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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
BART Board will meet June 10 to consider budget for Fiscal Year 2011
The BART Board of Directors is scheduled to meet Thursday, June 10, to adopt a budget for the fiscal year (FY11) that begins July 1, 2010. Board discussions at recent meetings have centered on options for spending $4.5 million in available funding. The Board of Directors has expressed a desire to show
Governor signs landmark legislation cutting congestion and air pollution, helping BART
New law encourages communities to build near BART California's Governor has signed into law a bill that may not only aid BART in the future, but ultimately help commuters fight high gas prices, pollution and traffic congestion. BART Board Member Tom Radulovich joined Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the news
BART and SFMTA launch downtown San Francisco Elevator Attendant Pilot Program
BART and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency today (April 30, 2018) launched a pilot program that will staff elevators at the Civic Center and Powell St. stations with attendants. The six-month pilot is meant to address elevator cleanliness, safety, security, availability and accessibility
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.
PG&E work on BART property at Hayward Station 7/23-28
From Monday, July 23 through the 28, PG&E will to do work on a portion of BART property at the corner of Grand and C Streets. The work will involve removal of asphalt, concrete, and one tree in order to dig trenches, run conduit, and install other electrical equipment. The work will require closing sections