and we need it. Especially with these new (rail) cars, they’ll be hottest thing out there, so they’ll have Wi-Fi.”

BART riders got an ever-so-slight taste of Wi-Fi service between 2009 and 2014. WiFi Rail, a Sacramento company, promised to install the service systemwide but was never able to provide it to more than 5 percent of the system, mainly in downtown San Francisco and Oakland, BART reported in 2014.

Passengers complained that the service was weak, spotty and unreliable, and BART terminated WiFi Rail’s 20-year contract. The company sued BART. The lawsuit is pending.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan

Wi-Fi and transit

Nationally, the number of transit agencies that provide Wi-Fi service is rising, according to the American Public Transportation Association. But it’s still relatively low for subway-type systems like BART, with less than 1 percent offering the service, compared with 38 percent for commuter trains, 56 percent for longer-distance commuter buses and 16 percent for transit buses. Fewer than 1 percent of the nation’s light-rail and streetcar systems have Wi-Fi.

In the Bay Area, a few transportation agencies offer Wi-Fi service, but not all of them.

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

The agency has Wi-Fi on all of its light-rail and bus lines and at some of its transit hubs as a way to help riders “stay connected and productive while riding our system,” said spokeswoman Holly Perez.

AC Transit

The system offers Wi-Fi on its Transbay buses between the East Bay and San Francisco, but not on its local service — at least not yet, said spokesman Robert Lyles. The agency’s engineers are exploring the feasibility — and cost — of extending Wi-Fi to all of its new buses.

SMART

The Bay Area’s newest transit system started service in August with all trains offering Wi-Fi.

“It seemed like an obvious amenity people want to use for working and for getting online when traveling for leisure,” said Jeanne Mariani-Belding, a spokeswoman for SMART.

Muni

Currently, the Bay Area’s busiest transit system offers no Wi-Fi service on its buses, light-rail cars, streetcars or cable cars. Most of its Metro subway also lacks cellular service. But there’s good news for riders hoping for subterranean communication.

The Municipal Transportation Agency has contracted with BART, which has cables and antennas providing cell phone service in its subways, to extend that service to Muni Metro, including the Market Street subway and Twin Peaks and Sunset tunnels. Work is expected to start this summer and take 12 to 18 months to complete.