These 10 BART Stations Could Close by 2027

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) has been struggling. Commuters in quarantine and working from home stopped using the fare-dependent transportation system. In early February, BART threatened to close fifteen stations because ridership remains over 50% lower than profitable pre-pandemic levels (2019). A recent decision by Governor Gavin Newsom might rescue the ailing agency—if voters approve.

BART has also experienced tangible and consequential infrastructural problems: electrical fires, mechanical failures, littered trackways and more. On more than one recent occasion BART shut down the Transbay Tube, sometimes for hours until service gets restored. As of tonight, the last of these disruptions occurred on February 22, when a nearby fire fried communication cables. A data center failure caused loss of visibility from Operations Control at Lake Merritt Station four days later. 

Fortunately for BART, Governor Newsom authorized a measure for the 2026 ballot proposing a modest sales tax increase. A half-cent sales tax increase would apply to Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. San Francisco would see a 1% hike—pennies on the dollar. Meanwhile, in February, BART’s Board of Directors voted to adopt a revised service plan to offset a $350 million budget deficit if Bay Area voters reject the sales tax increases.

In what some call BART’s “doomsday scenario,” January 2027 would start with train frequencies reduced to every half hour. Next, they threaten to end operations at 9 PM in a transit system that already closes too early. They would cancel stops on the Dublin/Pleasanton and Richmond lines, stranding significant portions of the East Bay. Fares and parking fees would jump 30%, charging already embittered riders more for much less. But perhaps the cruelest cut: 600 layoffs to BART employees, maintenance and custodial crews whose work genuinely makes a difference. 

The San Francisco Standard says that BART could close as many as 15 of its 50 stations by July if its Board of Directors vote in favor. 

These ten stations could close as early as January 2027 if funds are not allocated:

For now, BART has no immediate plans to close stations or cut staff and service. Chief Financial Officer Joe Beach has pledged $10 million of the agency’s reserves to delay station closures. At the same time, other board members worry the service cuts would merely amount to a Band-Aid solution. Even with station closures and cuts to staff and service, the agency will require further funding to survive. Director Victor Flores also warned such drastic cost-cutting measures would  frustrate and drive away passengers, presenting another fiscal challenge. Board of Directors VP Edward Wright agreed that cuts would not solve this crisis, remarking that BART must update its fare-dependent model to survive.

What does the future hold for our only regional connector? What happens if, or when, we lose it? Data from 2024 says that on a typical weekday, approximately 164,000 passengers commute on BART. If they drove instead, they’d consume nearly 32,000 gallons of fuel, putting 300 more tons of CO2 into the air. Broke-Ass Stuart editor and meme king Abe Woodliff sees "apocalyptic" traffic jams in the event of BART station closures and service reductions. In his vision, all that pollution squanders over sixty years of ecological rehabilitation efforts. The Bay Area becomes “one giant parking lot stretching from San Francisco to Antioch, with everyone late to everything forever.”