After more than a year carrying a tiny fraction of the crowds that once crammed its trains, BART’s long-awaited pandemic recovery is now well underway.

Ridership in the transit system has nearly doubled over the past six months — from about 42,000 weekday trips on average in the first week of January, when California was enduring a devastating winter COVID surge, to over 80,000 between June 28 and July 2.

Thursday saw 85,181 riders, the highest figure since March of 2020. And the climb is expected to continue as more people return to in-person work and events and nightlife kick back into gear.

While thousands of people never stopped riding public transportation during the pandemic, plenty of others are returning to BART for the first time since March of 2020 — and might notice some significant changes.

Here’s a guide to what’s new on BART:

No more packed cars

If the memory of cramming shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow riders in the Before Times makes you cringe, don’t worry.

“The trains have not really been crowded,” said BART board President Mark Foley, who went from riding five days a week before lockdown to taking occasional trips through the pandemic.

BART regularly posts data for how crowded its trains are — they show there’s almost always enough room for passengers to stay six feet apart from one another, and even at rush hour riders wary of close contact can keep at least three feet of social distance.

Parking is a breeze

Unlike the days when snagging a spot at some stations required arriving well before rush hour, or hoping your name rose to the top of the massive wait list for a reserved space, you’ll now find plenty of room in BART lots.

BART says patrons should be able to find open spaces throughout the day, even at popular stations that once filled in the early morning hours.

And if those empty lots prove fleeting as more riders return, the wait lists for parking permits has disappeared at most stations.

Masks are still required

Public transportation is one of the few places in daily life where federal regulations still require everyone — including those who are fully vaccinated — to mask up. You’ll need to keep your mask on any time you’re on a BART train, in a station or waiting on a platforms, including those that are outdoors.

The same rules apply on airplanes, buses, ferries and other modes of transit.

Service is reduced, but rebounding

For now, BART is using a base schedule in which trains run every 30 minutes, with the final trips starting at 9 p.m. BART is running additional trains during commute hours on some busier lines, and has started offering limited service later at night.

But the reduced service has drawn complaints from riders who have to endure long waits and can’t count on BART to get home as nightlife reopens.

That should change on Aug. 2, when BART restores most pandemic service cuts: Trains will run every 15 minutes between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays, and the system will stay open until midnight on weeknights and Saturdays. Trains will run every half hour from 8 p.m. to midnight.

Saturdays will see more frequent service, but Sundays will remain pared-back, with trains every 30 minutes and a 9 p.m. closure.

You can ride to San Jose

BART’s brightest moment of 2020 came when its first trains rolled out of sparkling new stations in Milpitas and North San Jose’s Berryessa neighborhood, realizing decades of work to bring service to the South Bay.

For San Jose and Milpitas riders, the two new stations boast impressive pieces of art work and architecture, tons of parking, access to bike lanes and connections to the Valley Transportation Authority system.

For others, you might just notice that the BART map looks a little different and your “Warm Springs/South Fremont” train has been rebranded to “Berryessa/North San Jose.”

More BART staff on trains

Years of pained debates over how keep riders safe in the BART system came to a head during last summer’s protests over police brutality and racism.

Riders could see the result of those discussions in the form of an increased BART staff presence — including both traditional police officers and civilian workers.

BART is hiring 10 new “Ambassadors,” doubling the size of the program that started just before the pandemic in which unarmed staff patrol trains and stations. The system is also bringing aboard a new team of Crisis Intervention Specialists trained to handle calls involving people with suspected mental health issues.

Meanwhile, BART Police have added officers to the department’s “Train Teams,” and put a bigger emphasis on patrolling within the system.

No more paper tickets

You can still use those old blue paper tickets to ride BART. But as the system moves to an all-Clipper card future, those once ubiquitous tickets’ days are coming to an end.

BART is no longer selling new standard paper tickets or letting people add value to existing ones, except for the “add fare” machines for riders with insufficient value to complete a trip. All stations now have vending machines that sell plastic Clipper cards instead.

BART continues to offer special discounted paper tickets for seniors, children and people with disabilities.

In September, riders who swipe a Clipper card will get half off their fares.

You can pay your fare with your phone

This spring, both Apple and Google added Clipper to the mobile wallet systems for iPhones and Android devices. That means riders on BART and other Bay Area transit systems can pay their fare by tapping their phones at Clipper readers, just like they would a physical card.

You can find Clipper in Apple Wallet or Google Pay, and you can even transfer the balance from an existing card to your mobile account. Just be warned: If you do that, the physical card will be deactivated.