BART to run every 30 minutes Monday-Friday
As the Bay Area counties have extended mandatory shelter in place orders, BART is reducing service to match demand.
Starting Wednesday, April 8, service will run every 30 minutes Monday-Friday until further notice. Ridership data shows social distancing remains possible on all trains with this change. Effectively, every other train is being canceled Monday-Friday.
BART decided not to change weekend service at this time is to avoid doubling headways. Reducing service on the weekend would mean Saturday service would need to go to 40-minute headways and Sunday service would go to 48-minute headways.
Focus on rebuilding
The changes allow BART to increase essential rebuilding projects, save costs and maintain reliable service based on staffing levels. The smaller schedule brings greater flexibility should BART employees need to take time off due to illness or to care for family members.
This move will potentially save the operating budget $3 million to $7 million per month. The savings is realized by shifting employees to capital improvement projects that are not funded by the operating budget. BART is using this time of historically low ridership to focus on essential infrastructure projects that typically are very disruptive to riders or can only be accomplished during overnight hours.
The plan calls for up to 400 employees to be shifted to capital projects. However, this number can change if employees are needed for passenger service.
These rebuilding efforts have been designated as essential public works projects per the region’s public health orders.
Plan your trip to avoid waiting
PDFs of the new schedule are available on bart.gov. Riders can use the PDF schedule to plan what time to arrive at the station to avoid a long wait. Riders can also check real time departures before heading to the station.
For personalized trip planning assistance, call the Transit Information Center at 510-465-2278, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday.
According to BART general manager Bob Powers, ridership is now at 7 percent of normal. Early budget estimates show a bleak scenario of possible budget shortfalls of $258 million to $452 million. The federal stimulus funds will help bridge some of the gap.