Editing Bay Area Rapid Transit (section)

== Ridership levels ==
For most of its history, BART's ridership has reflected the U.S. economy, growing modestly during periods of economic expansion and dropping slightly during recessions.<ref name="FY17-ridership">{{Cite web |year=2017 |title=Total Annual Exits FY1973 – FY2017 |url=http://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/BART_Ridership_FY73_FY17_0.xls |website=BART.gov |publisher=San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District |format=xls}}</ref> A major exception occurred in 1989 in the aftermath of the [[1989 Loma Prieta earthquake|Loma Prieta earthquake]], which severely damaged the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]], causing its closure for a month. BART became the only direct route between the East Bay and San Francisco, resulting in a nearly 17% ridership jump for the 1990 fiscal year.<ref name="FY17-ridership" /> Ridership would not drop back to previous levels after the repair of the bridge until the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] began to affect the Bay Area in March 2020.

Between 2010 and 2015, BART ridership grew rapidly, mirroring strong economic growth in the Bay Area. In 2015, the system was carrying approximately 100,000 more passengers each day than it had five years earlier.<ref>{{Cite news |title=BART can't keep pace with rising 'crush loads' |work=SFGate |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-can-t-keep-pace-with-rising-crush-loads-6192950.php |access-date=March 2, 2017}}</ref> High gasoline prices also contributed to growth, pushing ridership to record levels during 2012, with the system recording five record ridership days in September and October 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=October BART ridership soaring |url=http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2012/news20121012a.aspx |access-date=October 18, 2012 |publisher=BART}}</ref>

After six straight years of expansion, ridership growth began to slow in late 2016, dropping by 1.7% in October 2016 from the prior year.<ref name="SF Examiner_a">{{Cite news |date=December 5, 2016 |title=Uber and Lyft use at SFO increases six-fold in two years, BART loses ridership |url=http://www.sfexaminer.com/uber-lyft-use-sfo-increases-six-fold-two-years-bart-loses-ridership/ |access-date=December 8, 2016 |quote=BART officials told the agency's Board of Directors...that increased Uber and Lyft ridership led to less passengers taking BART in 2016…BART's overall ridership rate of growth "rapidly slowed," according to a staff presentation. In October, overall ridership was down to 438,000 trips for the average weekday, 1.7 percent less than the same time the year prior.}}</ref> Although the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, showed an average weekday ridership of 423,395, the second-highest in BART's history, this was a 2.3% drop from FY 2016.<ref name="FY17-ridership" /> Ridership continued to decline by approximately 3% per year between 2016 and 2019, mirroring a nationwide decline in mass transit ridership in the second half of the decade.<ref name="2019ridership">{{Cite web |title=Nationwide Transit Ridership Falls 2.9% in June |url=https://ti.org/pdfs/APB15.pdf |access-date=November 21, 2019}}</ref> ''The Washington Post'' and LA Streetsblog attributed the national decline in ridership to changes in commute patterns, the fall in gasoline prices since 2014, and competition from the private sector in the form of [[ride-hailing]] services such as Uber and Lyft.<ref name="Washington Post 2016">{{Cite news |date=February 20, 2016 |title=Ripple effect of Metro's troubles: plummeting bus ridership across the region |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/ripple-effect-of-metros-troubles-plummeting-bus-ridership-across-the-region/2016/02/20/6b8e9248-d5b4-11e5-9823-02b905009f99_story.html |access-date=December 8, 2016 |quote=falling bus ridership in the Washington region mirrors a national trend that experts say is due to a variety of factors, including changing job markets, falling gas prices and the growing popularity of other transportation options such as biking and app-based services such as Uber and Lyft.}}</ref><ref name="la streetsblog 2016">{{Cite web |date=January 29, 2016 |title=What Factors Are Causing Metro's Declining Ridership? What Next? |url=http://la.streetsblog.org/2016/01/29/what-factors-are-causing-metros-declining-ridership-what-next/ |access-date=December 8, 2016}}</ref> Ride-hailing has especially affected ridership on the lines to the San Francisco International Airport and the Oakland International Airport. At SFO, ride-hailing services grew by a factor of almost six or nearly 500% at the airport between 2014 and 2016.<ref name="SF Examiner_c">{{Cite news |date=December 5, 2016 |title=Uber and Lyft use at SFO increases six-fold in two years, BART loses ridership |url=http://www.sfexaminer.com/uber-lyft-use-sfo-increases-six-fold-two-years-bart-loses-ridership/ |access-date=December 8, 2016 |quote=BART's train line to the San Francisco International Airport is losing riders and losing money. And that culprit is competition from the private sector, BART staff said. Uber and Lyft in particular have seen their ridership at SFO rise by almost six times over from 2014 to 2016, according to data provided by SFO to the San Francisco Examiner...BART's SFO ridership was discussed during a presentation at the Board of Directors meeting.}}</ref> BART planners believe that competition from Uber and Lyft is reducing overall ridership growth and BART's share of airport transit.<ref name="SF Examiner_b">{{Cite news |date=December 5, 2016 |title=Uber and Lyft use at SFO increases six-fold in two years, BART loses ridership |url=http://www.sfexaminer.com/uber-lyft-use-sfo-increases-six-fold-two-years-bart-loses-ridership/ |access-date=December 8, 2016 |quote=Uber and Lyft in particular have seen their ridership at SFO rise by almost six times over from 2014 to 2016, according to data provided by SFO to the San Francisco Examiner. BART officials told the agency's Board of Directors at its regular meeting Thursday that increased Uber and Lyft ridership led to less passengers taking BART in 2016. "We believe Uber and Lyft are impacting our ridership," Carter Mau, executive manager of BART's office of planning and budget, told the San Francisco Examiner outside the meeting.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=December 17, 2018 |title=Ride-hailing companies fly off with BART's airport riders |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Ride-hailing-companies-fly-off-with-BART-s-13470466.php |access-date=December 7, 2019 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en-US |last1=Ross |first1=By Matier &. }}</ref>

