BART weighs contingency plan with station closures, fare hikes if ballot measure fails

BART’s Board of Directors met Thursday to get a clearer picture of what contingency plans are available to the cash-strapped agency if a ballot measure planned for this November fails to give it a financial lifeline. 

The transit agency is facing immediate and long-term annual budget shortfalls of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the Board must settle on a plan to make severe cuts and even close stations in case the ballot measure, which would raise the sales tax in counties where BART operates, doesn’t pass.