BART expected to lose $37M a month amid coronavirus crisis, ridership up to 85% down

Passengers enjoy space on a normally crowded rush hour BART train. San Francisco had its first shelter-in-place day on March 17th, 2020 in response to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Passengers enjoy space on a normally crowded rush hour BART train. San Francisco had its first shelter-in-place day on March 17th, 2020 in response to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Image 1 of / 99 Caption Close BART expected to lose $37M a month amid coronavirus crisis, ridership up to 85% down 1 / 99 Back to Gallery

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You won't have any trouble finding a seat on BART these days.

Concern over spreading novel coronavirus has led to a dramatic decline in people riding the Bay Area transportation system that crosses the San Francisco Bay, so much so that it's on track to lose $37 million per month in fare and parking revenue, according to a statement.

On Monday, ridership was down 70% compared to a typical weekday. On Tuesday, it was down 85%.

“This is a financial crisis for BART,” Board President Lateefah Simon said in a statement. “This level of catastrophic revenue loss is not sustainable and threatens future service. We need reassurance from all levels of government that transit will not be left out.”

To offset the decline in ridership, BART is calling on local, state and federal officials to specifically include transit in future stimulus bills.

San Francisco's Muni is also struggling, but Jeffrey Tumlin, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency director, tweeted over the weekend that the situation isn't as dire as it is with BART.

"Muni @sfmta_muni is in better shape than @SFBART, but we're losing $1M a week in fares," Tumlin wrote.

Tumlin also shared that before the crisis, the transportation system was "poised for major service improvements" and now it's preparing to cut service.

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