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BART partners with SF to divert mentally ill and addicts from jail to treatment
San Francisco is well on its way to adopting a new program to reduce the number of people with substance use disorder and mental illness who are incarcerated, by redirecting them into treatment before they are arrested. The Health Department, which is leading this effort, received preliminary notice of a $5.9
Role in the Region: BART lowers the cost of living in the Bay Area
In July, BART released the Role in the Region Report, a comprehensive study of BART's impact on the Bay Area illustrated by new analyses, data visualizations, and powerful personal narratives. Over the coming months, we'll be sharing some of the key insights from the report in a series of articles here on bart.gov. Click here to read the first story — on BART's role in reducing regional traffic — and the here for the second story, which explores BART's contributions to the economy.
We encourage you to read the full report - click here - and visit the project webpage at bart.gov/roleintheregion.
Today's post looks at BART's impact on lowering the cost of living. See the full report for methodology.
BART helps riders save money
BART helps people get by in the Bay Area by connecting them to jobs and helping them save money on transportation costs.
BART trips are cheaper than driving, and people who live near BART stations typically have lower transportation costs than those in other parts of the region.
Figure 2.1 shows that the cost of taking BART is lower than driving for many common trip types. Households within a half-mile of a BART station have, on average, 30 percent fewer vehicles than households beyond a half-mile from a BART station. Annually, these households drive 16 percent fewer miles, which translates to lower transportation costs.
What BART Riders Say…
“I'd have much less money and a lot more stress due to needing a car to get around. I also would love San Francisco less if it didn't have BART. It's too important to the vitality of this city.- Rider based in San Francisco
BART connects workers to jobs
Within San Francisco, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties, census tracts within a half-mile of a BART station have a 13 percent higher average job access score, which considers the number, overall mix, and types of jobs. People who live in census tracts within a half-mile of a BART station commute, on average, 16 percent fewer minutes than people who live further away.
BART Yellow and Orange lines serve a high proportion of people without a college degree. A clear example of the access and benefit that BART provides is seen in the cities of Antioch and Pittsburg, which are both lower-income and more diverse than the Bay Area as a whole. Residents of these cities can use BART to reach jobs in larger Bay Area cities like San Francisco and Oakland in an affordable and timely manner.
What BART Riders Say…
“I don’t think my family and I could remain in the Bay Area without BART.”
Peter Woods, Brentwood, CA
With some 794,000 jobs (21% of the region's total) within a 15-minute walk of a BART station, BART helps people access a large pool of economic opportunities across the Bay Area. By linking people to jobs, BART helps put money in people's pockets, which increases their ability to thrive in the expensive region.
Rider story: Kassandra
In August, Kassandra Santillan started her second year at San Francisco State University, her dream college where she studies microbiology, her dream major. If she couldn’t take BART to school, she wouldn’t be able to attend.
“BART made it happen for me,” she said. “I can’t afford to live near campus, so I’d probably be at a community college instead.”
Santillan is the first person in her immediate family to attend college. She’s always aspired to study at SFSU because that's where her aunt went, and her aunt was one of the only people she knew who graduated from college.
Santillan lives in East Oakland, where she grew up. She doesn’t currently have access to a car, so she takes BART twice a day, five days a week to school. Before starting at SFSU, she’d never really used the system.
“We didn’t travel far away when I was young,” she said. “The only other time I’d use BART was for field trips to San Francisco."
Read Kassandra's story.
BART Plans Limited Morning/Afternoon Charter Bus Service On Friday, July 5
Morning Service: First Come, First Served 7 buses at 5am at El Cerrito del Norte, Walnut Creek, Dublin/Pleasanton, Fremont & West Oakland Stations BART will provide limited charter bus service to and from San Francisco during the peak commute periods: starting at 5am from five East Bay stations and 3pm - 7pm
Join the Oakland Ballers for BART Night on Wednesday, Aug. 14
Step up to the plate, BART x baseball fans! BART has teamed up with the Oakland Ballers for a memorable game on Wednesday, August 14, starting at 6:35pm, at Raimondi Park (1800 Wood St, Oakland). Buy your tickets here.
It's BART Night, Bay Area!
On this special evening, we want to celebrate the role public transportation plays in making sure fans can get out and watch their favorite teams play. BART and organizations like the Ballers are natural partners – BART helps you get there, and the Ballers give you a place to go. Take me out to the BART game!
