BART Connects: UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons finds his rhythm on BART
"BART connects students and everybody else to all the wonderful opportunities in Berkeley and around the Bay Area."
Read more BART Connects stories at bart.gov/bartconnects.
When frequent BART rider and UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons rides BART, there’s a good chance his traveling companion is a guitar.
That guitar came out during a recent ride, when Lyons played a tune and talked about what BART means to him and to the Berkeley community.
“BART connects students and everybody else to all the wonderful opportunities in Berkeley and around the Bay Area,” he said.
Chancellor Lyons has been a BART rider since his days as an undergraduate at Cal and uses it all the time to get around the Bay.
“I take BART whenever I possibly can; it’s been the default for me for a long time,” he said. “One of the reasons I find BART so helpful is I’m more productive when I take BART. So for me it’s a win on every front.”
Chancellor Lyons has even busked at BART, gracing riders at Downtown San Francisco BART stations with his tunes. He calls music his meditation, something that resets him after a long day running the #1 public university in the world.
After the ride, Lyons headed off to meetings before catching BART to San Francisco.
If you see him on a train, give him a hearty “Go Bears!”
About BART Connects
Tens of millions of people ride BART every year -- to work, dates, practice, friends, and fun. BART Connects tells their stories.
In June, BART Communications launched the second edition of BART Connects, a storytelling series that features real BART riders who span generations, neighborhoods, and walks of life. You can read their stories below.
In the coming months, the stars of BART Connects will take us for a ride in a series of video featurettes that will be regularly posted on BART social media.
You will also see the faces of BART Connects riders in advertising spaces in the BART System and across the region.
BART Connects grew out of a call for rider stories BART Communications launched in 2023 to learn how our transit system impacts people’s lives. The initial response made clear that BART means something to those who ride it.
Have a cool BART story to share? Submit a short summary at bart.gov/story. You may be the next BART Connects feature!