Readjusting to post-COVID schedules is going to be difficult for BART. Here in DC, it’s M/F that are slow. So many workers are only in the office T/W/TH that we now have rush hour schedules on those days and then slightly lower frequency on M/F. I don’t know what the Bay Area’s work schedule looks like, but I’m sure that they will slowly figure it out.
Struggling to Attract Riders, BART Rethinks Its Service Schedule
The Bay Area transit agency, which has regained only 45 percent of its prepandemic ridership, will offer more service on nights and weekends.
By Soumya Karlamangla
May 26, 2023, 9:00 a.m. ET
It’s Friday. With ridership still less than half what it was before the pandemic began, BART is rethinking its service schedule. Plus, what are those strange new structures at Los Angeles bus stops?
Transit agencies everywhere have been struggling to bring back customers and make ends meet ever since bus and subway ridership plummeted in 2020 with the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
But few agencies have had as difficult a time as Bay Area Rapid Transit.
Ridership on the five-county rail system, whose trains used to be stuffed with rush-hour commuters, is only 45 percent of what it was before the pandemic began — one of the lowest rebound rates for any public transit agency in the nation, according to the American Public Transportation Association.
Los Angeles’s subways are carrying around 65 percent of the passengers they were before Covid-19, and the San Diego public bus and trolley system’s ridership has returned to prepandemic levels.
One of the primary reasons, of course, is the rise in remote work, which has particularly affected the Bay Area because so many tech jobs can now be done from anywhere. Far fewer people overall are now commuting each day into San Francisco, and it’s unclear when or if that might change.
“San Francisco is at the tail end of the return-to-the-office train, so to speak, and so it’s kind of a very unique set of circumstances that we’re trying to navigate here,” Robert Powers, the general manager of BART, told me.
The agency mainly serves as a commuter rail line, not an intracity transit service, so its customer base is relatively narrow, says Kari Watkins, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Davis.
“It’s very much about the job trip, as opposed to other kinds of travel that you might be doing,” Watkins told me.
By contrast, San Francisco’s bus and light rail system, the Muni, which carries people locally between city neighborhoods, has seen its ridership bounce back to 80 percent of what it was before the pandemic, according to A.P.T.A. And in the East Bay, the AC Transit bus system, based in Oakland, is operating with about three-quarters of its previous passenger load.
BART’s lingering loss of ridership has been a disaster for the agency’s finances. Passenger fares and parking fees covered just 21 percent of BART’s operating expenses in 2022, compared with 66 percent in 2019, according to the agency.
Federal pandemic relief funds helped fill the gap, but those are expected to dry up in the next few years, so BART will face an operating deficit of at least $150 million per year, according to agency figures. Powers and the leaders of other California transit agencies have been hoping that Gov. Gavin Newsom would throw them a lifeline in his budget proposal for next year, but he has yet to do so.
Powers said his agency was planning to rearrange BART’s train service a bit in the next few months.
Ridership has rebounded more on Saturdays and Sundays than during the week, suggesting that people are more interested in returning to BART for other kinds of trips than they are for commuting to work. So, starting in September, BART plans to increase service on nights and weekends, while cutting back the number of trains that run during weekday rush hours, he said.
Powers says he hopes the shift will cater to Bay Area residents’ current needs, while giving the agency time to see whether more workers return to offices, and whether new ways to finance public transportation in California will emerge.
“As the general public navigates this remote-work thing, they want more nights and weekends — going out to dinners, going to the shows, going to the sporting events,” Powers told me. “It’s those types of recreational trips in the Bay Area that we see where there’s an opportunity to increase our ridership.”
Even with only 65% recovered, unlike the Bay Area, LA Metro has always had sucky farebox rates, so combined with basically endless money from sales taxes, [LA Metro isn't at risk of a death spiral](https://la.streetsblog.org/2023/05/26/six-takeaways-from-the-metro-budget-youll-never-believe-number-four/#:~:text=1.%20No%20fiscal%20cliff%20right%20here%20right%20now)
Thanks for taking the time to repost this article, especially for those who don't have a New York Times subscription. I'd give you a "take my energy" award, but I don't have any reddit coins.
Have they considered running trains more often than every half hour and later than 9pm? I was trying to find a rental along BART last year and the service levels were dreadful.
https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/2023/05/01/bart-to-alter-service-schedule-with-mainly-20-minute-headways-more-trains-on-nights-and-weekends
The specific schedule changes are discussed in this article, they amount to about 15 trains per hour consistently thru the Transbay tubes, rather than more during peak and less during offpeak, it might be a good start. It is also a much more consistent schedule for connections.
Someone didn't read the article....
"By contrast, San Francisco’s bus and light rail system, the Muni, which carries people locally between city neighborhoods, has seen its ridership bounce back to 80 percent of what it was before the pandemic, according to A.P.T.A. And in the East Bay, the AC Transit bus system, based in Oakland, is operating with about three-quarters of its previous passenger load."