Stations in the urban cores of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley have the highest ridership, while suburban stations record lower rider numbers. During fiscal year 2017, the busiest station was [[Embarcadero Station|Embarcadero]] with 48,526 average weekday exits, followed by [[Montgomery Street Station|Montgomery Street]] with 45,386. The busiest station outside of San Francisco was [[12th Street Oakland City Center station|12th Street Oakland City Center]] with 13,965 riders, followed by [[19th Street Oakland station|19th Street Oakland]] with 13,456. The least busy station was [[Oakland International Airport station|Oakland International Airport]] with 1,517 riders, while the least busy standard BART station was [[North Concord / Martinez (BART station)|North Concord / Martinez]] with 2,702 weekday exits.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Average Weekday Exits by Station |url=https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/FY%20Avg%20Wkdy%20Exits%20by%20Station_5.xlsx |access-date=June 16, 2017 |publisher=BART |format=xls}}</ref>

BART's one-day ridership record was set on Halloween of 2012 with 568,061 passengers attending the San Francisco Giants' victory parade for their [[2012 World Series|World Series championship]].<ref name="world-series-2012">{{Cite news |date=October 31, 2012 |title=BART marks all-time highest ridership day in 40 years of service |publisher=BART |url=http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2012/news20121031.aspx |access-date=November 1, 2012}}</ref> This surpassed the record set two years earlier of 522,198 riders in 2010 for the Giants' [[2010 World Series]] victory parade.<ref name="world-series">{{Cite news |date=November 4, 2010 |title=World Series parade boosts BART ridership to highest day ever – past half-million |publisher=BART |url=http://bart.gov/news/articles/2010/news20101104.aspx |access-date=January 31, 2012}}</ref> Before that, the record was 442,100 riders in October 2009, following an [[Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge#Eyebar crack, repair, subsequent failure and bridge closure|emergency closure of the Bay Bridge]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=11.01.2009 BART customers continue to set ridership records |url=http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20091030.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120230453/http://bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20091030.aspx |archive-date=November 20, 2010 |access-date=December 29, 2010 |publisher=Bart.gov}}</ref> During a planned closure of the Bay Bridge, there were 475,015 daily riders on August 30, 2013, making that the third highest ridership.<ref name="Bay Bridge 2013">{{Cite news |date=August 30, 2013 |title=BART ridership soars during Bay Bridge closure |work=KTVU |url=http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/bart-ridership-soars-during-bay-bridge-closure/nZhKf/ |url-status=dead |access-date=September 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906235409/http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/bart-ridership-soars-during-bay-bridge-closure/nZhKf/ |archive-date=September 6, 2013}}</ref> On June 19, 2015, BART recorded 548,078 riders for the Golden State Warriors [[2015 NBA Finals|championship]] parade, placing second on the all-time ridership list.<ref name="Warriors_parade">{{Cite news |date=June 20, 2015 |title=Warriors parade BART's second highest ridership day |publisher=BART |url=https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2015/news20150620 |access-date=June 22, 2015}}</ref>

