Despite morning and evening commutes on BART getting seemingly more crowded during the week, new figures from the transit agency indicate that ridership has decreased during off-peak hours, particularly on weekends and at night.

According to recent figures, the total amount of rides outside of commuting hours have dropped by nearly 10 million, from 62.2 million in 2015 to 52.7 million in 2019, The Chronicle reported.

In a survey of 662 BART riders, among the reasons cited for using the transit system less was the lower frequency of trains on the weekend and the rail system not reaching places BART users wanted to travel to.

Riders also cited crime, cleanliness (or lack thereof) and homeless riders as reasons they did not use BART outside of commute times. According to The Chronicle, about 29 percent of the riders surveyed said they have used BART less on the weekends versus a year ago.

This isn't to say that the decrease in ridership is particular only to BART; national public transportation ridership figures are down, as well. The American Transport Association reported a 5% increase in ridership totals between 2011 to 2015, before those figures began to decline in 2016 and continued to fall until 2018.

Ride-hail services like Lyft and Uber could also be another contributing factor toward lower ridership figures, as the Chronicle also pointed out; the two companies have significantly added to the vehicle traffic of major metropolitan areas, including San Francisco, and public transportation riders may be opting out of BART in order to get more direct — and potentially cheaper — rides to their destination.

To read more about what BART is doing to improve service and "quality of life" issues, head over to The Chronicle.

Dianne de Guzman is a Digital Editor at SFGATE. Email: dianne.deguzman@sfgate.com