The Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) fare payment system has been upgraded, allowing riders to simply tap their contactless credit card or mobile wallet at the fare gates. Five heavily traveled BART stations now offer free Wi-Fi, an upgrade that will be marched out across other stations in the coming months, BART officials said.
“We’re rolling out a series of new conveniences for riders that are part of the New BART,” Chris Filippi, BART acting media relations manager, said in an email. The New BART includes features like tap-to-pay and, he said, a new partnership with Uber, where riders can plan and book short Uber trips from their BART app. The trips must generally be about 2 to 7 miles in length and start or end at a BART station. The initiative aims to increase the convenience of BART by addressing first- and last-mile gaps in travel.
In December, 13 percent of all BART trips were taken by riders using the Tap and Ride payment feature, Filippi said.
“Usage climbed toward the end of the month as travelers and casual riders hopped onboard around the holidays,” he said. Technology improvements also include Next Generation Fare Gates which, Filippi said, “are helping to drive down unwanted behavior in the system.”
The Wi-Fi technology — now in stations at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), West Oakland, Embarcadero, Civic Center and Powell Street — is provided by Boldyn Networks. Connecting does not require a password or email address, and sessions last for 20 minutes.
“Wi-Fi is something our riders have been asking for and we’re happy to start delivering on their requests,” Filippi said.
BART stations serving SFO and Powell Street in downtown San Francisco were identified as facilities likely to be heavily trafficked by visitors in town for the Super Bowl. The annual NFL matchup is popular among the C-suite crowd, and tickets start at about $5,750 per person. That said, the game is still a large tourist event attracting numerous visitors to the Bay Area.
Wi-Fi will next be deployed to the stations at 16th Street, 24th Street, Balboa Park and Glen Park in San Francisco, as well as the Daly City station, to be complete by June, BART officials said, with the technology expected to arrive at remaining stations by early 2028.
That said, new technology features are not the changes riders may notice. BART fares increased 6.2 percent on Jan. 1. Meanwhile, BART ridership in December was up 13.5 percent compared to a year ago, according to BART ridership statistics.
