Passenger numbers on Bay Area public transit are beginning to bounce back from pandemic-era lows, but some agencies are still struggling with a lack of riders and revenue, raising more concerns about long-term financial sustainability.
The COVID-19 lockdowns starting in 2020 hit public transit hard as buses and trains ran nearly empty while many people worked from home and avoided social, entertainment and recreational events. Nationwide, ridership dropped by 30% during the pandemic, and some Bay Area agencies were hit much harder.
Pre-pandemic, BART relied on passenger fares to cover roughly 60% of its operating costs, leaning less on financial aid from regional, state and federal governments. Now, with a nearly 60% reduction in ridership, it’s facing a $35 million budget shortfall in the 2026 fiscal year.
But for three days last week, BART set post-pandemic records with more than 224,000 exiting the fare gates, the highest number since March of 2020 when COVID-19 lockdowns began. Other Bay Area transit agencies saw records of their own over this month and over the summer.
BART officials credited higher passenger counts in part to the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, the final Oakland A’s home games, concerts and community events, including Oakland Pride and the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival.
“While our ridership numbers have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, these high ridership days are proof that our work to improve the rider experience” is working, BART General Manager Bob Powers said in a statement.
While BART is still at just 43% of pre-pandemic ridership, the transit agency saw a 7% jump in ridership in September, compared to the same month last year.
“With remote work trends shifting, it’s encouraging to see numbers go up. And BART isn’t just for work. We’ve seen more people riding the system to fun events and experiences,’’ BART spokesperson Alicia Trost said.
Still, the Bay Area has the highest work-from-home rates in the nation and the slowest downtown recovery, resulting in fewer commuting trips, according to BART.
A 2023 Bay Area Council survey of Bay Area employers found that 64% of respondents estimated that their employees were coming into the office at least three days a week. That’s a slight increase from 53% in November of 2022.
But that could be changing.
Just last week, Amazon, which employs thousands of people in the Bay Area, told employees that they will be expected to come into the office five days a week starting in January, up from three days.
Passengers ride a train to Dublin from the Embarcadero BART station in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“Others are likely to follow in that trend, and that is going to increase public transportation ridership,’’ said Joshua Schank, a research associate at the Mineta Transportation Institute in San Jose.
Transit ridership bumps aren’t limited to weekdays.
A spokesperson for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, known as VTA, said many of the agency’s weekend routes have ridership that is at or exceeding what it saw before the pandemic.
VTA said it notched 10 days of 100,000 plus riders …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
