BART sets ridership record for a Bay Bridge closure

But overall ridership was down

BART customers set a ridership record for a Bay Bridge closure during the 2009 Labor Day weekend – however, overall ridership during the 2009 Labor Day weekend was slightly lower than 2007, which was the previous time when Caltrans closed the Bay Bridge to perform earthquake retrofit work over a Labor Day weekend.

"The ridership record once again solidifies BART as a vital part of the region's mobility," BART Board President Thomas Blalock said. "However, the terrible economy has caused a lot of people to lose their jobs, so it's not surprising that overall ridership was lower than during the previous Bay Bridge Labor Day closure in 2007 when the economy was strong."

2009 LABOR DAY WEEKEND SETS RIDERSHIP RECORD
The 2009 Bay Bridge closure was the first time Caltrans closed the Bay Bridge on a workday – Friday, September 4. On that day, 395,300 customers rode BART – setting a ridership record for a Labor Day Bay Bridge closure. It's also the second highest ridership day in BART's 37 years of history – just behind the all-time high record of 405,400, which customers set on Monday, September 8, 2008 as they primarily used BART to commute and to get to and from Giants and Raiders games.

	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Labor Day	4-day Total
2009 Ridership	395,300	244,400	187,900	178,000	1,005,600
2007 Ridership	389,400	278,600	208,700	170,000	1,046,700
Difference	+2%	-12%	-10%	+5%	-4%

 

OVERALL RIDERSHIP SLIGHTLY LOWER
Even with the additional day of closure, BART's overall ridership was slightly lower than in 2007, which was the last time Caltrans closed the bridge for earthquake retrofit work over a Labor Day weekend. A total of 1,005,600 customers rode BART from Friday, September 4 to Monday, Labor Day, September 7 when the Bay Bridge was closed.

During the 2007 Labor Day weekend four percent more – or a total of 1,046,700 passengers used BART to get around the Bay.

OVERNIGHT SERVICE ABOUT THE SAME AS 2007
About the same number of people took advantage of BART's overnight service this Labor Day Weekend as compared with the same time period in 2007. This year, the total number of people using BART overnight on Saturday, Sunday and Monday was 15,718. During the same time frame in 2007, the overnight ridership totaled 15,835 customers.

However, this year, there was an additional night of overnight service – Friday, September 4, 2009. There were 1,110 riders who took advantage of those overnight trains.

	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Labor Day	Total without 2009 Friday	Total with 2009 Friday
2009 Overnight	1,110	4,885	7,531	3,302	15,718	16,828
2007 Overnight	N/A	4,896	8,008	2,931	15,835	N/A
Difference	N/A	0%	-6%	+13%	-.07%	N/A

WHY BART DOESN'T OFFER 24 HOUR SERVICE
BART does not provide regular 24-hour service because many safety sensitive, essential and/or California Public Utilities Commission mandated maintenance work can only take place when the trains are not running. This weekend's 24 hour service will mean that BART will have to play catch up on essential maintenance work.

If BART were to offer 24-hour service on a regular basis, BART would not be able to ensure the safety and reliability of the railroad for passengers.

MYTH: "BART IS THE ONLY MAJOR METRO THAT DOESN'T RUN 24 HOURS"
Contrary to popular belief, the London Underground, the Paris metro system and Washington, DC Metro do not run 24 hours per day. In fact, BART has longer hours of operation than those subway systems.

CALTRANS PAYS THE ADDITIONAL SERVICE COSTS
BART operated longer trains during its normal service hours and hourly service to 14 stations overnight. The final price tag of this weekend's extra service is not yet available, but Caltrans has agreed to reimburse BART the difference between the actual cost of the additional service BART provided during the closure and the passenger revenue BART received.