The public transit agency recorded its highest monthly ridership levels since 2019, last month.
It’s a good sign but the numbers are still half what the system was averaging before the pandemic.
BART relies heavily on passenger revenue from fares and parking fees but its not enough for the budget deficit its facing in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Since 2020, the system has been kept afloat by federal and state assistance but now its future is in the hands of a regional ballot measure.
The measure, called "Connect Bay Area," would increase the sales tax in San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa county by a half-cent and in San Francisco by a full cent.
It would generate an estimated $980 million dollars a year that would be shared by multiple regional transit systems but a third of it would go to BART.
Without it, BART could cut as many as 15 stations. MUNI is also at risk of service cuts.
