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BART Ups Rates

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Fund for Local Reporting! BART rings in the new year with extended service for holiday celebrants followed by a 10 percent system-wide fare hike—the agency’s second consecutive January price increase, with this year’s boost twice the rate of last year’s.

For New Year’s revelers, BART trains will run until 3 a.m. on Jan. 1, with new fares starting five hours later.

Starting at 8 a.m., a one-way ticket from Downtown Berkeley to Embarcadero Station jumps from $2.85 to $3.05. The minimum fare will increase from $1.15 to $1.25.

The price hikes—announced in May—will help slash the $38.8 million operating deficit that BART spokesperson Mike Healy blamed on rising health care and energy costs coupled with a decline in ridership and sales tax revenues. BART has officially ruled out future fare hikes for 2004 and 2005, he said.

—Matthew Artz