Some of the activities planned for BART Night include:
- An appearance by the BARTmobile
- BART employees’ children serving as ball kids
- Special BART guests throwing out the first pitch and taking the first at-bat
- BART Police Honor Guard posting the colors
- BART Police Lieutenant Joshua Perez singing the National Anthem
- Lots of BART staff in the stands going wild for the Ballers!
And let’s not forget the t-shirts. The Ballers, BART, and Oaklandish have collaborated to create two collectible “shirseys,” AKA a t-shirt mimicking the players’ jerseys. The tees, modeled above, feature the BART logo on the sleeve and the number 72 on the back, celebrating the year BART opened. Get yours on Railgoods.com.
The Oakland Ballers are a Pioneer League baseball team that plays at the historic Raimondi Park in West Oakland. Celebrating their inaugural season in 2024, the team is a BART partner and plays in uniforms with a BART patch on the right sleeve.
Get to the game by following the rider guide below and find more detailed directions here.
BART's Impact: Millbrae Station uplifts the city's economy and community
Read more stories and see interactive maps about BART’s impact at bart.gov/impact.
BART's Impact
Local businesses and residents benefit when they’re located near BART stations.
With the BART’s Impact series, we’re looking at one BART station at a time to understand how a single station can transform the economy, social fabric, and culture of a city. If one station alone can impact an area so profoundly, imagine all fifty BART stations taken together.
BART stations are not simply destinations – stops on a line to get you from A to B. BART stations create destinations and with that, a livable and thriving Bay Area for all.
Case Study: Millbrae Station
Millbrae Station is an essential gateway to the Peninsula and the point of convergence for BART, Caltrain, and SamTrans.
Millbrae rail service began in 1864 with the historic 17 Mile House station. Nearly 140 years later, Millbrae Station opened for business. Now thousands of passengers pass through the station each day on their way to work, activities, and experiences.
The area around the station has transformed significantly since the transit hub opened in 2003. In 2023, BART’s Millbrae Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) project – the Gateway at Millbrae Station – opened for business, transforming what was once a BART parking lot into a mixed-use space beside the station. In addition to increasing much-needed housing stock in the area, the development has added jobs, increased city revenue, and created a walkable and inviting public space with art, restaurants, and events.
“The Bay Area economy needs BART to thrive. BART plays a key role in connecting people to San Mateo County's businesses, jobs, restaurants, and cultural experiences. San Mateo County is grateful for our ongoing partnership and collaboration with the BART.”
- David Canepa, President of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
BART spoke to some of the businesses at the Gateway and ventured further afoot to talk to businesses near the station. From a hot Pilates studio to a local lobster destination, we asked business owners the same question: Why is BART essential to your bottom line and your community’s well-being?
View a larger version of the interactive map by clicking here.
BART unveils new fare gates at West Oakland Station
As part of its Safe and Clean Plan, on December 28, 2023, BART unveiled prototypes of its new fare gates at the West Oakland Station. The system is upgrading its fare gates for the first time in 20 years. BART has committed to opening 700+ new fare gates systemwide by the end of 2025.
Watch the time lapse video.
Mechanical Door Lock to be Installed Soon
These are not the final version of the fare gates that will be installed throughout the rest of the system. The development team will be installing the latest door-braking technology in the coming weeks. This mechanical door lock will be exclusive to BART. No other transit system in the world has it. Once installed, these gates will be harder to push through than any other fare gate in the world.
The prototypes now installed at West Oakland will test the new gates in a station environment with riders. Initial field testing will primarily focus on door material options.
BART will announce the next eight stations to get the new fare gates at the January 11, 2024, board meeting.
“As a transportation system, we take tremendous pride in saying our riders are what runs BART," said BART General Manager Bob Powers. "Among the world’s transit agencies, BART relies the most on rider fares; they are directly responsible for funding our operations. These new, state-of-the-art fare gates will protect against fare evasion, expand access to transit-dependent riders, and reduce system downtime due to maintenance, which helps boost investment in BART’s long-term growth.”
“We welcome the new fare gates starting at West Oakland and its future expansion to other stations," said BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin. "These stronger, higher gates will limit fare evasions through self-enforced fare payments, keep riders safe and engaged to return to BART, and have police officers focused on more serious situations that require emergency services.”
