BART Hoping Cash Prizes Will Help Thin Crowded AM Commute

An experimental BART program is trying to take the edge off the morning commute and make it a little less like a daily attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the biggest crowd of disgruntled commuters stuffed into a train car.

On Tuesday, the transit agency launched BART Perks, a program designed to reduce crowding by offering riders cash to take trains during nonpeak hours.

BART Perks works like a game where the goal is to collect points. Riders who join the program using their Clipper Card will earn a point for every mile they ride BART, no matter the time of day. Commuters get up to six times as many points for starting their trips during two bonus hours, 6:30-7:30 a.m. and 8:30-9:30 a.m.

Points can either be cashed in using PayPal at a rate of $1 per 1,000 points or used to play an online game called Spin to Win, which offers the chance for additional points or cash prizes of up to $100.

The program is a pilot funded for six months. BART is hoping to enroll 10,000 people, particularly transbay commuters, a group the agency says has increased by 43 percent since 2010.

BART Perks, which is also sponsored by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, is modeled after a program in Singapore that BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost says led to a 5 percent reduction in morning rush-hour ridership.

Even if BART achieves similar results, Trost says the effects won’t necessarily be obvious to riders.

“People may not even feel the difference, but the idea is to see if our riders are open to it and then possibly do it at a larger scale,” she said.

Trost says BART is trying to ride the wave of social gaming to get people excited about the program.

“It’s not large amounts of money being rewarded to you, but it’s the gaming aspect that makes people want to do it and sharing it when you do get a reward,” she said.

BART says employers can also play a key role in the program’s success by allowing flexible schedules for workers and encouraging them to enroll.

Michael Cunningham of the Bay Area Council says companies have real incentives to promote the program.

“Employers are having trouble maintaining and growing their workforce because commutes have gotten so terrible,” he said.