SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Super Bowl 50 is just a few days away, and more than a million people are expected to visit San Francisco this week.
And that is putting added pressure on the Bay Area’s public transportation systems. KRON’s Charles Clifford was in San Francisco with a breakdown of how the largest transit agencies are handling the added passengers.
As the Super Bowl draws near, more and more people are expected to visit San Francisco. The added visitors, along with the closure of a large portion of the Financial District for Super Bowl City, has pushed many people onto public transportation.
BART said that ridership has been well above average all this week, and in fact, on Wednesday, the transit agency said it had their sixth-highest ridership day ever.
On an average weekday, just over 431,000 people take BART, and yesterday, 471,663 people used the system.
In San Francisco, Muni said that their ridership is up as well. Last weekend, it saw about 170,000 riders on Saturday and Sunday.
That’s about double of a normal weekend. On Monday and Tuesday, ridership was up by 10 and 12 percent. On Wednesday, they saw a 12 percent increase.
Out on the bay, San Francisco Bay Ferry said they have expanded service to accommodate Super Bowl City Festivities. On Wednesday, 8,406 people rode the ferries, which is a 31 percent increase over the average weekday.
And it’s not over yet. BART said they’re expecting high ridership through Sunday. In response, they are adding as many extra cars as possible to meet demand.
They are also bringing in extra BART officers and station agents.
Muni said they will be adding extra service where needed, including after concerts, in order to accommodate extra riders.