bart_generic.jpgBART is expanding its weekday evening service on the Richmond-Millbrae line starting today, agency officials said.

Four additional trains will run in each direction on the line during the hour between 7 and 8 p.m. Riders along the line can expect trains roughly every seven and a half minutes, rather than every fifteen minutes, according to BART spokesman Jim Allison.

The move was prompted by increasing ridership on the transit system, BART officials said.

“Increasing service on the Richmond-Millbrae line by an extra hour will not only help ease crowding for our passengers on that line, it will also help passengers on other lines by increasing the number of trains serving San Francisco,” said BART board president John McPartland.

Adding the extra trains will cost $607,741 in labor and maintenance costs. BART had a surplus of $30 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, mainly due to increased ridership, Allison said.

BART set weekday ridership records in August, with an average of 384,295 trips per weekday. It also saw four all-time peak-ridership days in recent weeks.

Beth Winegarner, Bay City News

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