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Win free BART tickets and celebrate the earth at Blue Sky Festival April 19
People who choose BART help contribute to a cleaner environment. It is within this spirit that BART hosts the annual Blue Sky Festival. It is the region’s most collaborative Earth Day celebration where environmental organizations from all over the Bay Area gather to help educate the public about eco-friendly
BART rolls out seamless daily fee parking payment option on official app
BART is rolling out its most significant parking payment modernization effort to date, offering daily fee parking payment through the official BART app. The program is now available at five stations: Antioch, West Oakland, Hayward, South San Francisco, and El Cerrito del Norte. BART plans to expand the
BART Board imposes terms on ATU; union plans strike for close of service Sunday
The Amalgamated Transit Union has announced its intention to strike at the close of service on Sunday, after the BART Board of Directors voted Thursday to impose terms of employment on the union. A strike would halt BART service. The Board took the action after members of ATU, which represents train operators
Measure RR Safe Routes to BART to provide critical funds for improved station access
BART is moving forward with a first-of-its-kind community partnership initiative that will provide millions of dollars in Measure RR funding for projects that will make it easier for riders to safely get to BART stations. The Safe Routes to BART Program has identified four projects to receive a combined total
BART offers automated service alerts on Bluesky social media platform
BART has made service alert information even more accessible to the public by adding an automated BART Service Alerts channel to its Bluesky account (@bart.gov). As of Friday, April 11, there is now a dedicated feed for real-time BART Service Alerts (@alerts.bart.gov) to inform riders when multiple trains are off schedule by ten or more minutes. Unlike other social media platforms, Bluesky does not require a login to view BART’s timeline.
BART has been providing informational content on Bluesky since November 2024.
“Service alerts offer critical and timely information for our riders to help them make decisions about their ride,” said Alicia Trost, Chief Communications Officer. “We want this information to be easy to find and on the platforms people use. The Bluesky social media platform is growing in popularity, and our followers have been asking for our automated service alerts to be posted there.”
BART Service Alerts are available:
- On bart.gov and the BART Official App (the app offers customized in-app notifications).
- On the bart.gov Alerts and Advisories page
- Via text or email alerts.
- On the social media platform Bluesky at @alerts.bart.gov and X at @SFBARTalert.
- Via third-party apps through BART’s Developer Program.
- Alerts are posted on platform digital signs in BART stations and audio announcements are made inside stations and onboard trains.
BART PD reports surge in arrests as more officers patrol trains
Felony arrests on BART increased 62% last year compared with 2022. The jump comes as BART PD has been aggressively recruiting new officers and ensuring safety staff are riding more trains to increase their visible safety presence. BART officers recorded 726 felony arrests in 2023 compared with 448 for 2022. Along with those arrests 49 illegal firearms were seized in 2023 compared with 40 the previous year. It’s the most guns BART PD has recovered in a year since at least 2003. BART PD has already recovered a dozen firearms so far this year.
“These latest arrest and gun seizure numbers are a credit to all the hard work of our officers,” said BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin. “Since we started deploying more patrol officers to ride trains we have seen an impact, and our riders are telling us they notice the difference.”
In the latest Quarterly Performance Review the percentage of riders who reported seeing BART PD on their trip reached a record high of 20%. That’s up from the previous record of 17% the previous quarter. The last two quarters have been the first in BART’s history where the percentage of riders who reported seeing BART PD exceed the department’s official goal of 12%.
BART has been working to implement its Safe and Clean Plan which focuses on boosting the visible safety presence in the system and increasing staffing to clean trains and stations.
BART PD has also been advancing an aggressive officer recruitment campaign to fill its remaining vacancies. This effort has been boosted by a 22% salary increase for officers, which was approved by the BART Board to ensure BART PD remains competitive with other law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area. Anyone interested in joining BART PD can learn more at joinbartpd.com.
(Examples of recently seized guns)
BART PD's National Night Out effort focusing on community ties at a pivotal time
By RAQUEL CRITESBART Communications Intern As the lull of late summer transforms to the buzz of back-to-school, BART ridership increases and with it, comes the annual ritual of National Night Out -- a community crime prevention and safety event that has been going strong for 32 years. BART Police have been
BART contracts falconer to deter pigeons at El Cerrito del Norte Station
At El Cerrito del Norte Station on a recent weekday morning, heads turned and eyes widened at an unusual sight along the station platform. An adult male Harris hawk, named Pac-Man, sat serenely perched atop his handler’s gloved wrist preening himself. Though Pac-Man doesn’t know it, he’s got a very important
New BART budget: cleaner trains, replenished reserves, possible temporary fare reduction
BART customers are going to see many improvements to their commute thanks to the budget the agency’s Board of Directors passed today for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The Board also allocated money to temporarily lower fares by 3% for four months – although the fare reduction is contingent
Public invited to attend BART's annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration
Keynote speaker is UC Berkeley professor Dr. Harry Edwards On Tuesday, January 15 from Noon to 1:15 p.m., BART will hold a public celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s achievements and legacy at BART Headquarters, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, in the second floor Kaiser Building Auditorium. The event is