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Skip to content Sections SEARCH U.S. SUBSCRIBE FOR $1/WEEKLog in Wednesday, June 21, 2023 Today’s Paper SUBSCRIBE FOR $1/WEEK U.S.|Why California Transit Agencies Are Rebounding at Such Different Rates https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/21/us/california-transit-agencies.html * Give this article * * Advertisement Continue reading the main story Supported by Continue reading the main story California Today WHY CALIFORNIA TRANSIT AGENCIES ARE REBOUNDING AT SUCH DIFFERENT RATES Who rides public transportation has shifted since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. * Give this article * * * Read in app By Soumya Karlamangla June 21, 2023, 9:00 a.m. ET Image Remote work is enduring for many office workers, and few major American transit systems have suffered more because of it than Bay Area Rapid Transit.Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York Times In California, already famous for its love of automobiles, our dependence on cars only deepened during the coronavirus pandemic, as millions of people stopped commuting by train or bus. Bay Area Rapid Transit, which for decades catered to workers headed to downtown San Francisco from the suburbs, has been hit particularly hard by the shift to remote work, and it is now scrambling for ways out of a deep financial hole. The ridership on the 131-mile network these days is only about 35 percent of what it was before the pandemic, according to the American Public Transportation Association. This dismal rebound isn’t universal across California. The San Francisco-focused Muni system, Los Angeles’s buses and trains, and the AC Transit bus service based in Oakland have all been doing much better in 2023 so far, carrying closer to two-thirds of their prepandemic ridership. On the other hand, Caltrain, the Silicon Valley commuter rail service, has been faring even worse than BART, attracting only one-quarter of its former ridership, according to the transportation association. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The variance among these transit systems reveals something about how public transportation functions in our state — and perhaps offers some clues as to its future. For example, take Los Angeles’s sprawling Metro system. Compared with BART, largely a commuter rail line for affluent workers, the Metro agency in Los Angeles, which offers bus, subway and light rail service, serves a lower-income population that is less likely to be able to work from home or to afford a car. Metro’s rebound has been much greater than BART’s in part because so many of its customers have no other option. In April, ridership on buses in Los Angeles — by far the most popular mode of mass transit in the city — was almost 80 percent of what it had been in April 2019, according to agency data. The Mercury News reported last summer that more people were using public transportation in Los Angeles than in the Bay Area, a historic reversal. Brian D. Taylor, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at U.C.L.A., noted that public transit had long sought to serve two distinct populations: workers with means, who can be lured out of their cars if public services are convenient enough, and lower-income people who rely on public transit as their only way to get around. Up until the pandemic, BART was thriving alongside a booming tech industry, making a good case for the power of the first group, Taylor told me. Ridership on BART and Caltrain, which also served technology workers, was growing while other California transit agencies were lagging, he said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “Then the pandemic hits, and the script flips entirely,” Taylor said. “Downtown San Francisco has had the slowest recovery of any downtown in the country, so the shining bright spot of public transit in California suddenly became the biggest Achilles’ heel.” MORE ON CALIFORNIA * Raging Waters: After a parade of epic winter storms, several counties in Central California have banned recreation on rivers fed by melting Sierra Nevada snow because of dangerous conditions. * Hiding Behind the Hedges: In Los Angeles, wealthy people will pay a fortune to protect their private lives from prying eyes. At least leafy green walls are good for the environment. * London Breed: The mayor of San Francisco discussed the city’s struggles and the challenges that lie ahead as employees continue to work from home. * Westfield: The mall owner has decided to walk away from a prominent property in San Francisco, whose downtown has seen a mass exodus of retailers since the start of the pandemic. He added: “In many ways, L.A. rebounded faster and has recovered more because it didn’t have as many affluent riders to lose.” There’s also been a shift in the kinds of trips people are making. Instead of commuting to the office in rush hour every morning, people might be more likely to pop out in the middle of the day to run to the grocery store or pick up their children from school, or get on the train to meet friends in the evening. To adapt, BART is planning to shift its schedule to reduce weekday rush-hour service and offer more weekend and evening trips instead. There’s also the question of where a bus or train makes stops. Rail systems tend to serve fewer, more concentrated destinations, while bus systems stretch farther into neighborhoods and reach a more diverse set of locations. BART mainly shuttles people between the suburbs and San Francisco’s downtown commercial centers, while the Los Angeles bus system stretches into all pockets of the city. