In 1954, Marvin Lewis unveiled a plan for a space-age, fifteen-mile monorail that would run through the heart of downtown. The federal bond issue he led to finance this new entity, which came to be known as Bay Area Rapid Transit, was the largest local bond ever approved in the United States. BART finally opened in 1972 to much acclaim. It was, as described by Fortune, “the finest rapid transit line in the world.” Its space-age automated cars were light, aerodynamic, and controlled entirely by computers.
