The Bay Area camp that field trips on transit 

For campers at Urban Adventure Camps, the day begins and ends at BART.  

The summer camp takes children ages eight through fifteen on daily field trips to some of the coolest spots in the Bay Area – museums, aquariums, botanic gardens, zoos glass blowing studios. No matter the activity, the campers take public transportation to get there. Depending on the session, home base is Rockridge, North Berkeley, or Lafayette stations.  

Riding transit for the campers isn’t just a “get from point A to point B” situation. For these energetic youngins, hopping on a train or bus or ferry is an adventure in and of itself. And while they explore the Bay – no cramped van or private bus or traffic jam required – they're gaining independence and learning how to navigate the vibrant region where they live.  

“It’s really fun to ride BART,” said Henry Wernli at Rockridge Station, rearing to hop on BART and start the day. The day's itinerary: take BART to 12th St./Oakland Station, catch an AC Transit bus to Jack London Square, hop on the San Francisco Bay Ferry, and walk to the Exploratorium.  

Wernli likes how the new train cars look – their colorful seats and big windows – and thinks riding BART is exciting. He also knows it’s important to know how to navigate the Bay Area, how to read maps, and understand timetables.  

“Riding transit is a good learning experience for when you’re older and you need to go to school or work,” he said. “It’s way better than driving.” 

When all fifteen campers arrived at the station, the kids could barely contain their energy as they flew toward the fare gates, ready to get on a train and start the day.  

Urban Adventure Camps founder and director Mike Dobson reminded campers not to run ahead while he handed each of them their Clipper BayPass cards to tap through the fare gates.  

Dobson reached out to BART to learn about BayPass because having to reload so many campers’ Clipper cards was a tedious process. A single Urban Adventures camper takes anywhere between 25 to 35 transit trips a week. With five groups of fifteen campers running at a time, that’s a collective 2,250 total trips a week! 

BayPass is the Bay Area’s all-in-one transit card that lets you take unlimited rides on all regional transit services. Organizations pay a flat fee for the service, and their employees, students – and in this case, campers – can ride as much local transit as they want. 

“Counselors used to have to carry a credit card and cash in their packs in case they needed to reload campers’ cards at a station,” Dobson said. “BayPass is easy. We’re not worried about how much is on the card. It lets us move quicker and smoother.”  

Dobson said the campers love riding transit, and parents that may have been hesitant at first "see the kids having fun and jump onboard.” 

“I’d never ridden BART before this camp,” said camper Eloise Lanzisera. She’s learned “it’s very useful when you’re trying to get somewhere quickly.”  

Added Amani Gilligan, “When you get on BART you can have so many adventures, and there’s no traffic so if you want to go to a movie, you won’t be late.” 

“And it’s honestly really safe,” chimed Terra Williams. “You have a bunch of security and cameras.”  

Ella Whalen is just glad she doesn’t have to walk too much. “I like taking transit because it goes faster. Walking sometimes it makes my legs hurt because I play tennis a lot.”  

And for Wernli, riding BART is “doing your part” to help the earth.  

“Transit like BART saves the planet because it doesn’t make fumes,” he said before launching into an explanation of greenhouse gases and climate change. “BART is a really good thing.”