BART to offer rewards program aimed to alleviate overcrowding

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- BART announced that it plans to roll out a new program this Spring called BART Perks intended to alleviate overcrowding.

So how does it work? It's been said many times before. "It's too crowded and they don't have enough cars," one woman said.

BART ridership has gone up significantly, with 430,000 trips on an average weekday, an increase of 100,000 trips in the past five years. "So we're trying to do everything we can this year to ease crowding," a BART official said.

While they wait for the 775 new train cars to arrive in about a year, BART wants to do something now.

The program is called BART Perks. Commuters traveling outside the busiest hours from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in the morning would be awarded points.

They are looking to sign up more than 1,200 people using a Clipper Card or a Pay Pal account. "You can redeem these points for small cash prices or you can play some oneline games that we have and you can get up to $100," BART spokesperson Alicia Trost said.

The money to pay for the program comes from a federal grant. BART said reducing the amount of commuters by more than 1,200 people during that peak time would make a huge difference in the morning commute. "People are coming in on the old model, which requires to be here at 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m. and leave at 5 p.m. We don't need that, we can work from home, we can work form remote offices," BART passenger Ben Bartlett said.

BART is calling on people to spread out the rush. "Yeah, we can spread out the rush, it would be ideal," one man said.

It starts in the Spring and goes on for six months.