A BART train at San Francisco International. (Image: Peter Biaggi / San Francisco International Airport)
Last week, we reported that the Bay Area Rapid Transit System’s new line to Oakland International Airport is losing money due to competition from ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. But now there’s news that BART’s San Francisco International service is suffering the same problem.
According to the San Francisco Examiner, BART officials found that ridership on the overall BART network during October was down 1.7 percent compared to the same month a year ago; they also said that the airport line to SFO is performing 9.6 percent under budget.
Currently the BART fare from SFO to downtown San Francisco is $8.65 one-way and takes about 30 minutes. UberX or Lyft fares SFO to city run about $25-30.
And they made it clear that the slump in ridership is due to an explosion of rides on car-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. SFO airport rides by Uber vehicles increased from about 81,000 pick-ups and drop-offs in October 2014 to 469,823 in October 2016. For Lyft, the comparable numbers were 16,784 and 108,388 respectively. The ride-sharing services were authorized to serve the airport in 2014.
The newspaper said a BART official told it that Uber and Lyft have “changed the environment” for travel to and from the airport, with rail ridership leveling off in 2015 after being on a growth track.
BART’s board of directors have told the agency’s officials that rather than looking to cut service, they should try to find new ways to increase ridership. BART is said to be considering group discounts as one possibility.
According to the East Bay Times, figures from BART indicate that the Oakland Connector line is losing money and seeing its ridership decline – even though the airport’s passenger numbers are rising. Specifically, instead of meeting BART’s initial expectation of a $2 million profit on the Airport Connector during its first two years, the line has lost $860,000. And during the third quarter of this year, rider numbers fell 4.5 percent from the same period a year earlier.
What about you? How has your getting-to-the-airport routine changed since the emergence of ride sharing? Has this trend reached beyond the Bay Area? Please leave your comments below.
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Might be why they don’t advertise it? Thanks.
They don’t advertise it! Thanks
but do they allow luggage on the KX?? I seem to recall a rule that said “no luggage” on that line.
That’s fine but BART told us both airport lines would carry X number of passengers who would be paying X amount of money into the system. Both predictions have fallen short and are now going in the wrong direction. So it’s not that we mistakenly believe BART lines are supposed to be profitable, it is that BART mgmt is inept and can’t be trusted with 10 cents let alone a $10 billion system.
make sure your car insurance is paid up; there is lax to no security overnight in BART parking lots.
The best idea was a luxury, low-floor bus system between OAK and San Leandro BART via Davis Street. But it wasn’t as “sexy” as an automated train flying overhead so BART mgmt followed the shiny object and overspent our money by hundreds of million$. I ask the BART mgmt this question: if automated trains work for OAK Connector, when can we expect them to be phased in systemwide like Dubai? THAT is something I would support some tax dollars going towards.
First off, BART needs to start enforcing the rule about people sleeping and taking up 2+ seats. Free up those seats and there will more likely be enough room for more riders with luggage.
Next up is provide much better security in BART parking lots. BART charges for long-term parking but then doesn’t do much to ensure your car doesn’t get broken into.
Bart is a terrible experience. Using that terrible ticket machine, waiting for trains, traveling through the dirty train station with turnstiles that weren’t made for luggage, then having to walk to your hotel. I’d probably do it for free, but for $10 person. No thanks.
It would have been cheaper to build a ramp so buses could come up next to the BART platform and you could just walk across.
Many of Japan’s railways make money.
Good point. In California $5 billion for roads a year comes out of taxes. A free ride for Uber.
What a stupid idea to make that short train ride when buses could cover it perfectly well.
Multiple times at SFO I have helped visitors with the fare machine. Who would guess that after putting in a 20 you have to press the minus dollar button a dozen times? Nobody.
