BART warning of 15 station closures if ballot measure fails

But if it fails, BART leaders said the agency may start closing 10 stations as early as next January, including South San Francisco and San Bruno, as they have some of the lowest ridership, according to a presentation from BART staff on Feb. 12. The others would include East Bay stations, such as Castro Valley, Oakland International Airport, Pleasanton and Orinda. Service would only run between 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The next phase of station closures could start July 2027 and would include closing Colma and Millbrae, leaving Daly City and the San Francisco International Airport as the only BART stations in the county.

“The second phase of cuts proposes to eliminate all stations that were built after 1994 as part of extension projects, except for the SFO Station and Milpitas and Berryessa stations,” BART spokesperson Chris Filippi said.

Filippi added that the plan isn’t final and more evaluation will be done to determine which stations to potentially close.

BART Board Member Janice Li said during the meeting that it was still important the agency and the public are clear-eyed about what exactly could happen if its fiscal predicament doesn’t change quickly.

“It is not premature to have this discussion. These are not threats. This is not doomsday scenario [planning] just for the sake of it,” Li said. “You have to be honest about what’s going to happen with this agency. We can’t just keep pretending that these deficits that we knew were going to lie ahead would magically disappear.”

Even with the station closures, the plan also highlights other changes the agency may have to make, including workforce reductions. The closures would also heavily impact bus operators whose routes depend on BART ridership.

A letter from the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County stated the proposal conflicts with prior agreements and that it ”imposes disproportionate cuts in San Mateo County.”

It also adds that eliminating the Millbrae station would have an outsized impact on regional travel, as it’s the only station connecting both Caltrain and BART and that there “should be more detailed analysis of the impacts of closures of multimodal stations and higher prioritization of stations that have existing and planned multimodal rail connections.”

Metropolitan Transportation Commissioner Gina Papan said she disapproved not only of how the rail agency has operated over the years — greatly contributing to its fiscal predicament — but how it’s making decisions over which stations and services to cut.

“You don’t get there with threats and doomsday proposals. You gain the trust of the public by showing them how much you’re trying, that you have an efficiency plan and that you’re headed in the right direction,” Papan said. “What are you going to do to be better?”

In addition to service cuts and potential workforce reductions, the BART presentation cited fare increases, police reductions and deferred maintenance as other cost-cutting measures.

Caltrain is also facing a gaping deficit — about $75 million annually — and has announced that service cuts could occur if the regional ballot measure doesn’t pass, however, it has not laid out a detailed plan on what that would entail.

“Caltrain has an efficiency plan. They’re showing riders how good they are and how great they can be, with public events … electrification and Wi-Fi on the trains,” Papan said.

BART’s proposal highlights another point of tension between the county and rail agency. While six stations are located on the Peninsula, the county does not have any members on its board. While that means county taxpayers contribute significantly less to the agency, ongoing frustration — exacerbated by ridership that hasn’t fully rebounded since the pandemic — has left many residents and transit officials wondering whether the current arrangement is still working for everyone. Some have argued that having a seat on the board would give the county more say in the agency’s decision-making, however, it’s likely that would come with a higher price tag for county taxpayers. The BART board currently has the ability to unilaterally close stations, but Papan, along with C/CAG, maintain it could be breaking other agreements if it closes those stations without further discussion and assessment.

Funds from the regional ballot measure would also go toward other transit agencies, including AC Transit, Muni and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.