Analysis: BART Ridership and Racial Disparities

BART ridership under COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders has fallen less significantly at stations located in neighborhoods with a higher percentage of Black and Latinx residents, according to an analysis by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. The analysis of year-over-year change in BART entries by station in the months following the statewide shelter-in-place order shows that ridership was less impacted at stations located in predominately Black and Latinx Zip codes. Station entries across the whole BART system dropped 93% year-over-year in May, but the loss in ridership was not consistent across all stations. Ridership at Orinda Station, which is located in a Zip code where 72% of the population is white, saw a 97% drop in year-over-year ridership. In comparison, Richmond Station, which is located in a Zip code where 75% of the population is Black or Latinx, saw an 82% drop in year-over-year ridership. This trend holds true across the system: the higher the share of Black and Latinx residents, the less significant the decline in ridership. Read the full analysis>>