Mercury News: Free transit service brings ridership to record highs (SF Bay Area)

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Free transit service brings ridership to record highs
CROWDS ON BART, VTA, CALTRAIN, FERRIES
By Gary Richards
Mercury News


Transit agencies shattered records across the Bay Area on Thursday, as riders crammed elbow to elbow on trains, buses and ferries to take advantage of a day of free rides.

BART set a single-day record with an estimated 394,000 passengers, and Caltrain saw an 88 percent jump from its average weekday ridership.

Thursday's free rides topped BART's previous record April 9, when 391,900 riders used BART, many to get to the Olympic Torch Run in San Francisco and the Giants game at AT&T Park. On Thursday, there were about 29,200 additional trips on BART, a 10 percent increase compared with a similar Thursday.

Caltrain usually carries about 37,000 riders a day, but trains were jammed Thursday, with people standing elbow to elbow in the aisles. The transit line estimates it carried more than 32,000 additional riders when fares were free until noon.

Ridership on buses run by the Valley Transportation Authority increased 21 percent, with 123,993 riders compared with 102,500 for a typical Thursday. Light-rail ridership also soared, with 42,809 passengers up from 32,134 a week ago for a 33 percent jump.

Ferry ridership nearly doubled, and ridership on the ACE trains was up 17 percent.


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