The Ultimate Riding Machine

What if "Ride a Bimmer to Work Day" was every day?

That’s the plan at the Bay Area Rapid Transit System, where DesignworksUSA, a subsidiary of BMW group, has been tapped to design train cars for the 2017 fleet.

The international design firm plans changes to seats, layout, the way passengers enter and exit the cars. New features include adaptive interior color lighting that will change throughout the day with sunlight conditions.

BART operates the oldest, longest-running trains in the country, most of which have been around since the high-speed rail system launched in September 1972. At a projected cost of $3 billion, agency officials say they hope the 670-car “Fleet of the Future” will lure more commuters away from Bay Area freeways. 

“With 75 percent of our customers having the option of choosing another way to get to their destinations, we figured what better way to lure the drivers of the future onto BART than to hire the company who knows motorists best?” said board president Bob Franklin in a prepared statement.

BART laid the groundwork for the new designs with Seat Labs, an interactive survey that invited passengers to try out and rank new seat designs. More than 2,200 people in Bay Area cities participated in the survey, which concluded Wednesday. The transit agency will forward the feedback to DesignworksUSA as it polishes draft concepts.

BART plans community meetings to gather responses to DesignWorksUSA's preliminary renderings.

The agency expects to choose a manufacturer by late in 2011, according to the BART website.

-- Rebecca Rosen Lum contributed to this report.