BART plans to ease overcrowding by removing some seats

BART officials are proposing removing seven seats on one side of each of 380 selected railcars, leaving a row of single seats — and extra room to stand.

The idea is to make more room for passengers during crowded commute periods, when trains are so packed that many riders can’t even squeeze onto a train.

Each seat that’s removed from a train car makes room for three standing passengers, said Paul Oversier, BART’s assistant general manager for operations.

BART’s staff told the agency’s Board of Directors on Thursday that it is ready to start pulling seats from the trains, a $1.6 million project it hopes to fund with a federal grant.

The situation is particularly dire for passengers trying to board at Embarcadero or Montgomery stations in the evening or in West Oakland, and sometimes at the downtown Oakland stations, in the morning, said Aaron Weinstein, BART’s chief marketing officer.

The situation will only get worse once more passengers start riding BART when the Warm Springs extension opens in the coming months.

Surveys found that riders preferred the cars with a row of single seats on one side over those with seats removed by the doors or with a cluster of seats taken out at mid-car.

Just 38 percent of surveyed passengers aboard the cars with eight seats removed mid-car rated the ride as better, and 49 percent of those riding in cars with eight fewer seats near the doors said the alterations made for a better ride.

“I think having less seats would be a huge inconvenience,” said Stef Arteaga, 31, a content acquisition manager for a streaming video company in San Mateo County.

While BART’s directors seemed to support the seat-removal strategy, suburban Directors Murray and Joel Keller persuaded them to hold off on a decision to listen to public comment, discuss the plan and vote on it before allowing crews to start ripping out seats.