2 A.M. Rush Hour at 24th Street

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By LILY MIHALIK

Bewildered BART users rushed from station to station Friday night trying to make the last train home at 2 a.m. But if riders were confused, businesses were delighted with a surge in customers.UC Berkeley graduate student Bagassi Koura, visiting from the East Bay, said he mistakenly went to the 16th Street BART and then had to wait an hour for the next train at 24th Street.  “When the train came … we all packed in. It was like rush hour, but at 3 in the morning.”

Koura wasn’t the only rider to make that mistake. Many were unaware that BART was only running 24-hour service to 14 of its 43 stations, according to BART officials.

Natalie Tsui, an Oakland resident who commutes to Rasputin Music on Powell Street, had come into the Mission to hang out with friends after work. She, too, mistakenly went to 16th Street, before being redirected to 24th Street to catch the 2 a.m. train.

“No one was following the rules, people were dangling their legs over the yellow tape, like it was a ledge and jeering at BART announcements,”  she said. “When the train, came everyone was packed in like sardines, and like 50 percent of everyone on the train was drunk. People were just going crazy.”

Businesses also felt the craze.

“It’s been really busy. We did an incredible amount of sales,” said Brandon Fosse, a cook at Arinell Pizza on Valencia Street. “We sold $1,600 last night. Usually we do around $1,200.”

“We sold double what we did last Friday,” said Sylvia Venegas, a line cook at Valencia Street’s La Cumbre Taqueria, which stays open until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. “I didn’t realize the BART was running longer hours. When are they doing that?”

It was a common question.

“We made a huge effort to let people know the schedule,” said BART spokesman Jim Allison. “We printed 50,000 fliers, gave news releases to all major news outlets a week in advance, and posted it on our website.”

Currently, the 24th and Mission BART station has two posted notices sighting the extended hours. “We used to have fliers, but they’re all gone,” said a BART worker at 24th and Mission who refused to give his name. (“We aren’t allowed to talk to media,” he explained.)

“Honestly it would be cool to run late and give partygoers a way to get home, but there is more risk of them taking a dive onto the tracks and we’d be low staffed during those hours,” the BART employee added.

Regardless of limited service, the system still raked in 395,300 riders between the hours of 3 a.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday; 215,200 were transbay users, according to Bart.gov.

“We haven’t had many complaints. Well, maybe about which stations are open or closed and why,” said Operator 19, declining to give more than her first name, Linda. “They wanted to spread the open stations out, so more people had service.”

“I think the BART should run all night at least Friday and Saturday,” she added.

Not everyone agreed.

“It’s always been a money looser,” said Allison, speaking of the special 24-hour schedule. “The way the system was built it’s not practical or possible.”

BART’s traditional schedule allows four hours of maintenance each night. “A packed 10-car train can hold a thousand people. That’s a good chunk of money, but it’s not enough to keep the whole system running,” said Allison.

Over the years BART has run its round-the-clock service three times. Twice on Labor Day weekend, 2007 and 2008, and once on the weekend of June 3, 2006 — all due to bridge work.  Under an agreement with Caltrans, BART is refunded any deficit created by running longer hours.

“We keep in mind the greatest good,” said Allison, the BART spokesman. “BART was made to keep single-passenger vehicles off the road during commute hours and still get them to work.”