New Year’s Eve revelers can ride BART until 3 a.m. on Jan. 1, thanks to a special schedule to take people home after the confetti falls and the last bottle of bubbly is uncorked.

That extra hours of BART have become an ingrained holiday tradition in the Bay Area since at least 2005, but the extended service is also essential to prevent traffic jams and keep drunken drivers off the freeways.

“Public transportation is meant to be a resource for people, and obviously we want to be there for people who are making the smart choice not to drive after having a drink,” said BART spokesman Jim Allison. “We also know there are people who like to be carless, and we want to be there for them as well.”

The special schedule begins at 8 p.m., at which point certain trains will skip stops at the three busiest New Year’s Eve stations — Embarcadero, Montgomery and West Oakland— to manage crowding on the platforms. Service will end at 3 a.m. Trains restart at 8 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

Even on busy holidays, BART is not free, Allison cautioned. Two-thirds of the rail system’s operating funds come from ticket sales, and on New Year’s Eve those fares help pay for labor costs: an elevator repair worker, three train car mechanics, an escalator maintenance person, three crews of emergency medical technicians, extra police, extra train operators and a ticket machine mechanic.

“It’s kind of an all-hands event for BART staff,” Allison said. “But we do it to provide a public service.”

Allison advises regular riders to load their Clipper cards ahead of time, because tourists and other infrequent passengers form long lines at ticket vending machines. Transit analysts project that 300,000 people will ride the system that night.

To ease travel stress, BART offers a trip planner and an official app with advisories and real-time departures, as well as a BART Watch app to discreetly report crime to the police.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

New Year’s Eve BART service To San Francisco After 8 p.m., trains coming from Antioch and Richmond will not stop at Embarcadero Station. Exit at Montgomery Street Station for the Embarcadero fireworks show. Dublin/Pleasanton and South Fremont/Warm Springs line trains will not stop at Montgomery Street Station. Exit at Embarcadero Station for the fireworks show. Trains from Millbrae, Daly City and San Francisco International Airport will stop at all stations in San Francisco. From S.F. after fireworks Trains bound for Antioch and Richmond will not stop at Embarcadero Station. Catch these lines at Montgomery Street. Dublin/Pleasanton and South Fremont/Warm Springs lines will not stop at Montgomery Street, so catch these trains at Embarcadero. Dublin/Pleasanton and Warm Springs/South Fremont lines will not stop at West Oakland, so passengers heading to West Oakland should transfer to a San Francisco-bound train at Lake Merritt Station. Riders traveling to Millbrae, Daly City and SFO should use Montgomery Street Station.