=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2004/06= /15/MNGNJ76B0L1.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, June 15, 2004 (SF Chronicle) Spare the air, open the gates/Free BART rides set for 5 smoggy days Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer Morning commuters will get free rides on BART on particularly smoggy days this summer under a unique program that aims to clean the skies by getting people to abandon their cars and ride public transportation. The free-ride program is the Bay Area's first attempt at a regional incentive program to use mass transit and reduce air pollution. Although other cities have tried something similar -- with mixed results -- local officials say it is the biggest free-ride experiment yet. "This has never been done at this kind of level before anywhere in the United States," said Teresa Lee, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which is under pressure to improve the region's air quality. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission will pay BART to throw open i= ts fare gates and let everyone ride free during the morning commute for the first five weekday "Spare the Air" days of the year -- when the Bay Area is in danger of violating federal air quality standards. Those days typically occur during the summer and early fall when meteorologists forecast a high pressure system bringing hot weather, long hours of sunshine and few breezes -- prime conditions for a buildup of polluting ozone. "Anyone who gets to a BART station between the start of service (about 4: 30 a.m., varying by station) and 9 a.m., they can ride for free," said Linton Johnson, a BART spokesman. That could save riders anywhere from BART's minimum fare of $1.25 for a short hop to $6.05 for a journey from Pittsburg/Bay Point to Millbrae. The average BART ride is 13 miles, and the average fare is $2.65. BART riders who take advantage of the free ride to work will have to pay for their ride home. The program, which is expected to cost $2 million, is an effort to avoid violating clean-air standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- an offense that could cause the region to lose billions in federal transportation funds. "No one's making money off of this (program)," said Johnson, "but we're trying to prevent the Bay Area from losing money." The money to pay for the free rides comes from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which had set the cash aside to defend itself against a pair of lawsuits that contended the regional transportation planning agency's spending plans failed to adequately reduce air pollution. When the commission prevailed in those lawsuits without spending the defense money, officials chose to use it for the free-ride program, said spokesman Randy Rentschler. "We could have done nothing, or we could have done something unique and different," he said. "We chose to try something different." The program is the first region-wide attempt to clean the air by getting motorists out of their cars and onto mass transit. The Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority offered free bus rides in the Tri-Valley area last summer on Spare the Air days. Officials said they saw ridership increases of 15 percent to 17 percent. The transit agency, which operates Wheels buses, will offer free rides on Spare the Air days again this summer. Free ride programs have also been offered in conjunction with bad air da= ys in Vancouver, Portland, Kansas City, St. Louis, Dallas and New Jersey, with mixed results, said Rentschler. But with 100,000 commuters riding BART in the morning, the Bay Area program would be the most ambitious, Lee said. In another first, BART will wrap seven of its distinctive silver aluminum cars in a colorful sky blue sign that reads "Spare the Air, Ride BART." The cars will most likely ride the rails on the Pittsburg/Bay Point and Dublin/Pleasanton lines, Johnson said. BART has steadfastly rejected offers from companies to pay to wrap its trains in commercial advertising, Johnson said, but the Spare the Air campaign is a cooperative effort between public agencies. Spare the Air days are called when the air quality district's meteorologists determine, shortly after noon, that the next day's weather conditions are likely to produce a bad air day. That gives transit and air quality officials little time to promote the free rides, said Rentschler, so there is no way of predicting whether the experimental program will be a success. Transit and anti-pollution officials have long wondered how significant a jump in ridership they could produce by eliminating or sharply reducing fares, and how much that would reduce traffic. "A lot of this is (an experiment) to see if people can adjust," Rentschl= er said. "Hopefully, we can get people to change their habits." A promotional effort by the online bank ING offered free BART rides duri= ng the morning commute on Dec. 4, and transit agency officials estimated that they saw a 5 percent increase in ridership through the Transbay Tube. But that free ride was a commercial gimmick -- not a public effort to cut pollution -- and came during a month in which BART ridership traditionally sags. BART carries an average of 310,000 riders each weekday with about 100,000 entering the system between its opening and 9 a.m. BART has shortened many of its trains as it copes with a budget crisis a= nd slumping ridership. But Johnson said the agency will add cars to trains on Spare the Air days to handle the crowds that may take advantage of the free ride. "We're going to throw everything we have out there on Spare the Air days, " he said. E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --------------= -------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle