An increase in fares and parking fees, cuts to major daily commuter services, and a deficit of $376 million.
Those are the issues the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) agency expects to face in 2026 due to a shortfall in operating costs.
These are also issues voters in the Bay Area will need to consider later this year, as a new measure on the November ballot aims to fund BART and other Bay Area transit systems.
For years, a majority of the agency’s operating costs for its BART services came from passenger fares and parking fees, but after the pandemic and the rise of remote work, the agency saw a sharp decline in ridership. These sources of funding now cover about a quarter of the agency’s current costs, resulting in a massive budgetary shortfall, according to the agency…