History of The Bay Area Rapid Transit - San Francisco International Airport Extension

San Francisco International Airport Extension

The $1.5 billion extension of BART southward to San Francisco International Airport's (SFO) Garage G, adjacent to the International Terminal, was opened to the public on June 22, 2003. Ground was broken on the project in November 1997, adding four new stations including the SFO station, South San Francisco, San Bruno, and Millbrae. The Millbrae station has a cross-platform connection to Caltrain, the first of its kind west of the Mississippi. The airport extension used to run from SFO to Millbrae station, and operated with two train operators—one on each end of the train—between the San Bruno and Millbrae stations to reduce dwell time at SFO during peak hours; the train entered the SFO stub-end station under the control of the primary operator and exited in the opposite direction towards Millbrae controlled by the secondary. Since SFO is now the terminus of the line that serves it, this practice was discontinued as it would not reduce the in-transit time for any trips.

The airport extension project added 8.7 miles (14.0 km) of new railway; 6.1 miles (9.8 km) of subway, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of aerial, and 1.4 miles (2.3 km) of at-grade track. The launch point was the Daly City Tailtrack project, which extended the tracks further south of the existing terminus in San Francisco and was completed in the 1980s.

The project has not been without problems, however. The SFO extension currently draws 35,107 daily riders, significantly less than its target of 50,000 average weekday riders. Another significant problem of note had been the rocky relationship between BART and San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) which was not a part of the BART district, but by agreement was responsible for the extension's operating costs. Fueled by the reality that the extension was not paying for itself, the acrimony between BART and SamTrans over changes and reductions in bus and train service reached a high. BART wanted to increase service to attract ridership, while SamTrans wanted to reduce service to trim costs. Thus, service along the extension was changed several times. Eventually SamTrans and BART worked out a deal in which SamTrans paid BART $32 million, plus approximately $2 million a year, and BART assumed all costs and control of operating the extension. The latest revision to the SFO service has Pittsburg-Bay Point trains running to SFO at all times. During peak times, Richmond trains will run to Millbrae, with Dublin-Pleasanton trains terminating at Daly City, and during off-peak hours (nights and weekends), Dublin-Pleasanton trains will run to Millbrae (replacing Richmond service on the extension). Consequently, the new routing requires passengers connecting between San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport to make an additional transfer. In addition, the cessation of direct BART service between Millbrae and SFO requires Caltrain passengers wanting to travel to the airport to make an additional transfer at San Bruno Station.

Many critics of the SFO Extension contend the project was merely a cover for BART's ultimate goal of ringing the bay, eliminating Caltrain altogether.

The most use the new line has gotten on any single day was 37,200; the SFO Station receives an average of 10,700 passengers daily.