(09-11) 19:20 PDT -- BART is becoming so popular during peak commute hours that agency officials are looking at charging patrons more to ride trains, park in its lots and use certain stations when demand is highest.
The idea is to spread use of the system more evenly throughout the day.
Only so many people can fit onto the trains, flow through the stations or find space at station parking lots, said Kenya Wheeler, BART senior planner. And while BART can currently accommodate all the passengers traveling through its system, heavy use during peak hours is pushing the system near its limits.
Earlier this week, BART hit a one-day ridership record when the agency counted more than 405,000 people boarding the system. Last month, the average weekday ridership was nearly 370,000 - about 15,000 more than in August 2007. High gas prices, heightened concern over air pollution and increasingly congested roadways are driving a surge in transit ridership, not just in the Bay Area but across the country, transit experts say. Reaching capacity is a mounting concern voiced by transit operators, according to a study released this week by the American Public Transportation Association.
BART is set up to handle approximately 500,000 people a day, but "it would be a tight load," said BART spokesman Linton Johnson.
Already, trains during the high-demand hours - roughly 7 to 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m. - are jam-packed, particularly entering and leaving downtown San Francisco.
Planners want to stave off congestion on BART by essentially altering when and where people travel.
Hitting them in the pocketbook could be an effective tool. If it costs more to ride BART at 8 a.m. than 10 a.m., more people could opt to take a later train. If it costs more to take the train to Montgomery Street Station in San Francisco's Financial District than it does to Powell Street Station one stop away, more people might choose the cheaper exit. Charging more at station parking lots during periods of high demand also could prompt people to rearrange their schedules.
"It's taking people who want to do one thing and getting them to do something else," said Jeffrey Tumlin, a principal with NelsonNygaard, a transportation consulting firm working with BART.
'I don't have the luxury'
"Tell that to my boss," said Maggie Frank, a corporate travel planner who commutes on BART from Oakland to the Financial District and is expected to be at her desk by 8 a.m. "I don't have the luxury of starting later. I wish."
Her friend Ellen Sun also takes BART to work, commuting between Daly City and the Financial District. The trains are more crowded, she said. "I used to be able to get a seat maybe 50 percent of the time on my way home," said Sun, an executive assistant. "Now I'm lucky if it's one day a week."
While she doesn't want to pay more to take the train, she might not grumble too loudly if it means more elbow room during her commute. "The trade-off may be worth it," she said.
While the extra revenue from higher fares and parking fees could alter behavior, it also could generate additional revenue to help pay for longer-term fixes, Tumlin said.
Some of the more costly improvements BART is considering: installing faster elevators and escalators at the busiest stations to move people in and out quicker, adding more doors to the trains so passengers can get on and off faster, expanding the train fleet, and putting in a more advanced train control system that would allow the rail cars to run faster and closer together.
The idea of building a second Transbay Tube also has been floated.
Whether BART ends up increasing prices during peak hours remains to be seen.
Tumlin's firm is working with BART on a study, which should be completed next spring, of the benefits and disadvantages of such a strategy. The BART Board of Directors - a nine-member panel of elected officials - will make the final decision.
Social justice concerns
When the BART board heard the plan, it was clear that the notion of altering people's travel times and paths by changing the price would not win slam-dunk approval.
"When you have market-rate pricing, that's essentially a fare increase," said board President Gail Murray. In the end, she said, it comes down to a social justice issue that could hurt those who would feel the financial pinch hardest and rely on transit the most.
"I have a philosophical concern about that at the most basic level," she said.
Tumlin said the study will look at the economic impact on BART riders, including whether those living in particular areas would bear a disproportionate burden.
The concept of using pricing to alter behavior is not new to the transit industry. Washington has charged higher fares during peak demand for more than 30 years, and New Jersey Transit has offered discounts on round-trip travel except when certain stations are used during the traditional morning and evening periods.
Charging tolls during peak-demand periods to manage roadway congestion also is gaining traction in cities internationally and is being contemplated in San Francisco.
"Is (the idea) politically controversial?" Tumlin said. "Absolutely."
