Its not a fair comparison. BART is a mass transit system that serves the highly populated Bay Area. In contrast, the proposed high speed rail system would pass through sparsely populated regions. It won’t have a ridership nowhere near in size to BART. Its a political monstrosity whose sole justification for continued existence is that politicians continue to shovel money down its black hole. BART has been in existence for decades. HSR has no viable customer base, unless you count the politicians lined up in support of it!
I remember when Mount Diablo Road was the only way to Walnut Creek, where I lived before there was a Highway 24 freeway. My dad was a municipal finance consultant, responsible for financing the Oakland Airport, the Sacramento Deep Water Port, the Port of Oakland... With that background, don't you think I just might have the inside scoop on BART??? Sheesh.
When BART was built, the Bay Area was NOT densely populated all the way out to the burbs it serves like it is today. The whole point was not serving an urban area but to elevate the price of suburban real estate. In fact, the whole project was fronted by four developers who had bought the land for apartment buildings and shopping centers before the station locations were "officially" proposed.
The same thing is going on in the Central Valley today. What the heck do you think the whole Delta Smelt scam is about if it isn't to rip off the land from the current holders of water rights from the CWP??? I promise you, the "insta cities" along the "high speed rail" route are already on the drawing boards. It's not about connecting LA to the Bay Area; it's about building out the San Joaquin Valley.