While BART is rolling out new fare gates to boost safety and reduce fare evasion, the agency is also working to increase access to BART by more than doubling the discount for low-income individuals from 20% to 50% beginning January 1, 2024.
BART’s Safe and Clean Plan focuses on attracting riders to return to the system by reimagining the BART experience. BART is making dramatic improvements, from new payment systems to infrastructure renovations. It's all being done to guarantee customers a clean, safer ride and ensure BART is the safest way to travel around the Bay. Riders can provide feedback about the new gates at bart.gov/comments.
Role in the Region: BART helps keep cars off the road
In July, BART released the Role in the Region Report, a comprehensive study of BART's impact on the Bay Area illustrated by new analyses, data visualizations, and powerful personal narratives. Over the coming weeks, we'll be sharing some of the key insights from the report in a series of Role in the Region articles here on bart.gov. Below is the first of these articles. We encourage you to read the full report - click here - and visit the project webpage at bart.gov/roleintheregion.
Today's post focuses on how BART keeps cars off the road, significantly reducing traffic congestion. See the full report for methodology.
Spending hours delayed by traffic means less time spent with family and friends or for recreation, which degrades quality of life for everyone, regardless of whether they use transit. Time spent in congestion is also less productive time than working and shopping, which results in less economic activity across the region. Heavy congestion may deter people from taking trips. Since there are no viable alternatives aside from BART and driving between Eastern Contra Costa/Alameda counties and Inner East Bay/West Bay areas, increased congestion may lead to less regional mobility.
BART service even benefits residents that choose to drive, in part by significantly reducing their time lost to congestion and thereby improving quality of life for everyone who lives here, whether they use transit or not. As shown in the image above, if BART did not exist, for some trips drivers could experience upwards of 19 hours in congestion weekly, in addition to the time it would take without any traffic.
What BART Riders Say…
“When I worked, it was so nice to have downtime between work and being a busy mom. BART made it so when I got home, I was relaxed instead of stressed by traffic. It really was wonderful. Now it means I’m heading to fun!"
If BART ceased to exist and riders had to drive instead, traffic could increase by 73% on the Bay Bridge and 22% in the Caldecott Tunnel during morning peak commute hours, which would exceed roadway capacity. To support the increased traffic volume, up to three additional lanes would need to be added to the Bay Bridge and an additional lane in the Caldecott Tunnel.
What BART Riders Say…
“[Without BART,] we probably wouldn't go to as many activities where we'd be fighting traffic and trying to find parking.”
BART Connects
As part of the Role in the Region Report, BART solicited stories from riders to learn how our public transportation system impacts their lives. The stories are compiled at bart.gov/bartconnects.
Below, read an excerpt longtime rider Linda Healey and how BART allowed her time to relax between work and raising a child. Find the full story here.
BART Connects: A working mom remembers when her only downtime each day was her BART ride
Linda Healey commuted to San Francisco from Walnut Creek for more than twenty years. When her son was young, those daily BART rides were her only downtime in the day. “BART got me home to my child quickly,” she said. “And it got me home unstressed because I could relax, rather than sit in traffic. That was a gift.” Today, Healey’s son – now in his thirties and living in Oakland – does the same commute his mother did for so many years, though he hops on the train a few stops up the line. He even works for the same company. “I passed the BART baton to him,” Healey said. “Hopefully one day, he’ll get to take it just for fun.”
Read the Story
Revisit some of our favorite BART stories from 2024
There are a million stories on BART. In 2024 we talked to riders, artists, train operators, transit fans, and more about what BART means to them. We celebrated the Transbay Tube and the Fleet of the Future.
Here are some of our favorites stories from 2024:
Bay Area history reclaimed: The story of 95-year-old artist Janet Bennett and her longstanding tile artworks at 16th and 24th St. stations
Janet Bennett’s tile murals have come to define the character of BART's Mission District stations, and yet, in the fifty-plus years since the tiles were placed, her contribution has gone unattributed...This past Women’s History Month, BART was honored to bring forward the story of the artworks as well as that of the wonderful midcentury artist who made them.
The mother of all Train Operators: BART's Mama Linda on the miles she’s traveled, the meals she’s shared, and the ancestors who shaped her
After 33 years as a Train Operator, Linda Yee-Sugaya, better known as Mama Linda, has seen a lot. She’s watched the old trains become the new; stations built and BART lines lengthen; and thousands of faces stream past the windows of her train.
