Why California transit agencies are bouncing back at such different speeds
In California, already famous for its love of cars, our reliance on cars only grew during the coronavirus pandemic, as millions of people stopped commuting by train or bus.
Bay Area Rapid Transit, which for decades served workers moving from the suburbs to downtown San Francisco, has been particularly hard hit by the shift to remote work and is now looking for ways to get out of a deep financial hole. The number of passengers on the 131-mile network today is only about 35 percent of what it was before the pandemic, according to the American Public Transportation Association.
This dismal rebound is not universal across California. The San Francisco-focused Muni system, Los Angeles buses and trains, and Oakland’s AC Transit bus service have all fared much better so far in 2023, with nearly two-thirds of their prepandemic passengers.
On the other hand, Caltrain, Silicon Valley’s commuter rail service, is faring even worse than BART, attracting only a quarter of its former passengers, according to the transportation association.
The differences between these transportation systems reveal something about how public transportation functions in our state — and perhaps offer some clues about its future.
Take Los Angeles’ sprawling subway system, for example.
Compared to BART, largely a commuter rail service for affluent blue-collar workers, the Los Angeles Metro agency, which offers bus, subway and light rail service, serves a lower-income population less likely to work from home or afford a car. Metro’s recovery has been much bigger than BART’s, in part because so many of its customers have no other choice.
In April, bus passenger traffic in Los Angeles – by far the most popular form of public transportation in the city – was almost 80 percent from what it had been in April 2019, according to agency data. The Mercury News reported last summer that more people used public transportation in Los Angeles than in the Bay Area, a historic turnaround.
Brian D. Taylor, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA, noted that public transportation had long sought to serve two distinct populations: workers with resources, who could be coaxed out of their cars if public services were convenient enough, and lower-income people who rely on public transportation as their only means of getting around.
Until the pandemic, BART was thriving alongside a thriving tech industry, which made a good case for the power of the first group, Taylor told me. Passenger numbers on BART and Caltrain, which also serve technology workers, grew, while other California transit companies lagged behind, he said.
“Then the pandemic hits and the script flips all over,” Taylor said. “Downtown San Francisco has had the slowest recovery of any downtown in the country, so the shining bright spot of California’s public transportation system suddenly became its biggest Achilles’ heel.”
He added, “LA recovered faster in many ways and recovered more because it didn’t have that many affluent riders to lose.”
There has also been a shift in the types of travel people take. Instead of commuting to the office every morning during rush hour, people are more likely to take a break in the middle of the day to run to the grocery store or pick up their kids from school, or hop on a train to meet friends. to meet in town. evening.
To accommodate, BART plans to shift its schedule to reduce weekday rush hour service and instead offer more weekend and evening rides.
Also the question where a bus or train stops. Railroad systems tend to serve fewer, more concentrated destinations, while bus systems extend further into neighborhoods and reach a more diverse range of locations. BART primarily shuttles people between the suburbs and commercial centers of San Francisco, while Los Angeles’ bus system extends to all parts of the city.
“It’s like a scrambled egg, where people work and live and go in all different directions,” says Ethan Elkind, an environmental law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who wrote a book on the history of the Los Angeles subway system. . “It’s a different ridership and a different mix of destinations. And BART really lived and died – and mostly dies now – through the office environment of downtown San Francisco.
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Where we travel
Today’s tip comes from Evelyn Henry, who recommends a visit to Cambria on the Central Coast: “Quiet, scenic, full of relaxing places to visit, good food and historic parks nearby. Scenery is great.”
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We will share more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.
Tell us
We are almost half way through 2023! What are the best things that have happened to you this year so far? What have your victories been? Or your unexpected joys, big or small?
Let me know at CAToday@nytimes.com. Please include your full name and the city where you live.
And before you go, good news
Tanishq Mathew Abraham, a 19-year-old from Sacramento, is one of the world’s youngest Ph.D. holders, after the successful defense of his dissertation last month, That reports KTXL-TV.
Abraham, who studied biomechanical engineering at the University of California, Davis, credited his parents and sister for helping him achieve his goal. (His sister is also gifted: She graduated from UC Davis at age 16.)
“Without their love and support, I wouldn’t be here today,” he told the news outlet.
Thank you for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumja
PS Here it is today’s mini crossword.
Briana Scalia and Johnna Margalotti contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.
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