BART To Increase Train Frequency As Ridership Rebounds

By Eli Walsh, Bay City News Foundation

BAY AREA, CA — BART will add more than two dozen trips to its busiest routes next week as the agency's ridership continues to creep up from its pandemic-induced losses.

BART will add 26 trips on the Monday-Friday schedule on the Yellow (Antioch-San Francisco International Airport), Green (Berryessa-Daly City) and Red (Richmond-Millbrae and SFO) lines. The additional trips will enable trains to run in Oakland between 4 and 15 minutes apart during peak hours.

The additional trips will support the morning and evening commute windows. According to BART, ridership data has showed a need for increased service during those periods to prevent crowding.
The agency will also keep 30-minute train frequencies on the Blue (Dublin/Pleasanton-Daly City) line until Aug. 30, when service is expected to be made more frequent.

BART will also add 16 trips on Saturdays, most of which will serve the Yellow line between Pleasant Hill and Daly City.

According to BART ridership data, Saturday ridership has recovered at a faster pace than weekday ridership as many offices based in Oakland and San Francisco remain closed or allow employees to work from home.

On Aug. 30, BART plans to expand weekday and Saturday service closer to pre-pandemic levels, running trains until midnight instead of 9 p.m. and increasing train frequency during both peak and off-peak hours.

Updated schedules and train departure times can be found at Bart.gov/schedules/pdf.

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