BART set a Saturday record of 419,162 riders on February 6, 2016, coinciding with [[Super Bowl 50]] events and a [[Golden State Warriors]] game.<ref name="superbowl50">{{Cite news |last=Alexander |first=Kurtis |date=February 7, 2016 |title=Super Bowl helps BART crush weekend-day ridership record |work=San Francisco Chronicle |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Super-Bowl-helps-BART-crush-weekend-day-ridership-6813729.php |access-date=February 9, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=February 8, 2016 |title=BART ends milestone week with a record; next challenge: playing catch-up |publisher=BART |url=https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2016/news20160208 |access-date=February 9, 2016}}</ref> That easily surpassed the previous Saturday record of 319,484 riders, which occurred in October 2012, coinciding with several sporting events and [[Fleet Week#San Francisco|Fleet Week]].<ref name="saturday-record">{{Cite web |date=October 7, 2012 |title=BART shatters Saturday ridership record, adds capacity for Sunday |url=http://bart.gov/news/articles/2012/news20121007.aspx |access-date=October 12, 2012 |publisher=BART}}</ref> BART set a Sunday ridership record of 292,957 riders in June 2013, in connection with the [[San Francisco Pride|San Francisco Gay Pride Parade]],<ref name="sunday-record">{{Cite web |date=June 30, 2013 |title=Pride Parade Service Breaks Sunday Ridership Record |url=http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2013/news20130630a.aspx |access-date=July 3, 2013 |publisher=BART}}</ref> surpassing Sunday records set the previous two years when the Pride Parade was held.<ref name="sunday-record" />

Ridership dropped sharply during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] and [[COVID-19 lockdowns|associated lockdowns]] beginning in March 2020, during which BART was forced to drastically cut service.<ref name="Ridership Watch" /> Ridership in the weeks immediately following the start of the Bay Area's lockdown (on March 17, 2020) fell by as much as 93%.<ref name="Ridership Watch" /> If ridership does not recover and additional revenue is not obtained, in the worst case the agency projected it would only be able to sustain trains on three lines running once an hour from 5am to 9pm weekdays, and would have to close nine stations.<ref>{{Cite web|last=SFGATE|first=Silas Valentino|date=November 22, 2022|title='A death spiral': BART considers cutting weekend service|url=https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/bart-considers-cutting-weekend-service-17602366.php|access-date=November 23, 2022|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}</ref> {{As of|2024|May}}, weekday ridership is at 41% of pre-pandemic levels, Saturday ridership is at 63%, and Sunday ridership is at 75%.<ref name="Ridership Watch">{{Cite web |title=Ridership Watch: daily updates related to riders returning to BART |url=https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2023/news20230729 |access-date=July 9, 2024 |website=www.bart.gov}}</ref>

In a 2022 survey, 31% of riders report household income below $50,000 (up from 26% in 2018), and 44% did not own a vehicle (up from 31% in 2018). Compared to the region, BART riders are more likely to be Black or Latino, and less likely to be White or Asian.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/CS2022_Report_040423.pdf |title=2022 BART Customer Satisfaction Study |publisher=BART Marketing & Research Dept. |date=2023-04-04}}</ref>