Tag Archives: BART

Bay Area

BART introduces Tap and Ride, allowing payment with contactless credit and debit cards

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On August 20, BART introduces “Tap and Ride,” allowing contactless credit and debit cards, as well as mobile payment systems like Apple Pay and Google Pay, for fare payment. This simplifies the previous process where riders had to purchase a Clipper card at stations or set up a Clipper account on their phones. With this new system, riders can pay by simply tapping their credit or debit card at the Clipper reader when entering and exiting the faregates.

Currently, the “Tap and Ride” scheme is available only on BART and for full adult fares. Riders planning to transfer to other transit systems should continue using the Clipper card or app. Those eligible for discount fares should apply for senior, youth, or disabled (RTC) discount Clipper cards, which require verification.

With “Tap and Ride,” there are some changes for current Clipper card users. Previously, Clipper users could tap with their wallet. Now, riders should remove their Clipper card and tap separately if other cards are in their wallet to avoid interference with the readers. For those using Clipper on Apple Pay, “Express Mode” should be selected so transit fare payment defaults to the Clipper card automatically. Like the Clipper card and previously the magnetic BART fare card, each rider should use a separate card or phone to enter and exit the fare gates. The same card or phone must be used for both entry and exit.

Additionally, with contactless card payment, riders have a 30-minute window to tap out of the same station to avoid an excursion fare in case of service disruptions. This feature is not available with Clipper until the Clipper 2.0 system fully rolls out.

“Tap and Ride” open payment is a highly anticipated feature promised by the Clipper 2.0 project, which aims to modernize a fare payment system based on aging 2000s-era technology. Those features will eventually be rolled out to other transit agencies. Beyond the Bay Area, the State of California is assisting other transit agencies statewide accept contactless card payments through the California Integrated Travel Project.

Bay Area

BART to adjust schedules on Aug 11 to improve transfers

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On Monday, August 11, BART will implement minor schedule changes to improve transfers with connecting transit systems. While the basic frequencies remain largely the same, the times have shifted. With the new schedules, connection times between mainline trains and DMU eBART at Pittsburg/Bay Point will be reduced, and connections at Millbrae with Caltrain will be more reliable.

This is one of several initiatives BART and other agencies have undertaken to boost ridership in the post-COVID era. Although coordinated schedules between transit agencies are highly desirable, it takes months of staff work to share draft schedules and collaborate with labor groups to ensure all changes occur on the same weekend.

Strongly advocated by rider interest groups like Seamless Bay Area, coordinating schedules is one of the most cost-effective ways to boost transit ridership with minimal costs, as it doesn’t necessarily require additional operating resources. It significantly reduces wait times and overall travel time for riders.

Bay Area, service updates

VTA workers to go on strike

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According to ATU Local 265, which represents many VTA frontline positions, the union will go on strike starting Monday, March 10. All VTA services will be unavailable except for Access Paratransit. The agency and the union are at an impasse over wage increases and other issues.

VTA advises transit riders to seek alternatives.

Options:

Microtransit:

Other transit and shuttle providers:

Other agencies that use VTA owned transit centers may have to be relocated because of the strike.

Other mobility:

  • Bay Wheels bike share – Downtown San Jose
  • Scooter share – Downtown San Jose
  • Employee shuttles for select employers

The strike will impact riders, most of whom have few, if any, options and no role in the labor negotiations. Even if the strike eventually resolves, if it forces a rider to purchase a car, that rider is unlikely to return once the strike is over. The strike may increase traffic, particularly around schools, since they are still in session. More parents are likely to pick up and drop off their children by car if VTA is no longer an option.

Bay Area, service updates

Muni’s T-Third Line connects event sites for NBA All-Star, Chinese New Year Parade (Feb 14 – 16 weekend)

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This weekend, the NBA All-Star events will be held in the Bay Area, along with the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco’s Chinatown. These events will bring tens of thousands into San Francisco and help boost the local economy, which has been struggling since the COVID reopening.

Many of the venues for this weekend’s events are accessible from the Muni Metro T-Third Line. To promote transit usage, Muni will offer free rides for everyone on all lines except the cable cars on Saturday and Sunday. For those planning to attend events at Chase Center, the game ticket is also valid for rides on Muni. Attendees are encouraged to use regional transit, including BART, Caltrain, and ferries, to reach Downtown San Francisco.

T Third route map through event area.

Many of the NBA All-Star games will be held at Chase Center. Muni Metro T-Third stops in front of Chase Center and connects with BART at Powell Station. There’s a short walk involved with the BART to Muni transfer but it’s completely underground. Muni will operate additional rail shuttles (signed S Shuttle) between Chinatown and UCSF/Chase Center. For Caltrain riders, exit at 4th & King Station and either transfer to T-Third, or walk south for almost a mile (15 to 20 minute walk) to Chase Center.