Thanks for the BART fare updates. The Samtrans KX express bus is the cheapest option, much cheaper than BART. $2.05 on Clipper Card from SFO to downtown SF and $3.60 from downtown SF to SFO.
with global warming electric BART trains are a better option than Uber
also TGV is extremely safe, no fatal accidents in 36 years of operation even though 2-3 times faster than car
The SamTrans KX express bus from SFO to downtown SF costs 1/5 the price of BART. To the city it’s just $2.05 on Clipper Card. Going to SFO it’s $3.60. And it’s a fast option because it makes no stops between the airport and downtown SF south of Market St.
I take BART all the time to SFO and the price is inexpensive. Since you are traveling for work, you can get business reimbursed for rental cars, taxis, or rideshares. But for non-wealthy people not traveling on business, not everyone can afford to pay 3 times as much for non-BART services. If you have 3 or more then it may be cheaper for rideshare but not taxi which costs more. You can get to SFO way cheaper than BART, just take the SamTrans KX express bus which goes on Highway 101 from downtown SF for $3.60 on Clipper Card. That’s 1/3 the price of BART.
You have good points. BART could make a small change. The San Bruno BART required connection goes until 9pm which is well past commute hours. Perhaps they could only require the connection until 7pm.
The surcharge on BART is excessive; it adds about a $5 to the fare going in either direction. For one person, paying $8.95 from SFO to Powell St. on BART might make since but for a couple or a family of three or more, it makes more sense to use TNC, which can drop you and your luggage off since no one really stays right there at Powell St.
Having taken public transit in several countries, I can tell you that BART has many things it needs to do to improve it’s appeal to travelers, especially international visitors.
1. Have the station agents be more helpful. Time after time, I’ll see two or more agents standing in the station agents booth or nearby engaged in conversation. Why not stand outside and try to direct passengers or be in a position to answer any questions they may have?
2. Have one set of fare gates for ingress and have the other set for egress. Label them properly so people understand this. Right now, they’re both. They are also not marked well.
3. Have signs and instructions displayed more prominently and in many different languages. If it’s easier, have the ticket machines with interactive displays with the ability to have instructions in multiple languages. Works well in Germany.
4. Offer some sort of one-price discount to just about any destination out of BART. It will make it less confusing trying to figure out how much the fair is to which destination. It works well out of O’Hare Airport in Chicago.
5. I know when the train arrives at SFO, the doors are closed after the passengers disembark, for cleaning before they are re-opened before it leaves. This confuses many passengers who are unfamiliar with this process. I have explained to many people waiting to board this train that is stopped at the station, that the doors will re-open before the train leaves. How about some signage or some sort of display that explains this to those that are waiting for the doors to open.
6. Put little bump strips, like a miniature speed bump in the area of the bicycle storage areas on the train so luggage can be placed there and not roll away.
7. I for one will not park my car overnight in a BART parking lot for fear that it will get broken into. I don’t feel that the cops come around enough to prevent this.
8. BART cops need to be seen/present more on the trains. I’m tired of homeless folks who I know didn’t pay to the on the train hogging up an entire seat or two seats. No one wants to call BART police for fear that the train will be stopped at the next station to wait for BART police. I’m also tired of the panhandlers and “performers” doing some short silly dance and then asking for money. Uniformed cops should make a difference with the above issues.
9. Train operators need to be consistent and make multiple announcements about the stops they are approaching.
10. Re-emphasize the need for riders to either remove their backpacks and put them down near their feet or wear it on the front of their bodies. I get tired of getting hit by someone’s backpack as they turn.
This reporting sorely needs some more context.
BART to SFO was an expensive project to build. The airport refused to contribute to the cost in any way, in fact they demanded a surcharge for airport projects. BART had no choice to accept this if it wanted to get into the airport.
The $6 fare for the Oakland Airport Connector does not cover its cost, which was well over $400 million. BART overall is funded by fares and taxes, so every rider (whether they use OAC or not) is supporting the cost. There was a perfectly good express bus service in place. It was also suggested that a bus lane be created from Coliseum BART to Oakland Airport. That would have been far cheaper and would have allowed vehicles from all over (e.g. Marin Airporter) to use it. But BART and the city of Oakland weren’t interested.
