BART board approves increase in fare prices
BART’s board of directors voted Thursday night in favor of a plan to increase fares and parking fees as the transit agency faces a budget shortfall at a time when ridership has yet to recover since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the plan, fares will increase 11% across two years, according to a news release. The cost of travel between Antioch and San Francisco will go up from $8.20 to $8.60 in January 2024 and to $9.10 in January 2025; the $4.50 fare for trips between Downtown Berkeley and Embarcadero will get bumped up to $4.75 in 2024 and $5 in 2025. The board estimates the fare increase could raise an additional $26 million in operating funds through fiscal year 2025.
Members of the board expressed concerns over the increase but in the end approved it.
Director Janice Li said this would be the “largest fare increase BART will ever make” since the inflation-based fare policy was established and that many other local transit agencies have recently paused fare increases.
“What I am really concerned about … is the public opinion of BART getting worse at a time when we desperately need it to get better, especially if we are thinking about heading towards a direction where we’re going to need voter approval for any kind of revenue measure in the future,” Li said.
“We have to continue, and if we don’t, we will just fall further and further behind and be asking for more and more public money to fill those gaps. I was very torn about this issue, whether to support fare increases at all given the state of the system. … We’re talking about a nickel on most of the rides. ... I’m not sure that that’s going to change any one person’s decision to ride BART,” said Director Debora Allen. “... I will be reluctantly supporting the fare increase.”
The discount for low-income riders known as Clipper START will go from 20% to 50% in January 2024.
BART’s board also voted to raise rates at parking lots, the first change to its pricing system at parking lots since 2013. “The new policy would allow staff to vary parking prices within a defined range depending on whether parking lots are full,” the agency said. The board hasn’t nailed down the exact pricing, but prices will vary by station and time of day and be adjusted based on how full the lot is. The $3 daily fee price could increase over several years to a maximum of $8, according to the news release.
With the help of federal pandemic emergency funds, BART has a balanced budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1. The funds will run out by March 2025, the agency said, and it faces a $93 million deficit in fiscal year 2025. BART is struggling financially amid lagging ridership, which was only 41% of pre-pandemic expectations in May.
“Despite our best efforts to hold the line on expenses and grow revenues with modest fare increases, we are still facing a structural, ongoing budget gap,” BART board General Manager Bob Powers said in a statement. “It’s a stark reminder that BART alone cannot solve the financial crisis created by the pandemic. Right now, BART needs temporary state funding to bridge the gap while we pursue a sustainable source of operating funds to help advance the Bay Area and California’s economic, climate, and equity goals.”
Source: SFGATE