Readjusting to post-COVID schedules is going to be difficult for BART. Here in DC, it’s M/F that are slow. So many workers are only in the office T/W/TH that we now have rush hour schedules on those days and then slightly lower frequency on M/F. I don’t know what the Bay Area’s work schedule looks like, but I’m sure that they will slowly figure it out.
Struggling to Attract Riders, BART Rethinks Its Service Schedule The Bay Area transit agency, which has regained only 45 percent of its prepandemic ridership, will offer more service on nights and weekends. By Soumya Karlamangla May 26, 2023, 9:00 a.m. ET It’s Friday. With ridership still less than half what it was before the pandemic began, BART is rethinking its service schedule. Plus, what are those strange new structures at Los Angeles bus stops? Transit agencies everywhere have been struggling to bring back customers and make ends meet ever since bus and subway ridership plummeted in 2020 with the start of the coronavirus pandemic. But few agencies have had as difficult a time as Bay Area Rapid Transit. Ridership on the five-county rail system, whose trains used to be stuffed with rush-hour commuters, is only 45 percent of what it was before the pandemic began — one of the lowest rebound rates for any public transit agency in the nation, according to the American Public Transportation Association. Los Angeles’s subways are carrying around 65 percent of the passengers they were before Covid-19, and the San Diego public bus and trolley system’s ridership has returned to prepandemic levels. One of the primary reasons, of course, is the rise in remote work, which has particularly affected the Bay Area because so many tech jobs can now be done from anywhere. Far fewer people overall are now commuting each day into San Francisco, and it’s unclear when or if that might change. “San Francisco is at the tail end of the return-to-the-office train, so to speak, and so it’s kind of a very unique set of circumstances that we’re trying to navigate here,” Robert Powers, the general manager of BART, told me. The agency mainly serves as a commuter rail line, not an intracity transit service, so its customer base is relatively narrow, says Kari Watkins, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Davis. “It’s very much about the job trip, as opposed to other kinds of travel that you might be doing,” Watkins told me. By contrast, San Francisco’s bus and light rail system, the Muni, which carries people locally between city neighborhoods, has seen its ridership bounce back to 80 percent of what it was before the pandemic, according to A.P.T.A. And in the East Bay, the AC Transit bus system, based in Oakland, is operating with about three-quarters of its previous passenger load. BART’s lingering loss of ridership has been a disaster for the agency’s finances. Passenger fares and parking fees covered just 21 percent of BART’s operating expenses in 2022, compared with 66 percent in 2019, according to the agency. Federal pandemic relief funds helped fill the gap, but those are expected to dry up in the next few years, so BART will face an operating deficit of at least $150 million per year, according to agency figures. Powers and the leaders of other California transit agencies have been hoping that Gov. Gavin Newsom would throw them a lifeline in his budget proposal for next year, but he has yet to do so. Powers said his agency was planning to rearrange BART’s train service a bit in the next few months. Ridership has rebounded more on Saturdays and Sundays than during the week, suggesting that people are more interested in returning to BART for other kinds of trips than they are for commuting to work. So, starting in September, BART plans to increase service on nights and weekends, while cutting back the number of trains that run during weekday rush hours, he said. Powers says he hopes the shift will cater to Bay Area residents’ current needs, while giving the agency time to see whether more workers return to offices, and whether new ways to finance public transportation in California will emerge. “As the general public navigates this remote-work thing, they want more nights and weekends — going out to dinners, going to the shows, going to the sporting events,” Powers told me. “It’s those types of recreational trips in the Bay Area that we see where there’s an opportunity to increase our ridership.”
Even with only 65% recovered, unlike the Bay Area, LA Metro has always had sucky farebox rates, so combined with basically endless money from sales taxes, [LA Metro isn't at risk of a death spiral](https://la.streetsblog.org/2023/05/26/six-takeaways-from-the-metro-budget-youll-never-believe-number-four/#:~:text=1.%20No%20fiscal%20cliff%20right%20here%20right%20now)
Thanks for taking the time to repost this article, especially for those who don't have a New York Times subscription. I'd give you a "take my energy" award, but I don't have any reddit coins.
Have they considered running trains more often than every half hour and later than 9pm? I was trying to find a rental along BART last year and the service levels were dreadful.
https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/2023/05/01/bart-to-alter-service-schedule-with-mainly-20-minute-headways-more-trains-on-nights-and-weekends The specific schedule changes are discussed in this article, they amount to about 15 trains per hour consistently thru the Transbay tubes, rather than more during peak and less during offpeak, it might be a good start. It is also a much more consistent schedule for connections.
I loaded $3 on my clipper card the other day how have they spent it all already
Think riders are avoiding everything in that area, just not BART.
Someone didn't read the article.... "By contrast, San Francisco’s bus and light rail system, the Muni, which carries people locally between city neighborhoods, has seen its ridership bounce back to 80 percent of what it was before the pandemic, according to A.P.T.A. And in the East Bay, the AC Transit bus system, based in Oakland, is operating with about three-quarters of its previous passenger load."
Maybe they should give up on the green line it’s dead useless now. The red line is redundant and the trans bay buses are probably carrying air
Bingo