An artist creates fantastical pop culture scenes with BART as her canvas and riders as her subjects
"Some people read, some people work, some people apply makeup,” says Joanna Sokua of riding BART. “I draw.”
Since 2017, Sokua has been creating what she calls “BARToons” during her morning and evening commute. You might say she is a seasoned BARTist. In the past seven years, she has drawn more than 170 BART illustrations. While on the train, she snaps photos of scenes and passengers that spark an idea, and when she gets home, she’ll sketch them out or, most often, superimpose pop culture figures onto the images using a digital pen.
The biggest BART fan in Japan flew to the Bay for a day to ride a legacy train one last time
On Friday, April 19, at 3pm, Atsushi Goto’s plane touched down at San Francisco International Airport. He hastily collected his carry on, went through customs, and dashed toward the SFO BART station. A train was waiting for him on the platform.
The 24 hours that followed his touchdown were a whirlwind of a trains, buses, cable cars, and one big party for a bunch of old trains at MacArthur Station – BART’s retirement celebration for the legacy trains. On the night of Saturday, April 20, just over a day after arriving, Atsushi was on a plane again, headed back home to Japan. Atsushi is an automobile designer, and on Monday, he had work.
BART Connects: This rider uses their BART System Map tattoo to give directions
When Sam Johnson sees someone lost in a BART station, they roll up their sleeve and show them a bicep.
Etched five layers deep into the epidermis of Sam’s left arm is a tattoo of the BART System Map. It’s Sam’s first and only tattoo, and in a pinch, it comes in handy.
“I’ve helped a bunch of people figure out where to go,” Sam said. “I point to my arm and say, ‘We’re here in Concord, you’re going to transfer to this station, then ride along here, and get off at this station.’”
It’s a practical tattoo but also a piece of art, an homage to the Bay, a love letter to transit. And let’s be honest, said Sam, “It looks good on me.”
Podcast: The future is now; the journey of the Fleet of the Future from blueprint to backbone of BART’s daily service
BART’s base train schedule now consists of all new Fleet of the Future trains, a major milestone for a project that’s been more than a decade in the making. Project Manager John Garnham reveals how fast the new cars speed along BART’s test track, explains why the process of building the outer shell is a bit like using a classic DIY toy and other insider nuggets on our podcast, “Hidden Tracks: Stories From BART.”
The Transbay Tube turns 50: Inside the groundbreaking history and future of the Bay's underwater crossing
On the Transbay Tube’s 50th anniversary, BART honored this one-of-a-kind structure that has ferried millions of passengers across the Bay for five decades and will continue to do so for decades to come. In the above video, we invite you to look inside the engineering opus for yourself.
BART Connects: BART showed Steve and Vanessa that "there is life out there"
July 26, 2024, marked the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law on July 26, 1990. The ADA protects the rights of those with disabilities and is recognized as a watershed milestone for civil rights in the U.S.
More than 7% of BART riders have a disability (as self-reported in a 2022 survey), including Steven Howell and Vanessa Castro. Steven and Vanessa use BART to get just about everywhere. Says Steven: "[BART] showed me there is life out there."
Hear more from the couple in the above video.
BART earns high marks in review by Federal Transit Administration
A review by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) found BART is meeting standards in nearly two dozen categories including financial management, ability to utilize federal grants, and project implementation. This latest oversight is based on the FTAs examination of a sample of BART’s award management and program implementation practices.
The FTA’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Triennial Review of BART is the result of a nearly 10-month-long process that included multiple site visits to BART. The initial report found BART to be in compliance with 20 of 23 federal standards. After that initial review, BART was able to provide the FTA with corrective action responses that resulted in BART being found in compliance with all 23 standards in the final report. You can read the FTA’s final report here.
“The kind of outside review provided by the Federal Transit Administration is vital for BART to build public confidence in our operations,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “There’s no substitute for outside experts reviewing our procedures to reassure the public that we are being responsible with their tax dollars. We welcome this and similar reviews by outside experts.”
“The FTA has given us an exceptionally clean report,” said BART Board of Directors President Mark Foley. “This report demonstrates we are doing all we can to be financially responsible to our riders and the Bay Area.”
BART is also subject to review by an independent Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG conducts performance audits and investigates allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse. BART has accepted 92% of the OIG’s recommendations and already implemented 64%. BART is the only transit agency in the Bay Area with an OIG.