BART Ridership Rose During Freeway Closure
- BART reported a ridership surge while a major Bay Area freeway was closed, showing transit's role. - Officials said the system saw measurable increases on affected lines during the closure. - The bump underscores BART's importance as alternative travel and may influence future transit investment (patch.com).
BART carried thousands of extra riders during San Francisco’s April 17-20 Interstate 80 closure, as drivers faced a 55-hour shutdown on the eastbound freeway. (bart.gov) On Friday, April 17, BART logged 182,570 trips, up 16% from the previous Friday and nearly 25,000 more riders. Saturday ridership hit 139,700 trips and Sunday reached 98,850, both up 46% week over week, BART said. (bart.gov) The closure covered eastbound I-80 between 17th and 4th streets from 11 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday, with connector ramps from Highway 101 also shut down. Caltrans said the work was part of a two-year rehabilitation project on the Central/Bayshore freeway viaducts and urged travelers to use public transit. (nbcbayarea.com) BART said it absorbed the jump while running its standard five-line weekend service. The agency tied the spike to the freeway closure and sunny weather, noting that the prior weekend was rainy and typically produces fewer trips. (bart.gov) The surge landed in the middle of a broader rebound for Bay Area transit. BART said April ridership was running about 10% above a year earlier, and ABC7 reported the system’s monthly ridership had been growing in the 10% to 13% range for six straight months. (bart.gov) (abc7news.com) March had already become BART’s strongest month since the pandemic, with 5,403,140 exits and average weekday ridership above 200,000 for the first time in the recovery. The busiest day was March 25, when BART recorded 227,300 exits on San Francisco Giants Opening Day. (bart.gov) Even with that growth, BART remains well below its pre-pandemic commute base. ABC7 reported pre-2020 average weekday ridership at about 410,000, or roughly double current weekday levels. (abc7news.com) That gap is central to BART’s budget fight. The agency said in April that ridership gains alone cannot close a structural deficit of $350 million to $400 million, and KTVU reported in February that BART had already approved a service-cut plan tied to its funding crisis. (bart.gov) (ktvu.com) The freeway closure did not fix BART’s finances, but it gave the system a fresh set of numbers on what happens when a major road link goes down. For one weekend in April, the Bay Area’s backup plan moved close to 421,000 riders from Friday through Sunday. (bart.gov)
