Saturday BART forecast: Record crowds

Big events in San Francisco and Oakland on Saturday could make for record-breaking ridership on BART.

Some events are tied to this Sunday’s Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium, while others were scheduled regardless, potentially creating a perfect storm that could pack trains throughout the day.

The biggest events begin early in the day. At 1 p.m. the Super City 50 Urban EDM Festival gets going at the O.co Coliseum. As many as 20,000 people are expected to attend that concert, and could still be leaving by the time Golden State Warriors fans start arriving in the evening.

At 6 p.m., the Warriors will host the Oklahoma City Thunder in a hotly anticipated matchup between two of the top teams in the league. The Warriors are first in the Western conference with a 45-4 record and the Thunder are third at 38-13.

In San Francisco, three concerts are scheduled along the waterfront that could draw large crowds. Singer Alicia Keys will give a free concert at Justin Herman Plaza at 8 p.m. as part of the city’s Super Bowl Festivities.

At about the same time a Metallica concert is scheduled at AT&T Park.

At Pier 70 in the Dogpatch area another Super Bowl party is planned — the Direct TV Super Saturday Night party will be headlined by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tickets to that concert start at nearly $800.

Despite the full slate of events, BART isn’t planning to run trains any later than usual, so the last trains will depart at shortly after midnight, potentially stranding some concert-goers.

BART set its record for Saturday ridership on Oct. 6, 2012, with 319,484 riders headed to events like a San Francisco Giants playoff game, America’s Cup sailing races, Fleet Week events and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.

While it broke the record for a Saturday, it still fell well short of a typical weekday, when more than 400,000 people ride BART.