Travelers are increasingly using Ride Share companies like Lyft or Uber. SFO recently added a specific section for these ride share cars to pick up passengers. This helped a little bit with the traffic and congestion at SFO but it’s still not fixed. This is why SFO is proposing a agreement with BART.
San Francisco International is the main airport in the Bay Area and handled over 55 Million passengers last year. In 2003 expanded to include SFO to its network. BART has access to both the Domestic and International terminals.
With the high increase of passengers using Lyft and Uber, public transportation has dropped all over the United States and the world. BART system has seen a rapid drop in users in recent years and it has created the knock-on effect of increased congestion at SFO. Taking these issues into account, BART has come up with a plan that will be mutually beneficial to both the transportation system, as well as the airport.
BART has proposed that passengers arriving with them may enjoy benefits like Priority Security Screening. This would enable passengers a smoother and quicker processing time for departure. In order to successfully implement the strategy, BART is further developing its trip verification technology. SFO staff will be able to use scanners on users’ BART mobile applications to verify whether a passenger made use of public transportation to get to the airport. Successful verification will clear passengers to proceed to the priority line for the Transportation Security Administration screening checks.
When will this happen?
Discussions between SFO and BART are ongoing but there is no confirmation at this time as BART first has develop its trip verification technology. I really hop this gets implemented as lowering emissions is something that needs to happen.
What’s the point of being TSA-Pre then? The whole point is that you’ve gone through a screening with a TSA Official and they’ve already background cleared you 🤷🏼♂️
I love the idea but I think they should rethink their “reward”
Looks to me that it is not TSA Pre-Check, but a priority lane that will be created for BART users.
The reason, as I understand it, is that the BART system doesn’t connect much of San Fransisco together. Much like the Los Angeles Metro Rail, its a very localized and not spread out by much (By localized, I mean the Red, Yellow, Green, & Blue lines all run alongside with each other).
Looks like the decreased load of BART passengers just goes to show that the time spent going to a station, transferring, then onwards to the airport, is enough for most people to just pay that $60 uber/lyft fee and get there on time. Also, anyone who has rode the BART at night knows how creepy it gets… not unlike the NYC subway system that is full of people 24/7
Good to see SFO take some initiative. The last time I was there, pick up from SFO to downtown, I didn’t wait more than 20 minutes to grab a ride. The BART system needs a serious overhaul, more than a priority lane at the airport can fix.
As someone who flies from San Francisco very often, I’d say that this idea is pretty stupid.
Everyday, especially in Summer or around the holidays, the airport gets really busy between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Even if you have pre-check or are flying in Business/First, it’ll take around an hour to get from check-in to the gate or maybe even more time, so it’s pretty useless in that case. When I flew last year in June, they merged every single lane into one, and even though I was in Business Class, I spent almost 1 and a half hours waiting in line. Giving certain people access to a “premium” security line is unfair for those who have paid for services like Clear, or who have TSA in my opinion.
I’ve taken BART before, and it’s definitely not something I’d take again, though they are expanding to different cities throughout the Bay. I think that like BalloonChaser said, they should rethink the “reward.” Chances are though, that if you can afford an Uber, you’d pick it over BART.
