Front Page News:

BART Changes

The Planet needs your help.
Give to the
Fund for Local Reporting! Transbay BART commuters still smarting over the new 10 percent fare hikes can take solace at some good news: Starting next month, timed transfers return to the 12th Street/Oakland and MacArthur stations.

Last year, BART’s $1.5 billion extension to San Francisco International Airport and parts of San Mateo County came at an unexpected price to Berkeley riders: cancellation of the timed transfers to the Pittsburg/Bay Point line, which had cut transbay travel time by seven to 15 minutes.

Now as BART reshuffles its ailing airport service, it’s restoring the transfers in a move estimated to save the agency $2 million, said spokesperson Mike Healy.

“It’ll be an enhancement for Berkeley,” he said. “A lot of people complained about the current schedule.”

Beginning Feb. 9, all Pittsburg/Bay Point trains will travel directly to SFO. Rush hour Berkeley trains will head to Millbrae and then to the airport. With direct service to SFO cut on the Dublin/Pleasanton line, those trains will turn around at Daly City. BART also axed a seldom-used shuttle linking Millbrae to SFO.

The new schedule is aimed to support SamTrans, which must pay BART’s estimated $15- $18 million operating budget deficit on its San Mateo service.

When SFO service began in January, BART picked the Dublin/Pleasanton line to give direct service to SFO, projecting that it would serve the bulk of airport customers—simultaneously throwing off timed transfers between the Richmond and Pittsburg/Bay Point lines.

Healy said subsequent rider surveys indicate that riders on the Richmond and Pittsburg/Bay Point lines commute to SFO most frequently, triggering the service change.

Before last year’s schedule change Berkeley riders could take any Fremont train south and transfer at MacArthur, where a San Francisco train would be waiting on the platform. In San Francisco, Berkeley passengers could board Pittsburg/Bay Point trains and transfer to a waiting Richmond-bound train at the 12th Street/Oakland station.

Healy said that despite the service reductions implemented in 2003, ridership on the Richmond line has held steady.

—Matthew Artz