The BULK path string 'csv/busfare/tripdata_2020*.csv' uses a wildcard (*) after the prefix tripdata_2020. In Synapse serverless SQL pools, this pattern matches all files in the specified folder whose names start with that string and end with the .csv extension. It does not navigate into subfolders unless a recursive wildcard (/**/) is used.

The parameter FIRSTROW = 2 instructs the engine to start reading data from the second row of the file. In the context of CSV processing, skipping the first row is the standard configuration when the first row contains column headers rather than actual data records.

Microsoft Official Documentation: "Query CSV files using serverless SQL pool in Azure Synapse Analytics." Section: Path to files. (Describes wildcard usage for file filtering).

Microsoft Official Documentation: "OPENROWSET (Transact-SQL) - Azure Synapse Analytics." Section: Arguments - FIRSTROW. (Specifies that FIRSTROW identifies the row number where the data begins; skipping row 1 implies it is a header).

University of California, Berkeley (Data Science Courseware): "Data Ingestion and Storage Patterns." (Explains standard practices for skipping headers in bulk load operations using SQL).