Ridership on BART is picking up again after the post-pandemic shutdown. So much so that the transit agency has decided to delay scheduled track maintenance that would have shut down the tracks between South Hayward and the Union City BART stations.
BART had scheduled the maintenance to take place over two weekends next month, Labor Day weekend September 4-6 as well as September 18-19, to replace aging track parts such as wooden ties and track switches. Work is continuing between the South Hayward and Union City stations.
But after making significant progress on the repairs over the previous three track-shutdown weekends in May and June, BART said it would only need to reduce train service to one track between the two stations rather than making riders take a bus bridge between them.
BART is targeting stretches of trackway that are nearly 50 years old. Many of these aging track components have been in operation since the beginning of BART service in 1972 and have outlived their design lives.
Weekend ridership has increased to as much as 40% of pre-pandemic levels, and to further boost numbers, BART will be offering a 50% discount on all Clipper BART fares in September.
Additional shutdowns are expected through the fall into 2022 but specific dates have not yet been finalized.
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