In a move to get more people on BART during the holiday season, BART will be handing out 120,000 free tickets this morning at six stations.
From 6 am to 9 am patrons at the Downtown Berkeley station, Oakland 12th Street, Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell and Civic Center stations can grab tickets.
BART will give away two tickets to 60,000 commuters. The tickets are good for one-way trips on the next three weekends.
“The free tickets will help Bay Area residents ease into the holidays by taking BART on their shopping trips,” BART officials said in an announcement. “BART helps shoppers avoid traffic, city parking and arrived relaxed and ready to hit the stores. BART has plenty of free weekend parking to make the trip even more convenient.
The give away will cost BART about $386,400 in ticket value (assuming average ride cost of $3.22), BART spokesperson Linton Johnson told Streetsblog, but may increase weekend ridership overall. “In the end, people don’t make just one shopping trip, if we can increase just a percent or two, then we’ve improved our overall picture,” he told Streetsblog.
