BART Reports Ridership Growth in San Francisco Bay Area

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has reported a 13.4% rise in ridership for June 2025 compared with the same period last year, reflecting ongoing efforts to improve service reliability, safety, and cleanliness across the network.

Weekend travel, particularly on Saturdays, showed a marked increase. Saturday ridership grew by 15.2% between May and June, and was 24.6% higher than in June 2024. BART attributes this growth in part to large-scale public events.

On 14 June, demonstrations held as part of “No Kings Day” led to one of the busiest Saturdays since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, 29 June, which coincided with the San Francisco Pride Parade, marked the second most-travelled Sunday since 2020.

These figures come as BART continues to recover from the long-term impact of remote working on weekday commuter volumes.

The system’s Safe and Clean Plan, launched to address customer concerns about hygiene and safety, includes increased deep-cleaning schedules and a greater presence of BART Police officers on trains and in stations.

Other initiatives underway include full deployment of the new Fleet of the Future trains and installation of Next Generation Fare Gates, aimed at reducing fare evasion and improving access.

BART is also working to encourage more leisure travel through partnerships with sports teams, community groups, and event organisers.