By Khalida Sarwari
Several Bay Area transportation agencies are offering extended service hours and/or free rides to New Year’s Eve revelers.
Bay Area Rapid Transit will stay open three hours later than normal on New Year’s Eve with BART service running until 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Trains will run at their normal intervals during the extended hours.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will also extend service until 3 a.m. on VTA’s Express Bus Line 180, which runs between San Jose’s Diridon station and the Fremont BART station. Light rail service will also be extended on Alum Rock to Santa Teresa and Mountain View to Winchester lines.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will offer extended Muni Metro service until 4 a.m. between the Embarcadero and West Portal stations and extra service on Muni Owl bus routes from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.
Three agencies will offer free rides on New Year’s Eve through New Year’s Day.
The VTA will provide free bus and light rail service from 7 p.m. through 3:59 a.m.
Muni will provide free service from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
SamTrans and Caltrain will offer free rides beginning at 11 p.m. until 2 a.m. Caltrain will operate extra free service departing San Francisco at 1 a.m.
On New Year’s Day, BART and the VTA will operate on a Sunday/holiday schedule.
BART is offering $6 New Year’s Eve Flash Pass, which offers unlimited rides on BART from 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve until 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
