BART Clears Up Rumors About Weekend Service Cuts
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board President Rebecca Saltzman said Monday that the agency has no plans to eliminate weekend service, despite media headlines about impending cuts.
BART has been looking for ways to address financial instability brought on by the pandemic. BART is on track to deplete $1.6 billion in COVID federal assistance by 2025.
Local transit agencies, including BART, were recently ordered to prepare a five-year transit plan by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. BART was asked to consider different scenarios for its financial outlook.
“The hypothetical service scenarios that BART staff developed include eliminating weekend service, closing at 9 pm, cutting weekend service, and closing stations,” Saltzman tweeted.
“BART is not planning these cuts - though this does show BART can't just cut service to achieve financial stability.”
Some media outlets reported that BART was considering ending weekend ridership to address fiscal challenges.
On the contrary, “BART does not plan to cut service, and we cannot balance budgets by cutting service,” said Saltzman.
“Why? Rail has high fixed costs. Less than 36% of BART's operating expenses scale proportionally with service. So less service means fewer riders (and less revenue) without proportional savings.”
