BART expecting to resume late-night service, add more trains later this year
By Eli Walsh
BART being disinfected by a worker. Snap shot of video on BART.gov.
OAKLAND, Calif. - BART will re-expand its train schedules later this year, offering more frequent trips and later service as riders are expected return to public transit as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, agency officials said Thursday.
Since March of last year, the agency stopped both weekday and weekend train service at 9 p.m. in an effort to cut costs in the face of a 90 percent drop in ridership during the pandemic.
Pre-pandemic, the agency had operated between 5 a.m. and midnight on weekdays and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Since then, the agency has operated from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, with 30-minute gaps between trains during off-peak hours.
BART further modified its schedule in June and September of 2020 to better suit its pandemic-era ridership, but agency officials said they expect to expand weekday and Saturday service back to midnight as soon as September of this year.
The full service restoration plan, BART officials told the agency s Board of Directors Thursday morning, would shorten the time between trains from 30 minutes to 15 minutes during non-peak hours until 8 p.m. and change Saturday service hours to 6 a.m. to midnight on all five of the agencies routes. It improves service at a time when many Bay Area residents and employers are looking forward to a post-pandemic life, Pamela Herhold, BART s assistant general manager for performance and budget, said of the new service plan.
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BART budget officials said last week that they do not expect the agency s operating revenue to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024 at the earliest, with growth not expected until late in the 2020s.
Federal relief funding is expected to cover BART s previously projected budget deficit, preventing the transit agency from having to lay off staff or reduce service, the agency s budget officials said at the board meeting last week.