Director
Robert Raburn was first elected to the BART Board of Directors on November 2, 2010. Director Raburn represents District 4, which is an urban core district in Alameda County and includes the Oakland neighborhoods of Fruitvale, Melrose, Eastmont, and Elmhurst, and San Leandro west of Highway 580, the unincorporated Ashland, Cherryland, and San Lorenzo, and the Northwest part of Hayward.
District 4 BART stations include: Bay Fair, Coliseum, Fruitvale, Hayward (shared with District 5), Oakland International Airport, San Leandro, and South Hayward (shared with District 6).
For a decade prior to being elected, Raburn chaired Alameda County’s Measure B Citizens Watchdog Committee to ensure the transportation tax funds were spent as promised to the voters. He helped draft the Measure B expenditure plan that was approved by the voters in 2000. Raburn also contributed to successful local and regional ballot measures that transformed the Fruitvale BART Station and added a parking structure, in addition to increasing bicycle and pedestrian safety near other BART stations. His ideas for Safe Routes to Transit are now a regional-wide program.
His leadership built respect and influence for the nonprofit East Bay Bicycle Coalition between 1992 and 2010. From getting the bike path on the new East Span of the Bay Bridge, to replacing the “world’s shortest freeway” near Lake Merritt in Oakland, Raburn’s involvement has resulted in significant accomplishments. He also has contributed to transportation policy changes: regional transportation planning now fully considers all modes of travel (i.e., Complete Streets), and reform of CEQA Guidelines was adopted by the State on January 1, 2010.
As a change agent at BART he first embarked on delivering the Fleet of the Future to entirely replace aging trains. These modern three-door cars feature bike spaces at the end doors, digital map screens, high-efficiency air filters, and are quieter and easier to keep clean. He also helped draft an expenditure plan to rebuild BART in the voter-approved Measure RR in 2016. This dedicated funding for modernization allowed BART to install new fare gates at all 50 stations, contributing to public safety. He promoted a bold Transit Oriented Development policy that has built thousands of affordable housing units and helped transform stations into vibrant parts of the urban environment. He led the creation of BART’s Art program that has enhanced stations with beautiful murals that reflect the community, as at Fruitvale BART, or museum-quality displays that honor the past, as at the deeply meaningful Tanforan Memorial at San Bruno Station.
Raburn came to the East Bay in 1979 to study transportation and urban geography at UC Berkeley where he received a doctorate degree. He taught geography and urban planning for a decade at San José State University, and on behalf of Hispanic voter groups, served as an expert witness and drew political redistricting plans adopted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
As a car-free, grassroots activist, Raburn enjoys volunteering in Oakland’s Fruitvale District near his apartment adjacent to BART. In his spare time he likes to bicycle tour with his wife, Pat.