BART facing station closures and more if it doesn't find funding soon, report finds

SAN BRUNO, Calif. (KGO) -- BART has released drastic predictions of service cuts if it doesn't find extra funding.

The new report cites what would happen if a half-cent sales tax ballot measure fails to pass in November.

ABC7 Eyewitness News spoke with Alicia Trost, chief communications officer at BART.

"So getting that information out to the public now so people have time to learn about it, and absorb it, and discuss it is very important," Trost said.

BART is in a $376 million dollar deficit.

MORE: New report reveals what's led to myriad of BART disruptions across Bay Area

If the measure called Connect Bay Area fails, these are just some of the potential impacts:

• 63% fewer trains would run.


• The blue line would be shut down to Tri-valley stations.


• BART would close at 9 p.m. instead of midnight seven days a week.


• Riders could be hit with a 30% to 50% fare increase.

Hayward resident Adonis Fabor depends on BART to get him to work.

MORE: BART continues to face issues as push for regional transportation funding measure underway

"It's already expensive enough, you know, especially if I'm going six times a week you know," Fabor said.

In the report, BART listed its 10 lowest ridership stations. The list includes Castro Valley, Oakland Airport and San Bruno. If the measure fails, BART said these stations would be recommended for closure.

The nonprofit public policy organization SPUR explained that the measure would implement a 14-year regional sales tax that would fund BART, Caltrain, MUNI and AC Transit.

ABC7 spoke with Laura Tolkoff, Transportation policy director of SPUR.

"If getting in your car feels like a chore now, it's going to get a lot worse when we don't have BART. If we want to have a modern, global, competitive economy, we need public transit," Tolkoff said.

MORE: Gov. Newsom approves $750M loan for Bay Area public transit

Critics of a transit tax say this is bailing out transit agencies.

"Investing in transit should definitely not be viewed as a bailout. It's a longtime coming for decades. BART relied on fare revenue. It was the burden of balancing our budget that has been on the backs of our riders," Trost said.

This proposal will be voted on by BART's board at the end of February, but what ultimately happens will be up to voters in November.

San Francisco resident Erinne Johnson hopes BART finds a different solution.

"I feel like it's going to probably be put on us. If that happens, right? I mean, we'll have to pay more money, so it will probably be on us if that happen," Johnson said.