The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is concerned the technology it’s using may break down soon—and the solution will not be as easy as downloading a quick update. That’s because since 1998, SFMTA has been operating the city’s light rail system with floppy disks, which came as a shock to passengers.
"Wow. I mean I thought we were moving on to AI. So why are we doing floppy disk," wondered SFMTA passenger Katie Guillen, reports ABC7News.
Mariana Maguire of the SFMTA Train Control Project explained why they’re still in use.
"We were the first agency in the U.S. to adopt this particular technology, but it was from an era that computers didn't have a hard drive, so you have to load the software from floppy disks on to the computer," she said, according to the report.
"The floppy disk is one component of one system,” she added. “The system that automatically controls our trains inside the subway. But our metro system that operates citywide has many components to it."
The system was designed to last for a quarter of a century, but concerns are being raised now that it’s continuing to be used past its best-by date.
"The system is currently working just fine, but we know that with each increasing year, the risk of data degradation on the floppy disks increases and that at some point there will be a catastrophic failure," SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin said.
Upgrading the system will be a real challenge, financially and otherwise.
"The detail project schedule will be finalized once we have a contractor onboard. This is effectively a multi-phase decade long project that starts with pieces of market street subway and pieces in the surface. Ultimately our goal is to have a single train control system for the entire rail system," said Tumlin.
They’re hoping the bulk of the cost, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions, will be covered by state and federal grants.
"The rest of it will come from Muni's rapidly declining internal capital resources," Tumlin said.