Before the pandemic, BART trains were notoriously crowded, with an average of 400,000 commuters each weekday, leaving passengers standing shoulder to shoulder. Parking at the stations was highly coveted. However, the current situation is concerning; even during peak hours, ridership has dramatically dropped, with only a handful of people on board.
According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, a recent study by Business Insider highlights a shift in commuting patterns, as major companies like Apple, Google, and JPMorgan require employees to work in the office three days a week. Consequently, BART sees significant traffic on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, while ridership drops on Mondays and Fridays when many commuters work from home.
Alicia Trost, a spokesperson for BART, noted that this three-day work week is insufficient to support BART’s operating budget, revealing a critical flaw in its financial model. Historically, two-thirds of BART’s revenue has relied on ticket sales. Since the pandemic, even the busiest commuting days—Tuesdays to Thursdays—have seen passenger numbers stabilize below 200,000. Authorities anticipate a funding gap ranging from $300 million to $400 million annually once federal and state emergency funds are depleted. Trost emphasized that no amount of concerts at the Chase Center or Golden State Warriors games can compensate for the declining ridership. Furthermore, the departure of the Oakland Athletics has dealt an additional blow.
BART and its consultants are beginning to envision a bleak future for the system: hour-long waits for trains, miles of unused tracks, and thousands of cars congesting highways. Trost believes the agency does not expect a complete return to the pre-pandemic office work routine. On a positive note, BART is working to rally support for a 2026 ballot measure that could fund public transit through taxation, with BART positioned as one of the most urgent beneficiaries. However, it’s still uncertain whether voters in the Bay Area will support the necessary funding to sustain public transit.
Moreover, if transportation officials fail to devise a revenue plan and present it to the state legislature by January, BART could face serious consequences. In a study released in November 2022, BART warned that if the agency were to lose $233 million annually, passengers would experience “extremely deep” service cuts.
In response to funding shortages, BART plans to decrease service on two of its five lines to one train per hour and close at 9 PM, running only on weekdays and shutting down nine stations. Nick Josefowitz, vice chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and a former BART board member, expressed concerns about the agency’s ability to sustain operations. He warned that without BART or if its operations suffer, commuters may have to quit their jobs, and businesses might choose to relocate.
