Reopening: BART, Caltrain Adding Service As Ridership Slowly Picks Up
(CBS SF) – With more people heading back to work, Bay Area Rapid Transit and Caltrain both announced service additions.
BART said it would add more service along a stretch of the Yellow line, the system's busiest. Between the Pleasant Hill and Daly City stations, trains will once again run every 15 minutes during peak hours.
On May 1st, the transit agency said ridership had fallen by 93 percent compared with the same date last year, as the Bay Area was in the midst of the shelter-in-place order. As of Monday it has ticked up to 91 percent below baseline, according to data posted on the BART website.
To encourage riders to return, the transit agency is requiring everyone to wear masks and giving out free hand sanitizer.
Meanwhile, Caltrain is starting to do the same, increasing service on some of its trains later this month. According to Bay City News Service, Caltrain chief operating officer Michelle Bouchard said the rail service plans to expand its number of active weekday trains to 70 by mid-June.
The agency, which serves San Francisco, the Peninsula and South Bay, cut its rail service from a pre-pandemic 92 trains on weekdays to just 45 as ridership plummeted in March, April and May.
Caltrain will also start offering discounts to low-income riders. Discounts will be available on single rider adult Clipper fares for individuals making $25,000 a year or less. The discount will be part of a pilot program that will run 12 to 18 months.
