Opinion: The data's undeniable; BART needs downsizing

If Bay Area Rapid Transit is such a broken, anachronistic system, why are we forking over the big bucks to extend it to downtown SJ? Even Bloomberg acknowledges that with its dismal ridership numbers, dearth of adequate funding, and declining credit score, BART has no business expanding to DTSJ and Santa Clara. Rather than hoping taxpayers will shell out additional dough to keep BART alive, the transit agency should consider closures and service cuts, says analyst Skylar Woodhouse.

San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit, which serves six million people in a region that’s home to Twitter Inc., Salesforce Inc., and Uber Technologies Inc., in 2019 saw about 66% of its operating budget from fares, one of the highest percentages in the nation.

Ridership has only returned to about 40% of pre-pandemic levels. That means that when federal funding runs out, the agency projects a deficit of $340 million in fiscal year 2027-2028. The city’s public transit has been hit particularly hard because of its heavy concentration of technology jobs that can easily be done from home and from the rout in the industry that’s led to tens of thousands of layoffs.

“If BART doesn’t find new funding sources and the federal emergency money runs out, cutting service and operating hours, and closing some stations will be on the table,” General Manager Bob Powers said.

That fiscal strain is threatening its AA credit rating, which could make it more expensive to borrow. And that’s crucial as it ponders building a second trans-bay tube at a cost of about $29 billion. BART is also expanding to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara, an approximately $9 billion project.

Leaders in the region are drafting a ballot measure for 2026 that would ask voters there to fund public transportation. And lawmakers who represent the region are appealing for steady state funding at a time when Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing slashing $2.7 billion from the transportation sector.

This article originally appeared in Bloomberg News. Read the whole thing here.

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