BART Hits Record Numbers, Thanks to Giants World Series Parade

Joe Eskenazi

Public transit-riders, unite!

​As SF Weekly wrote during the throes of the World Series, Arlington, Texas, the home of the Rangers, is the largest city in America without public transportation.

So if you ever wanted to find yet another contrast between the Bay Area and the Metroplex, here's one: Yesterday's Giants victory parade led to BART's heaviest ridership of all time. The intercity rail line shattered its previous one-day total of 442,100 passengers when 522,200 riders, many of them clad in orange, passed through the fare gates on Wednesday.

This comes as no great shock to anyone who took in all or part of yesterday's festivities. Lines to purchase BART tickets stretched up the stairs and onto the surface; they resembled the queues for the men's room at a Super Bowl.

Prior to yesterday's Giants cavalcade, the top three BART ridership days -- and six of the top 10 -- were on Bay Bridge closure days. Sadly, the Giants have knocked Beyonce out of the top 10.

So she's no longer bottom on the list of great ridership. But, as always, Beyonce is top on the list of great bottoms. 

1. Oct. 29, 2009; 442,100; Emergency Bay Bridge closure
2. Oct. 30, 2009; 437,700; Emergency Bay Bridge closure
3. Oct. 28, 2009; 437,200; Emergency Bay Bridge closure
4. Sept. 8, 2008; 405,400; Oakland Raiders, San Francisco Giants games
5. Sept. 4, 2009; 395,300; Scheduled Bay Bridge closure; A's game
6. June 19, 2008; 394,400; Spare The Air Day
7. Nov. 2, 2009; 393,200; Bay Bridge reopened at 9 a.m. after closure
8. April 9, 2008: 391,900; San Francisco Giants game; Olympic Torch run
9. sept. 25, 2008; 390,600; Oracle Open World; San Francisco Giants game
10. Aug. 31, 2007; 389,400; Oakland A's; Beyonce concert; Bay Bridge closure

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