BART ridership during westbound Bay Bridge closure

The Bay Area turned to BART in near record numbers during the closure of the westbound Bay Bridge Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday’s unofficial numbers, just released this morning, show about 178,000 people rode BART yesterday. That’s compared to 121,000 the previous Sunday and 112,700 on Sunday, February 5.

Saturday was the big day, with a total of 236,600 riders. That’s the fifth highest Saturday ever for BART. The highest Saturday ridership in BART history was September 1, 2007 when 278,600 people rode BART while the Bay Bridge was completely shut down and three major sporting events were attracting crowds (Cal hosted Tennessee, Stanford hosted UCLA and the A’s played the Tigers).

This morning BART continued its overnight service even after receiving the news that the westbound Bay Bridge would open Sunday evening. 2,300 people rode BART from 1 to 6 am this morning. At 6, BART began running on a Saturday schedule for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

Ridership Summary:

Early Morning Saturday, Feb. 18:     4,200

Early Morning Sunday, Feb. 19:       9,100

Early Morning Monday, Feb. 20:       2,300

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Total Saturday, Feb. 18:              236,600

Total Sunday, Feb. 19:                178,000