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “It’s like a scrambled egg, where people are working and living and going in all different directions,” said Ethan Elkind, an environmental law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who wrote a book on the history of the Los Angeles subway system. “It’s a different ridership and a different mix of destinations. And BART really lived and died — and is mostly dying now — by the office environment of downtown San Francisco.” For more: * Read my article on how transit agencies are trying to reinvent themselves. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Image Advertisement Continue reading the main story THE REST OF THE NEWS * Remote work: Worker mobility has been driven by remote workers who are seeking new housing in either the same metro areas or in other parts of the country. San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles are among the major U.S. cities with the highest net losses of remote workers. * Return-to-office push: Employers are trying incentives like $10 donations to the charity of an employee’s choice — and consequences like poor performance evaluations if workers don’t make the trek in. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA * Residential village: The University of California, San Diego, will start building a 2,400-bed residential village and a large student union this week, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. * Majors assault trial: The actor Jonathan Majors appeared in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday morning at a brief hearing that set an August trial date for his misdemeanor assault case. * Potential disbarment: The lawyer John Eastman, a leading architect of some of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election, faces possible disbarment in disciplinary proceedings in Los Angeles, The Associated Press reports. * Bused migrants: More than 22,000 migrants have been bused to California from Texas, and Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, said his office was looking into the conditions in which the migrants were transported, The Los Angeles Times reports. * Search for Sands: The search has resumed for the British actor Julian Sands, who was reported missing in January in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, CNN Entertainment reports. CENTRAL CALIFORNIA * Budget: The trustees of the Fresno Unified School District are weighing a 2023-24 budget that tops $2 billion — an increase of just under $300 million from the previous school year, The Fresno Bee reports. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA * Mpox: Public health experts in San Francisco are worried about the potential for another wave of cases of mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Image The Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in Cambria.Credit...George Rose/Getty Images WHERE WE’RE TRAVELING Today’s tip comes from Evelyn Henry, who recommends visiting Cambria on the Central Coast: “Quiet, quaint, full of relaxing places to visit, good food and historical parks close by. Scenery is amazing.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TELL US We’re almost halfway through 2023! What are the best things that have happened to you so far this year? What have been your wins? Or your unexpected joys, big or small? Tell me at CAToday@nytimes.com. Please include your full name and the city where you live. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement Continue reading the main story AND BEFORE YOU GO, SOME GOOD NEWS Tanishq Mathew Abraham, a 19-year-old from Sacramento, has become one of the world’s youngest Ph.D. holders, after successfully defending his dissertation last month, KTXL-TV reports. Abraham, who studied biomechanical engineering at the University of California, Davis, credited his parents and sister with helping him achieve his goal. (His sister is also gifted: She graduated from U.C. Davis at 16.) “Without their love and support, I wouldn’t be here today,” he told the news outlet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword. Briana Scalia and Johnna Margalotti contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Soumya Karlamangla is the lead writer for the California Today newsletter, where she provides daily insights and updates from her home state. @skarlamangla * Give this article * * * Read in app Advertisement Continue reading the main story SITE INDEX SITE INFORMATION NAVIGATION * © 2023 The New York Times Company * NYTCo * Contact Us * Accessibility * Work with us * Advertise * T Brand Studio * Your Ad Choices * Privacy Policy * Terms of Service * Terms of Sale * Site Map * Canada * International * Help * Subscriptions Enjoy unlimited access to all of The Times. See subscription options