Keep BART running to 3:00 AM

Many people in the bay area rely on public transit, including BART to get around. The lack of late-night BART service causes many difficulties. People who go to bars and clubs lack a way to get back safely, it causes an increase in drinking and driving for people that are stranded, endangering themselves and others, night shift workers have trouble getting to and from jobs. Important hotels, restaurants and the airport need a way for employees and customers to get there, and back, and people without cars need a way to get around at night.

Quite a few folks have asked for BART to run 24-hours a day. Unfortunately, maintenance requirements make it necessary for BART to be closed for several hours each night. It would also be expensive to run BART when there are few passengers.

What we propose is for BART services to extend later, until 3 A.M. at minimal service, which would still allow time for maintenance, as well as giving more opportunities for people to utilize BART in a safe and sane matter late at night. During this trial period it can be assessed how many people would actually use the service at late times to decide a future plan of action.

Our suggestion is to try this on a limited basis, we, the undersigned would be glad to be able to use such a service and it would boost our opinion of the BART organization on the whole. It would also fixing a fatal flaw that has gone for too long. New York, Chicago and other major cities have public transportation that is available at late night hours; its an embarrassment that the San Francisco bay area cannot say the same.