BART board supportive of fare integration initiative

At its meeting on February 11, the BART board discussed the region’s fare integration initiative.  This has particular promise and importance for BART, since for out of five of the region’s most common transfer pairs involved BART before Covid.

Board members expressed strong support for the initiative.  Director Saltzman commented  "this is our opportunity to be bold, and I hope you will join me in being open-minded." 

Saltzman also drew connections between the need for a more coordinated system and funding. “We need support from the federal government, state & region for funding to make sure we are able to maintain service and jobs.”

Director Raburn expressed frustration that the longstanding goal of better coordination has not yet been achieved, and reiterated a commitment to continue to work for change. He said “When I originally took the oath of office, I did so with the intent of better coordination with AC Transit. We have created an interagency committee, but we learned that as two agencies we were incapable of dealing with the fare structure. Soon we will have Clipper 2.0 and credit cards, and we will be able to make change with political will.”

Recalling his own recent experience, Director Raburn said, “recently I took a Caltrain ride from Belmont to Millbrae, and the timing of the transfer worked much better than in the past. But - there was a glitch - the only Clipper card reader was out of service.” Raburn wants to see a broad focus on the transit rider experience, with input from transit riders.

Director Li also expressed strong support for the ongoing effort.  She said “I'm 100% supportive of fare integration, and the work that's being done now in the study. I think it means a lot that BART is a co project manager for the study, and we need to continue leading since we are impacted the most [with connections to many agencies].

Li wanted to see the board remain open minded about options, including action that required organizational changes, and also wanted to see incremental pathways toward change. BART planner Mike Eisman, who also staffs the Fare Coordination and Integration study, replied that “Our current system requires bilateral agreements among agencies. We could move toward more discounts in pairs or  patterns where there are frequent transfers.”