Oakland Airport Connector

On June 12, 2014, BART's board of directors voted to set the base fare for travel on the BART to Oakland International Airport AGT system at US$6.[8][10] The board left open the possibility that temporary promotional fares could be introduced in the future. In addition, seniors, people with disabilities, and children age 12 and under will be eligible for BART's 62.5% discount. As of November 2016, the line operated with a farebox recovery ratio of 96%.[11] This lower-than-expected revenue, in part due to competition from ridesharing companies, resulted in a net operating cost of US$860,000 between 2014 and 2016.[12]

AirBART
AirBART bus at the airport around 2008
Overview
System	Bay Area Rapid Transit
Status	Defunct
Began service	1977
Ended service	2014
Route
Start	Coliseum station
End	Oakland International Airport
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	Every 10 minutes
Operates	5:00 am – 12:00 am 8:00 am – 12:00 am (Sundays)

On July 1, 1977, BART began a shuttle bus service called AirBART that ran to the airport terminals from street level at Coliseum station (thereafter named Coliseum/Oakland Airport). The shuttle ride took ten minutes and cost 50 cents.[13] AirBART was a joint project of BART and the Port of Oakland, which owns and operates the airport.[14][15]

As with other BART-branded connecting buses, AirBART was run by private operators under contract. It was operated by Veolia Transport (Shuttleport) from 2001 to 2012, then by Ampco until 2014.[16][17][15] The diesel bus fleet was replaced by compressed natural gas buses around 2008.[18]

At the time of replacement, AirBART ran from 5:00am (8:00am on Sundays) to midnight – approximately matching BART operating hours – with nominal headways of ten minutes at most times. Travel time was estimated as 15 minutes.[19] However, travel times and frequency were inconsistent due to traffic congestion from commuters and Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum events.[20]^: S-8 Passengers were required to pay the $3 fare with exact change or a $3 BART ticket from dedicated fare machines.[19] Because of a dispute between BART and the Port of Oakland about who would pay to modify fare equipment, Clipper Card readers were never installed on the buses.[21]

Ridership was about 2,800 per day in 2008, but dropped to 1,900 daily riders by 2014.[22][23] AirBART service was discontinued on November 22, 2014, when the Oakland Airport Connector opened, though buses were kept on standby for one week in case the new line experienced failures.[15] The buses were then transferred to airport parking shuttle buses to replace diesel buses.[15]

The US$484 million[4] for funding the project came from local government funds (US$275 million, or 57%), state funds (US$79 million, 16%), federal funds (US$25 million, 5%), and BART deficit spending (US$106 million, 22%).

In late 2009, just prior to the award of the contract to construct the system, the project lost US$70 million of funding because the US Federal Transit Administration (FTA) found that BART was out of conformance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The FTA cited that BART did not complete the necessary analysis to determine if the future change in service would disproportionately impact low-income or minority communities. The FTA forced the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to reallocate the funding.[24]

By September 2010, all necessary federal and state funding for the Oakland Airport Connector had been re-established, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on October 20, 2010, featuring key administrators: BART Director Carole Ward Allen, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, State Assemblyman Sandré Swanson, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid.[25]