Muni will also operate the 78X bus from the 16th Street/Mission BART station to Chase Center, providing additional service along the 22-Fillmore route to Mission Bay on 16th Street.

San Francisco Bay Ferry will also offer special ferry service from Oakland (Jack London Square) and Alameda (Main Street) to the ferry dock near Pier 48, a half mile north of Chase Center.

During the weekend, NBA All Star concerts will take place at Pier 48, located half a mile north of Chase Center and just across McCovey Cove from Oracle Park. Mission Rock Station is the nearest stop to the venue on the T-Third Line, and it’s within walking distance from Caltrain’s 4th & King Station. It’s important to note that BART and Caltrain will end service at regular times.

The NBA Crossover event will be held at the Moscone Center, located a third of a mile south of Market Street, a short walk from BART’s Montgomery or Powell Station. On the T-Third Line, the nearest stop is Yerba Buena/Moscone Station, just one block south of Howard Street. Howard Street will be closed to traffic between 3rd and 4th Streets. Fans taking Caltrain can walk four blocks north from 4th & King Station to the convention center or transfer to Muni’s T-Third Line.

Besides the NBA, the NBPA will host an event during the day on the weekend at Spark Social in Mission Bay. You can access that location via the T-Third from the Mission Rock stop.

On Saturday, the Chinese New Year Parade will start at Market & 2nd Street at 5 pm. The parade route is easily accessible from BART’s Montgomery and Powell stations, as well as from the T-Third at Union Square/Market Street Station and Chinatown-Rose Pak Station. That night, the F historic streetcars will be replaced by buses, and many other bus routes in the area will be rerouted. The T-Third is the preferred route to access Chinatown, as it runs underground. For those arriving via Caltrain, transfer to the T-Third at 4th & King.

Earlier in the day during the weekend, a street fair will be held on Grant Street in Chinatown, between California and Broadway.

In addition to San Francisco, some of the NBA All-Star events will be held at Oakland Arena, where the Warriors played before the Chase Center opened in 2019. Oakland Arena is accessible from BART’s Coliseum Station.

Bay Area, Southern California, Uncategorized

Review of 2024. Looking ahead to 2025

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Looking back, 2024 has been a year of significant change. The “face” of both BART and Caltrain transformed as BART fully retired its two-door legacy fleet, and Caltrain introduced electric trainsets while retiring its gallery cars. In Seattle, the Link system added a new line connecting Redmond and Bellevue and expanded northward from Northgate to Lynnwood, replacing many express buses serving Seattle from Snohomish County. In Los Angeles, Metro recently introduced new metro cars made by CRRC for the B and D lines, as the first phase of D line extensions further west is nearly complete. Many transit agencies saw improved ridership as more workers returned to the office, and more services were restored as additional transit workers were hired.

BART formally retired its legacy rail car in 2024, which served as BART’s icon for decades.

Next year, both Muni and BART will raise fares, and the tolls for Bay Area Toll Authority bridges will increase by $1. BART will begin installing the CBTC system, which will enhance capacity but requires service adjustments. As a result, Millbrae riders will need to transfer between trains at SFO in the evening. Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit will open Petaluma North Station soon after the new year and extend northward to Windsor sometime in 2025.

In Sacramento, the SmaRT Ride microtransit will be transformed into a different program with fewer vehicles, a reduced budget, and limited eligibility.

In Seattle, Link Line 2 is expected to connect South Bellevue to Seattle across Lake Washington once the I-90 track re-work, which delayed the project, is complete.

LA Metro is also expected to open the LAX Metro Center and the first phase of the D Line extension to Wilshire/La Cienega sometime next year. The D Line extension is significant due to the high bus ridership on Wilshire and the speed improvements a new subway line will bring.

However, 2025 is worrisome, given the increasingly chaotic political climate and the hostility towards transit among elected and unelected decision-makers. Bay Area transit agencies will also face a fiscal cliff as ridership remains slow to return and one-time pandemic-era grants run out. Over the last few decades, Bay Area transit have seen fiscal cliffs with economic recessions (drop in tax revenues, and falling ridership with higher unemployment), but no recession has such a deep and lasting impact on transit service as COVID. Development in autonomous vehicles, backed by wealthy Silicon Valley tech bros, could impact the public’s attitude towards transit. Even if the technology is perfected, these vehicles can’t assist senior and disabled riders and do little to address traffic congestion due to the inefficiency of single-occupancy vehicles.