Bay Space Transit Businesses See Ridership Numbers On The Rise – CBS San Francisco
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) – Public transit drivers in the Bay Area may have noticed less freedom of movement on buses and trains in recent weeks. The number of drivers has steadily increased for many agencies, which coincides with the introduction of the coronavirus vaccine, which has increased driver confidence.
“We are very excited to see what we will see as drivers,” said Glenn Hendricks, Chairman of the VTA Board of Directors.
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The number of VTA drivers has still decreased by around 75% compared to the prepandemic. Since the beginning of the year, however, the total monthly number of VTA drivers (system-wide boarding on weekdays) has increased:
- Jan 2021 31,579
- February 2021, 37.665
- March 2021 41,425
On Monday, VTA also announced that it would relax the rules on social distancing.
“It was six feet and now moves to three feet. This will dramatically increase the capacity of our vehicles for the community, ”said Hendricks.
In the North Bay, SMART is expanding train services by ten trips on weekdays and twelve trips on Saturdays. So far there has been no service on Saturday.
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“We wanted to make sure we were capturing people when they return to their lives,” said SMART CFOHeather McKillop. “So go to work and do leisure activities on the weekends. And we wanted to make sure we were a part of it, rather than having them already made their travel plans and a new routine. “
The total number of Caltrain drivers is still 9-10% of the prepandemic. However, according to Tasha Bartholomew, communications manager, the average weekly driver number has steadily increased:
- January 2021 3,056 Average number of drivers on weekdays (AWR)
- February 2021, 3,484 (AWR)
- March 2021, 3,954 (AWR)
Last week, BART recorded significant gains and reached new highs on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The number of drivers on weekdays is up to 84% of the prepandemic, the number of weekend drivers up to 71% of the prepandemic. BART Weekday Ridership totals:
- December 2020 390,000
- Jan 2021 395,700
- February 2021 410,800
- March 2021 409,300
- Apr 2021 411,200
BART driver Brittany Bastida has noticed more passengers on the trains, adding that social distancing has become increasingly difficult on the trains.
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“Now people are standing next to me or sitting next to me or it’s like a child on their lap. I just don’t feel comfortable with it, ”said Bastida.
