(The following article by Jessie Seyfer was posted on the San Jose Mercury News website on April 11.)
SAN JOSE, Calif. — First there was WiFi in coffee shops. Then came plans for wireless Internet access to blanket entire cities. Now comes a proposal for the ultimate in mobility: widespread wireless on the rails.
The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority and the Bay Area Rapid Transit District are taking the first step toward making it possible for travelers to surf the Internet while riding the 105-mile BART system and the 171-mile Amtrak corridor between San Jose and Auburn, in the Sacramento area.
The two transit authorities say they want to hear from companies interested in conducting and paying for a technical trial of wireless Internet systems on their respective rail systems. The test would run from July to December.
Officials say other rail transit agencies, both locally and on the East Coast, will be watching the test closely.
BART and the Capitol Corridor authority, which is operated by BART, will each launch a formal “request for proposals” early next year to choose a company or companies that would build such a system for all Capitol Corridor and BART trains once the test is complete.
Other local transit agencies, including the Altamont Corridor Express, the Peninsula Joint Powers Board that runs Caltrain and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA, also are involved in the project.
“The potential is there for a California solution,” said Jim Allison, a Capitol Corridor authority spokesman. “I think other rail transit agencies around the state would be interested in our results.”
A VTA spokeswoman said her agency would probably pay attention to the results, but noted that VTA customers probably wouldn’t use the Internet while riding because the trips are short hops. But VTA is exploring putting WiFi at station platforms, where people might want to get online while waiting, said spokeswoman Jayme Kunz. “The more amenities you bring to riders, the more likely it is that you can grow ridership,” Kunz said.
Since 2003, WiFi has been offered in a limited way on ACE between Stockton and San Jose and on a handful of Capitol Corridor train cars. The joint BART-Capitol Corridor authority effort marks the first large-scale multi-agency effort in the region to bring WiFi to commuters. New trials are needed to test technologies that have arisen since, said CCJPA spokesman Jim Allison.
In the WiFi systems commonly used in cafe hotspots, a radio transceiver, installed and hooked up to the Internet by wire, sends data to people’s computers and out to the Internet via invisible radio waves.
But on a moving train, it’s “much more challenging” to maintain the connection between the transceiver and the Internet, said Monica Paolini, a consultant working on the project with the Capitol Corridor authority and BART.
The WiFi system on some Capitol Corridor trains sends data from the train car to and from the Internet using satellite or cellular phone-like feeds, Paolini said. The Internet signal maintains contact with the satellite or is handed off to cell phone towers that the train passes, much like a person can keep their phone call going while they drive, she said.
With the new trial, Capitol Corridor and BART officials hope to test a technology called WiMAX, which is similar to WiFi but can carry signals across greater distances and handle mobile hand-off issues better, Paolini said.
The two authorities want commuters to be able to browse the Web, access corporate systems known as Virtual Private Networks, upload and download files, use Internet phone-calling services and receive video and audio streams. Train employees would use the system for closed-circuit surveillance for safety monitoring, electronic ticketing and diagnosing technical train problems.
The agencies also prefer that an outside company run the wireless Internet system for profit, with oversight from the Capitol Corridor authority. Revenue could come from charging riders for access to the service or selling local ads on the service, for example.
A system proposed by Google and EarthLink for San Francisco would make money by selling local advertising, but Paolini said it is too early in the process to know whether that would be the case with the BART-Capitol Corridor’s system.
The transportation authorities’ effort to bring wireless broadband to all its riders joins a growing number of sometimes controversial initiatives to make wireless Internet access ubiquitous.
When San Francisco officials chose Google and EarthLink for its citywide WiFi system last week, privacy advocates raised concerns about whether the companies would store users’ personal information or be able to track their whereabouts. City officials are still negotiating the contract, which must be approved by San Francisco’s board of supervisors.
The Capitol Corridor authority is holding an informational meeting Wednesday for companies interested in the trial.