SAN FRANCISCO — Want a shorter wait at airport security? Riding BART to San Francisco International Airport could one day be your ticket to the front of the line.
In an effort to make taking the train to SFO more popular — and woo passengers away from Uber, Lyft and taxis — BART officials are proposing a plan that would give riders access to the coveted “priority” lane at airport security checkpoints.
It’s the first of several rider perks BART officials hope to offer, amid trends that have shown ridership falling and passenger complaints on the rise.
If the SFO program is successful, the initiative could be expanded to the Oakland International Airport and beyond: BART’s plans call for expanding rider perks to “stadiums, hotels and other businesses” at some point in the future. Spokesman James Allison said riders who take the train to Oakland A’s games or other stadium events, for instance, could similarly get access to priority lanes entering the Coliseum or Oakland Arena.
It’s not clear how soon any of this could become reality, however. Allison said the transit agency does not have a timeline for implementing the rider perks, and a spokesman for SFO said that while the airport is in talks with BART, it has not yet entered into any official agreements.
The proposal for the SFO pilot program goes before BART’s board of directors next week for initial approval.
Under the plan, airport workers stationed at the entrance to the Transportation Security Administration’s priority lanes would carry handheld scanners that would read Clipper cards. Passengers who rode BART to the airport would tap their card on the scanners, allowing the TSA agents to verify that the traveler had taken the train to the airport, and subsequently usher him or her into the fast-tracked line for the usual airport security screening.
The BART initiative would be separate from the TSA’s PreCheck program, which offers expedited screenings to “low-risk” travelers that have passed a Department of Homeland Security background check.
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