SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Thanks to the scores of people who attended the Golden State Warriors' NBA championship parade in San Francisco, BART on Monday experienced its highest ridership numbers since the start of the pandemic – though there were still some hiccups throughout the day.
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The agency announced on Tuesday that 190,519 riders rode the transit Monday, the most in a single day since the pandemic began two years ago this March. That figure even underestimates the actual number of people who rode BART because officials said it doesn’t account for the "many others" without a Clipper card who were let in for free so they could bypass the long lines and wouldn't miss the parade.
The most used home stations were 24th Street Mission, 16th Street Mission, Daly City, Balboa Park, Dublin/Pleasanton and El Cerrito del Norte, while the most exits were recorded at Embarcadero, Montgomery Street, and Powell Street stations, which were the closest stops to the parade route.
"The Warriors Parade was a celebration for the entire Bay Area," BART spokesperson Christopher Filippi told KCBS Radio in an emailed statement. "It allowed BART to welcome back tens of thousands of riders who haven't been on the system since the pandemic started. We're confident many of those riders we welcomed back will return to us in the weeks and months ahead. Hopefully the fans who suffered long delays in their cars and expensive parking fees will also look to BART as an option in the future."
The throngs of riders created long lines and severely disrupted cell service at most stations. Customers were encouraged to download funds onto the Clipper card phone app to avoid waiting in line.
Bay Area Clipper tweeted that the app was experiencing "issues with payment and purchasing," encouraging people to load their card away from their BART station before they entered the platform.
In anticipation of higher ridership this weekend due to San Francisco Pride, Meloni similarly urged riders to download the Clipper card app and add funds before they embark on their outing.
In addition, the transit's direct trains to and from SFO-Millbrae and Richmond – the red line – only operated for "a short time" during the busiest hours leading up to the parade, Fillipi said.
The red line had been completely shut down since Friday due to a power traction cable fault near the Richmond station. The line did not resume service until 9 a.m. on Monday before again shutting it down later in the day, including during the time fans were returning to the East Bay from San Francisco.
That lack of service, combined with the thousands of people downtown, packed the other remaining trains, which did not have enough space to hold all the interested riders on the downtown platforms. This forced people to wait for multiple trains on the same line to come by before they could board one with enough space for them.
Some riders going to the East Bay took trains in the opposite direction further into San Francisco, just so they could transfer and get back on an East Bay-bound train that had fewer people.
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