Wi-Fi Turns Rail Time To Productive Time in Frisco

January 31st, 2009 · Tags:Cities

Well … there is a deal, give or take 18 years, but a deal all the same.  SF Gate posted this, but the headline and the story are at odds on the duration.  I am leaning toward 20.  Once people have Wi-Fi on a train, they are unlikely to give it up, yo.

BART signs 2-year deal for Wi-Fi

A pilot project testing high-speed Internet access on portions of BART will expand systemwide, allowing people to surf the Web, send e-mail and videoconference when riding the rails or waiting in the stations.

The goal is to outfit the 104 miles of track and the 43 stations by the end of 2011, said Cooper Lee, CEO of Wi-Fi Rail Inc., the startup company based in Gold River (Sacramento County) that will provide the communications system.

The 20-year deal was announced Friday.

The company began a limited experiment with the system about a year ago that involves the underground downtown San Francisco stations and a short stretch of open-air track in Hayward.

Service has been free during the demonstration project in which more than 16,000 users signed on. The company reported seamless service between the stations, even as the trains ran at high speeds.

The company will start charging for use when it completes the next phase of the project, which will include the Transbay Tube and all the subway stations in San Francisco and downtown Oakland, said Lee.

See fo yo self:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/31/BA6015KD4C.DTL&type=printable