Chronicle Watch: Wi-Fi remains hit or miss on Bay Area transit

Wi-Fi remains hit or miss on Bay Area transit Since Muni started shutting down its Metro subway lines every night at the end of July to upgrade communications systems, many riders have been asking the same question. “It seems like a good idea and would be a nice gesture to the riders to offset the inconvenience of the nighttime closure,” said Muni rider Jeffrey Burke Whitten. During the six-month closure, Muni is replacing its radio system and the emergency phones in its tunnels but has no plans to install Wi-Fi, which is becoming increasingly ubiquitous elsewhere. While patrons of coffee shops, libraries and bars — and even people standing on street corners — gain more and more access, Wi-Fi remains a mixed bag on Bay Area public transportation, even though it can be a powerful enticement for commuters. “Free passenger Wi-Fi continues to be the most requested amenity when we survey our riders,” said Stacey Hendler Ross, a spokeswoman for the VTA, which offers Wi-Fi on all light-rail trains and is installing it on all buses. The number of transit vehicles offering free Wi-Fi is on the rise nationally, particularly on commuter rail, said Art Guzzetti, vice president for policy and research for the American Public Transportation Association. In 2014, 10.7 percent of commuter rail cars were outfitted, up from just 1 percent in 2008. “Tech-savvy generations expect all these things,” Guzzetti said, citing a variety of transit technology including onboard Wi-Fi, real-time ride information and automated stop announcements. [...] some Bay Area transit operators believe the expense of installing Wi-Fi steals funding from more critical needs, like buying new railcars, increasing service, and keeping buses, trains and rails in good shape. For big moving vehicles, providing Wi-Fi involves more than just buying a cheap router and hooking it up. Caltrain officials, who field frequent requests to install Wi-Fi, have said they would prefer to spend their limited funding on increasing and improving service. [...] the persistence of their tech-savvy ridership prompted them to take another look. “Other rail agencies have rolled out Wi-Fi networks, only to rescind them later due to connectivity issues,” she said. The relationship with the provider, a small firm called WiFi Rail, was shaky, and the transit agency canceled the contract in 2014 after five years of service that drew regular complaints from riders. AC Transit has offered free Wi-Fi on the majority of its transbay bus service since 2007 and was one of the first in the nation, said spokesman Clarence Johnson. Golden Gate Transit recently installed Wi-Fi on its buses but has yet to bring it to ferries. The reason, said spokeswoman Priya Clemens, is the technological challenge of sending Wi-Fi signals across the bay, which has a considerable number of dead zones. “We will continue to look at offering Wi-Fi in the future, with the hope that a new technology solution arises, or that the network coverage improves over the bay,” she said. If the Muni really cared about passenger safety,” he said, “they would make our cell phones work in the subway.