There are certainly issues with BART, but BART was far from fully in control of its destiny on these projects.
BART allows you to purchase long term parking at any of its carparks, you just need to purchase it online – https://www.select-a-spot.com/bart/ . Not that I have done this, I was looking into it once, and found out that you can get it. Just as an fyi
We were able to get Uber at SYD when we arrived, so the driver was able to wait for a us (not long, couple of minutes). ATL had the same issue with pick up until recently, when they added Cell Phone lot.
SYD airport does not provide any way for a person with a car to pickup a passenger without parking the car and paying to park. I’m not aware of any other airport in the world that completely bans the general public from doing passenger curbside (kerbside) pickups. In the USA many airports even provide “Cell phone waiting areas” for drivers to wait for their friend/family to call them before pickup. Macquarie Corp enforces this extortion at their privatized SYD airport.
JFK is $7.75 (AirTrain + subway), or about $16 (AirTrain + LIRR) – for either you get an equivalent-to-much-worse experience for more or about the same $ (respectively). LHR and LGW are about $8-30 depending on your choice of travel speed and class (but a way different travel experience). ARN is about $30. Of course the European comps are less relevant than NY.
My moral is BART needs to increase reliability and quality.
I see a bunch of BART feedback, I’ll probably just echo, but… No long term parking at the stations (I’m out in the east bay) so I have to arrange a ride to/from. Limited luggage. If you are passing through SF during peak hours, stink eye for your luggage taking up space. The “buskers” performing in the cars, about every other trip I’m among a captive audience. And of course the panhandlers in the cars. What, no “buskers” today? How about a sob story?
SFO – If I am coming in late, I have to consider BART trains to the east bay stop at
midnight / 12:30 (weeknight / weekend). Any delays and I could be
looking for a ride anyway. Last I looked into the late BART bus, it
didn’t go until 3 or 4AM. A long time to sit around the airport cooling my jets.
(OAK gives a little more time cushion. But I do most of my flights through SFO, so haven’t looked closely.)
For a short trip (2-3 days) I’ll just drive and do long term or off site parking. Longer trips, I’m still using BART but the drawbacks are beginning to weigh heavily.
BART works great if you live walking distance from a BART station. if you don’t, then either you have to uber/lyft/bus to the station or you have to park and pay for that. You also have to have a limited amount of luggage to take BART – if you come to an escalator going the opposite direction and don’t want to use an elevator that smells like pee (or worse) then you have to haul your bag up stairs. not the best way to start a trip.
They all require subsidies. France is clever with the books, and Japan’s government absorbed all the initial construction costs, leaving that financial burden off of the railroad.
And get the smelly bums and crazies out of there. Uber’s price IS greater, but the bum-free experience is worth the price.
You must be confused. The Blue Line is a relatively short line (only 12 stations) that goes from downtown to Revere (about 7 miles). It’s too short and doesn’t have enough ridership for express trains. A ride from one end to the other takes about 20 minutes.
As a native Bostonian, I can say that you have things mixed up. You are correct in saying that the Red Line does not go near Logan Airport but you can transfer for free at South Station to the Silver Line SL1 route that goes into the airport and stops at each terminal. It takes 15 to 20 minutes from South Station to Logan. SL1 service frequency is every 10 minutes or less. The other way to get to the airport is to take the Blue Line to Airport Station. There, free buses leave for the airport terminals every few minutes.
Which route to take depends on where you are coming from. If you are in Cambridge, Dorchester or Quincy, the Red Line/Silver Line connection at South Station will work best for you. If you are downtown near the Government Center or In the Financial District, the Blue line is the best way to go.
There are at least ten other cities in the US that have direct transit service to their airports and most of them enjoy a high level of ridership. They include Boston, Baltimore, Washington (National Airport with a line being built to Dulles), Cleveland, Chicago (both airports), Minneapolis, St. Louis, Dallas, Phoenix, Denver and Seattle.
