Winter storms contributed to increase in BART delays, report says
OAKLAND - Heavy storms and unusual winter weather in the first three months of the year led to a significant increase in delayed BART trains compared to previous months, according to data presented Thursday to the agency's Board of Directors.
BART did not meet its goals for weekday average ridership or trains on time for the first quarter of 2023 due in part to rain. According to Shane Edwards, assistant general manager for BART operations, there were 18,000 train delays for the first quarter of 2023 compared to 13,000 in the previous quarter.
"We are better and continuing to get better. This is not a reflection of BART," Edwards told the BART board.
On June 12, California lawmakers reached a deal that restores $2 billion in funding for transit agencies in the state like BART and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency that was on the chopping block under Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget proposal.
Additionally, $1.1 billion in funding from California environmental initiatives over three years would be available for state transit agencies in the deal. If Newsom approves the budget deal, this could put off an impending fiscal cliff crisis, which BART warned could lead to mass layoffs, lower train frequencies, and shutdowns of service on weekends or during the evenings.
On June 8, the BART Board of Directors approved a budget for 2025 that included a $93 million budget deficit. The agency estimates further deficits of $300 million a year as pandemic-era emergency funds run out in 2025.
The data presented at Thursday's meeting showed that trains arrived on time 56.2% of the time from January to March of 2023, down from 71% last quarter and far short of their goal of 91% of trains arriving on time. A large majority of delays were caused by weather, with heavy rain making up all of the top 10 incidents during that time period. Despite this, Edwards said 81% of passengers arrived on time to their destinations.
"If we didn't have any rain for the quarter, we would have been 80% train on time performance," Edwards said.
Train cancellations due to staff shortages fell this quarter compared to last quarter, while there were a higher-than-average number of cancellations due to car shortages, which Edwards attributed to a number of trains being out of commission due to flat wheels.
Crimes such as theft, burglary, and assault at BART stations dropped from 106 reported cases last quarter to 86 in the first quarter of 2023.
Ridership fell about 1% since the previous quarter and average numbers are still far below pre-pandemic levels. However, Edwards said there was still an increase of 33% when compared with figures from the same period last year.