Community Corner
BART Board Approves Increases for Fares and Parking Fees
Four fare hikes between now and 2020 are expected to raise $325 million for the transit agency.
BART’s board of directors voted Thursday to renew a fare increase program that will raise the price of a BART ticket on four occasions in the next seven years. The board also approved a proposal to raise fees at the transit agency’s parking lots.
The first fare hike is a 5.2 percent increase scheduled for Jan. 1, 2014, which will boost the cost of an average ticket from $3.59 to $3.78. By 2020, the fare hikes are expected to raise $325 million.
“The money generated will only be allowed to go toward capital needs such as paying for BART’s share of the new rail cars and a new train control system which will allow us to run trains closer together,” said BART board president Tom Radulovich in a press release.
Looking to close a $6 million annual gap between the cost of maintaining the network’s parking lots and the revenue from parking fees, the board approved a plan that will charge $1 for parking at all BART parking lots and increase fees in busy parking lots. Rates at parking lots where demand is high could rise in 50-cent increments every six months until reaching the board-backed limit of $3. Parking spots at the West Oakland station will remain at $5.
The board hopes the new fees will raise $6 million in the first year and $10 million in following years. “This new money will go towards projects such as escalator and elevator reliability, improved lighting, more secured bike parking, shuttle programs, better drop-off areas, and other improvements to stations and access,” Radulovich said.
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