I think this is reflective of the general problem with BART for SF residents: most people have to use MUNI/Uber/etc. to get to BART. If I’m leaving from/going to Downtown/Mission, I’ll take BART every time. If I’m leaving from home in the Inner Richmond, I’m taking Uber/Lyft.
p.s. The unspoken hypocrisy in almost every conversation about transit funding is the assumption that both of following are given:
(A) Mass transit should pay for itself; and
(B) Roads and highways are essential infrastructure our tax-dollars should pay for.
If BART wants to increase ridership to the airports, a few things can help:
1) reduce fares, esp. to OAK (the extra $6 is a MAJOR deterrent, esp. given Lyft/Uber fares);
2) create new long-term parking at BART stations through the system. (BART’s continuing refusal to increase parking almost anywhere is a major bottleneck limiting ridership);
3) increase frequency of buses/shuttle (AC-Transit, SAM-Trans) and add more routes connecting BART to more residential areas.
They are valued at $50 Billion (with a ‘B’). At this valuation, they’d be happy to subsidize all of us…
Airport surcharge in SYD is AU$15 (about US$12).
I think MARTA to the ATL airport from anywhere, esp. the northern suburbs, is the best bargain around. $2.75 pp (vs. over $8 in San Francisco). Yes, it takes longer (thought traffic on 400 could be very heavy), and you do have to wait for an elevator if you don’t want to shlep your bags yourself, but the price is unbeatable.
Yes, exactly 2 train systems in the world make money: TGV in France and bullet train service in Japan. The rest require bigger or smaller subsidy.
When I lived within walking distance of BART, and traveled solo, it made sense. Now that i am a few miles away and almost always travel with my wife, it doesn’t make sense most of the time. My last Uber to SFO cost $35 (vs nearly $20 for 2 on BART plus parking or Uber to BART), and took 30 minutes (vs 45 or so on BART plus about 10-15 minutes to get to the station).
As long as Uber is that cheap, I don’t see myself using BART for trips to SFO and OAK.
Is there a transit system anywhere that doesn’t lose money?
Yes, I’ve ridden in from both airports and Rosemont with a piece of luggage during the busy periods. Too often its like being inside a sardine can.
One reason for the varying rates is the generation of revenue. The typical rider, who is often the working poor, doesn’t pay the actual cost. So the feds, state and locals are pitching in the difference, often for a bloated systems. If your college or employer helps cover some of the cost for a pass, which saves on their parking hassles, then you’re more likely to vote to raise taxes for mass transportation.
Boston Red Line doesn’t go near the airport, you have to take the blue line and transfer to get to South Station. You _can_ ride the “silver line” (bus) for free, however.
Interesting comments. I hope the service stays. For me, it’s so much easier to take Amtrak from Sacramento and connect to BART. From a door to door perspective – it takes the same amount of time as flying (really) – but it’s 10x more reliable than the UA Express contractor SkyWest – less than 5% of the cost, not to mention a lot less hassle. Trains run essentially every 60 to 90 minutes – which is a lot more than the 4 hour time between Skywest tincan flights.
I agree, UBER is great. But I have had situations where the driver had a small trunk or even his own possessions in the trunk so not much room. And I had to wait for UBER to come to airport sometimes that is frustrating. With AVIS/HERTZ you just walk straight to the car. BART is a pain and more expensive and slower and then you have to get from BART station to your house somehow. Can you imagine trying to take a Bus? The only option is a taxi assuming you can find one and they are not very clean or comfortable for a family
YES, exactly! Personally I think it’s hilarious and I”m happy to have some VC subsidize my trip until their money runs out. No skin off my back.
You don’t need a connection coming from anywhere in SF. What they need to do is keep the Dublin train running to SFO, then you’d get a train every 10 min – as it should be.
The blue line is a disgrace. With proper express trains it would be 20 minutes.
That doesn’t even make sense. by the time you get to the counter and get the car sorted out you’d be there EVEN on bart!
