This story is archived. Visit bart.gov/news for the latest BART news.

Spare the Air free transit program completed

The free transit Spare the Air program has concluded. Friday, July 21 was the sixth and final budgeted free BART Spare the Air day of the year. The free rides were offered on the first six non-holiday weekday Spare the Air days this summer.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District will continue to declare Spare the Air days, however, BART will NOT free on future Spare the Air days in 2006. No additional free transit days are scheduled after Friday, July 21.

Thursday, June 22, Friday, June 23, Monday, June 26, Monday, July 17 and Thursday, July 20 were the first five non-holiday weekday Spare the Air days of the 2006 season.

After the first three Spare the Air free transit days occurred in June, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's (MTC) Administration Committee and Programming & Allocations Committee authorized a $5.3 million allocation of State Transit Assistance (STA) funds to extend the Spare the Air/Free Transit program sponsored by MTC and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The new STA funding - combined with more than $980,000 left over from the initial three-day 2006 Spare the Air/Free Transit promotion - makes available more than $6 million to provide free travel on 25 participating Bay Area transit agencies all day on up to three more Spare the Air days, for a total of six possible free transit days.

For more information, visit sparetheair.org or 511.org. You can receive advance notification of Spare the Air days by registering for "Air Alerts" at sparetheair.org.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District declares a Spare the Air day when it expects air pollution to reach unhealthy concentrations, which typically occur on hot, windless days. Spare the Air advisories are issued the afternoon before a Spare the Air day.

In addition to BART, the following transit agencies are also participated in the free transit program:

  • ACE
  • AC Transit
  • Alameda Harbor Bay Ferry
  • Alameda-Oakland Ferry
  • Benecia Breeze
  • Caltrain
  • County Connection
  • Dumbarton Express
  • Fairfield/Suisun Transit
  • Golden Gate Transit and Ferries
  • Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority (WHEELS)
  • MUNI
  • Petaluma Transit
  • Rio Vista Breeze
  • SamTrans
  • Santa Rosa CityBus
  • Sonoma County Transit
  • Tri Delta Transit
  • Union City Transit
  • Vacaville City Coach
  • Napa VINE
  • VTA
  • WestCat

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (http://www.baaqmd.gov/) is the regional agency chartered with protecting air quality in the Bay Area.

MTC (http://www.mtc.ca.gov/) is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.