Fewer riders, mounting losses push BART to reduce service
The relatively few people still relying on BART during the coronavirus outbreak will have to wait longer for trains starting Wednesday morning.
With ridership on the regional transit system at just 6% of normal, BART is cutting the frequency of its weekday service to twice an hour — every 30 minutes — and ending direct service earlier in the evening to and from San Francisco on the
Richmond and Warm Springs/Fremont lines. Trains had been running every 15 minutes.
The cuts are just the latest as BART and other Bay Area transit agencies face massive losses in revenue and struggle to provide service to people traveling to essential jobs or making other necessary trips during the shelterinplace orders.
BART estimates the service reductions will save the system between $3 million and $7 million a month. San Francisco’s Muni system, the Bay Area’s largest in terms of ridership, announced plans to slash service Wednesday and start running a skeletal system with just 17 routes.
Nearly every other Bay Area transit system, from buses to ferries to trains, also has cut service.
For BART riders, the cutbacks mean longer waits for trains and transfers to get to destinations on the Warm
Springs and Richmond lines. The last direct train to San Francisco will depart Richmond at 5:41 p.m. and then depart from Millbrae at 7:18 p.m. The final direct train from Warm Springs will leave at 5:16 p.m., before leaving Daly City at 6:43 p.m.
The number of people riding BART trains has plummeted since the shelterinplace orders took effect. On Tuesday, 24,909 people rode BART compared with a precoronavirus projection of 403,524.
BART officials said the cutbacks will still leave plenty of room for passengers to spread out and meet physical distancing requirements of at least 6 feet.
The changes are just the latest for BART, which at first resisted service cuts. Trains now end every day at 9 p.m. instead of midnight, and they don’t start until 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Extra commuter trains on the Pittsburg/Bay Point line were also eliminated.
Even with the cuts, BART’s budget estimates for the fiscal year starting July 1 predict shortfalls of $258 million to $452 million.
Federal stimulus funds will help alleviate some of that deficit, officials said, but losses are still expected.
Elsewhere in the Bay Area, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA, announced that it will resume light rail service Thursday with trains operating every 30 minutes Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fares are not being collected.
VTA halted lightrail service on March 25 after an operator in training tested positive for the coronavirus.