BART is bouncing back from the pandemic with record ridership

San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) took to social media yesterday to share the news that its silver train fleet hit the highest single-day ridership it has had since the start of the pandemic. On Wednesday, September 4, BART hosted 194,274 riders, tracked by the number of station exits. The transit system credits back-to-school riders and a general usage increase based on weekend riders attending events like Outside Lands.

BART recently installed new fare gates that make it harder for gate jumpers to get a free ride. Testing ridership from two dates a week apart, before and after the installation of the new gates at Civic Center station, BART saw 700 more exits. Civic Center may, for various reasons, have more scofflaws than other stations, and in fact BART affirmed that no other downtown stations saw such a dramatic bump. Across the bay, Oakland’s Coliseum station had 2,700 more exits on Wednesday due to the Future and Metro Boomin concert that night.

One Instagram commenter reacted to the BART post by asking if the agency could bring back 10-car trains because “it’s getting crowded,” while another wrote in all caps, “LET’S GO BART I BELIEVE IN YOU.” Another urged BART to get the new gates up quickly at 16th & Mission and Powell stations because “they make a great difference.” Besides Civic Center, the new gates are also in place in Oakland’s Fruitvale and West Oakland stations. They’ll soon be installed at 24th & Mission and the East Bay’s Richmond station. By the end of 2025, BART plans to have them in 50 stations.

Other fun BART news?

• You can take a “crafting BART ride” to the San Jose Flea Market by bringing your favorite craft project to work on while you ride (hopefully some knitting or a similar craft rather than a large-scale granite sculpture).
• A fervent rider uses her BART map tattoo to help give directions to lost passengers
• At Oakland’s Rockridge station, fashion design students are holding a runway show of couture sewn from the old and retired paper tickets called “Project Doneway: a farewell to BART paper tickets.” That’s September 14 at 1pm in the station’s parking lot; admission is free. We’re sure Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn would be impressed.