BART Service Nears Pre-Pandemic Level Monday as Hours Expand
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- On Monday, BART service will ramp up to near pre-pandemic levels, including the return of late-night trains.
Closing time will extend to midnight Monday through Saturday and trains will run more frequently, BART officials said.
"Weekdays, we're at about 21 percent ridership and it's really exciting our weekend ridership has returned even more quickly -- we're at between 32 percent and 38 percent," Rebecca Saltzman, BART Board vice president, told KPIX. "With the growing ridership and the with federal relief (money) that has come through, we are able to restore service."
The new schedule also will see an increase in direct trips to San Francisco International Airport on weekdays.
Although the revised schedule resembles the one before the pandemic, differences include areas that won't be returning to former levels such as extra commuter trains on the Antioch-SFO (Yellow) line during peak hours, according to BART.
Weekday service will be from 5 a.m. to midnight with 5-line service and 15-minute frequencies on all lines from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. There will be 3-line service with 30-minute frequencies from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Saturday service will expand to 6 a.m. to midnight with 5-line service from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and then 3-line service from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Sunday service will remain 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. with 3-line service and 30-minute frequencies to accommodate critical cable replacement and other infrastructure rebuilding work, BART officials said.
"It would be nice if it was back to 100 percent," BART rider Jonathan Buenaventura said. "But (I'm) glad it's going again -- it's progress in the right direction!"
The schedule change means BART trains will be in service for a combined 875 hours each weekday, compared with only 498 in-service hours in mid-July -- an increase of 76 percent.
On Saturdays the change results in 514 combined in-service train hours compared with only 258 the previous month for a 99 percent increase, according to BART.
The BART Trip Planner has been updated with the new schedule and riders can start planning their trips using a date of Aug. 2 and beyond.
"I'm very excited about it because it's limited things we could do," said BART rider Donna Bidleman. "I have company coming in from out of town. I wanted to take them to see Hamilton and I was worried about how we would get home so, at least now they'll be open, we'll be able to get a ride on BART back to Walnut Creek."
WEBLINK: More information on the new schedule and map of the BART system.
© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. KPIX correspondent Da Lin contributed to this report
