Voices for Lifting the BART Rush-Hour Bike Ban: Dave

We’ve heard from countless people on both sides of the Bay that lifting the bike ban would improve their commutes and their lives. Over the next week, leading up to May 23, when BART will vote to lift the bike blackout ban, we’ll be sharing some of those stories. Here’s Dave’s story. He already depends on BART for everyday transportation. Removing the bike ban would allow him to travel to his performances and rehearsals faster, get more exercise and spend more time reading novels.

Photo Credit: Phil Daley

My name is Dave Möschler. I have lived in South Berkeley for almost four years now. Ever since moving to the Bay Area, I sold my motor vehicle and have relied solely on my bicycle, BART, MUNI and AC Transit to get everywhere.

As a freelance orchestra conductor, I work all over the entire Bay Area. On a typical day I’ll have a meeting in San Jose, come back to Berkeley for a rehearsal, and then have a performance in San Francisco. My schedule changes almost every day, and I ride for at least an hour or more on BART each day to get everywhere I need to go. I am 6′ 4″ tall, and ride many miles up difficult terrain in San Francisco and elsewhere with my bike, making a collapsable commuter bike very inefficient and unrealistic for me, and many others. Being able to take my bike on BART no matter what the time would make my daily life as a commuter so much better.

I love BART, and the lifestyle it allows me. Since selling my car, I have not only saved thousands of dollars every year on vehicle related expenses, I bike several miles a day for exercise and fun, and I have read around 50-60 novels (which I haven’t been able to do since college). Being able to rely on BART has improved my life immeasurably.

I encourage you to vote to lift the Rush-Hour Bike Blackout to help allow more people to bring their bike on BART and improve regional connections. After the two successful pilot programs, we’ve seen clearly that bikes on BART during rush hour has no negative impact on the operations of BART — but has a huge impact on my ability to travel throughout the Bay Area.

Through next week, we’ll be featuring these stories in anticipation of next week’s BART Board of Directors meeting. If you want to share your story about why lifting the bike ban on BART is important to you, email Marc Caswell at marc@sfbike.org.

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