If you’re going to downtown Atlanta then Marta is awesome, you’d be crazy to drive. Obviously if you’re going anywhere else it’s impossible.
The problem is that they cut back on frequency. BART should run every 10minutes. Unfortunately if you have to switch to Muni then you’re screwed. Still, if you’re going downtown BART is a no-brainer. You’d have to be an idiot to spend 3x the amount to save 5 minutes using Uber.
That said, when you’re going out to the neighborhoods BART really isn’t an option, and with the pooled versions of Uber and Lyft being barely $20 it’s a no brainer too…
Good data points, thanks. I thought large surcharges on airport transit were more common, but it seems they aren’t
Just for comparison–The CTA Blue Line from ORD to the Loop is $5 (full fare) for a similar distance, but more stops (about a 45-minute run). MDW to the Loop is $2.25. D.C. Metro is $2.55 (peak period) DCA-Metro Center, about 17 minutes. Minneapolis light rail fare MSP-Downtown is $1.75 (about 30 minutes). Boston MBTA Red Line is $2.65 Logan-South Station. At $8.65, BART is way out of line.
Why wouldn’t you Uber? No need to sign a contract, take the train, buy gas, return the car, walk to your destination. Uber brings you to your front door.
Surprising apparently no drop off charge. I could see $35 happening at times due to inventory, but not all or most of the time.
I do it I am traveling with my family. Its reasonable priced $35 and AVIS/HERTZ both have locations downtown that are conveniently located. The only problem is downtown is not open late and you have to take the train to the car rental location
It shocks me anyone would use rapid (loosely) transit to the airport. It’s bad enough lugging baggage now lets do it on public transportation. I live in ATL which probably has one of the most convinent trains to the airport and it is typically empty. I can see trains for employees but no way for traveling even by myself. Car service picks me up at the door and drops me off at the terminal. About the only airports (in the USA) I can see it rally working at is JFK (which has it) and LGA (which I would use if you have tried to drive to it or get a rental car but alas does not).
Who in the world rents a car one way at the airport and drops it off downtown??
I think $8.65 to the City from SFO is a little above average, but not that crazy. I agree with you on OAK tho
BART is a RIP-OFF to/from airports. I fly every week for work, and its a hassle, takes time and costs $9.85 (from downtown). Obviously there is a surcharge to go/from SFO. I can take UBER for $26 or UBER POOL for $10. Why would you want to drag your suitcase to a dark and dirty BART station and sit on the train for 45 minutes if you can take UBER. They should eliminate the surcharge and then I make consider it. And what about tourists, most people travel with wife / kids etc. Taking BART is not economical in that situation. I can rent a car one way from SFO to downtown for $35.
That’s only for Caltrain riders. Most BART SFO riders are going to the City or the East Bay and have no connections.
During business hours, the overwhelming majority of Millbrae passengers are commuters headed to work in the City. A fairly small number are flyers headed to the airport. During business hours, BART is correct to give priority to the commuters with a direct link to the City. Outside of business hours, BART give priority to flyers, as you noted.
It’s annoying, but if you look at it from the perspective of helping the most number of BART riders, it is the correct decision.
Besides through service at all times SFO into city, as askmrlee suggests, make BART signage far clearer for people not used to airport.
Uber’s not to blame when offshore visitors and others arrive without its app and opt for non BART alternatives.
BART’s services at both SFO and OAK are seriously over-priced compared to other airport rail transit services around the U.S.
BART could start by removing the connection required to get to SFO during peak hours (M-F until 9pm).
As an Oakland resident I’ve been grateful for the BART-to-SFO option during the times when the Bay Bridge becomes a no-go zone, which is to say something like 6:30am-10:30am these days. But outside of that, it’s been mostly Uber/Lyft, and the newish pooling options further tip the preference.
Most remarkably I ended up using Uber at PDX lately, even though it’s one of the best airport-rail setups in the US (convenient, ~35 mins to downtown, $2.50), because I didn’t feel like waiting 15 minutes for the next light rail train on a cold rainy morning.