Search

BART’s Let’s Glow! BART Anime Festival returned to Warm Springs/South Fremont Station for a celebration of anime, art, music, cosplay and transit fandom. This year’s free festival was bigger and better than ever, following a huge turnout of more than 4,000 attendees in 2025! 

The festival celebrates the shared fandom of anime and transit, with an expanded lineup of artists, performances, food, cosplay, and more. 

Get to know BART’s anime mascots at bart.gov/anime.  

Details 

• What: Let’s Glow! BART Anime Festival  
• When: Saturday, September 19, 4pm to 9pm  
• Where: Warm Springs/South Fremont Station  
• RSVP on Eventbrite at letsglowfestival.eventbrite.com. Not required but helps us get a headcount.  
• Free to attend 

We also now have a fan made interactive map! https://alley.moe/events/lets-glow-2026/ 

What to expect 

• Artist Alley: 100 artists will sell a mix of BART, anime-, and transit-themed art, along with their own original artwork. Check out the artist alley catalog here: https://lg26.notion.site/
  
  Tip: We recommend arriving prepared with a list of tables you want to visit! Help us keep lines moving - please have your order & payment method ready when you get to the front of the line.
•  
• Music and performances: AniClover will DJ for us, and SanFlare will perform wotagei, a high-energy style of synchronized fan dancing. SanFlare will teach attendees the official BART wotagei dance. Local DJs chiii, DJ AJL, Spiritsnare feat. Majoriin from Trademark, Kataoka, Capturelight, DatGai will have tunes running all night.
• Special Youtaite concert: An exclusive VTuber concert produced by Neon Shrine featuring J-pop and Vocaloid cover artists JubyPhonic, Rachie, and Lizz Robinett. It all starts at 7:15pm on the Neon Stage (do not line up earlier than 7:00pm.)
• Railgoods: Shop BART and BART anime mascot merchandise, including new and exclusive products available at the festival. Find our current BART anime merch here. 
• Food truck village: Boba + exclusive drinks, desserts, and an array of cuisines from food trucks across the Bay Area. Stop by Creative Sips & Ume Tea for am exclusive coaster and our event drinks: Baylee’s GOATed Berry-essa Special, Jasmine’s Sweetest Matcha ♡, Nimbus' Citrus of the Skies, and Mira's Transbay Taro Tea.
• Trinket & freebie trading: Gachapon Pals will be managing tables for freebies, trinket trading, and stamps! Bring your trinkets to trade, freebies to share, and collect exclusive event stamps!
• Itasha cars & manga truck: Anime-themed cars and vehicles will be on display with Dreamscape. The Manga Truck bring tons of free manga to read at the event.
• Community tables: Discover local happenings, conventions, and fan clubs. Kin-Yoobi Con (happening on Sunday), FanimeCon, OffKai Expo, Bay Area Hoshiyomis, Cal Animage Alpha/Anime Destiny, Tri-City Ecology, and Gamers Heaven will be tabling.
• Indie Game Showcase: Discover fun games created by local game developers. Hosted by BAD Collective.

Cosplay and win prizes 

Start planning your outfit now! This year we are hosting a cosplay contest with prizes, including a special category for anyone cosplaying as one of BART’s anime mascots. See the cosplay contest details and guidelines here.  

Cosplay seminar: Crafty Sorceress will answer your cosplay questions and show attendees how to dress as BART’s anime mascots. Check out their cosplay guides for Baylee, Nimbus, Jasmine and Mira. Cosplay seminar: At 6pm on the Neon Stage.

No prop weapons: This event has a zero-tolerance policy for prop weapons of any kind and material. Leave them at home. There is no peace bonding station. Any prop weapons or accessories that need to be peace bonded should not be brought. 

Take BART to Let’s Glow! and receive exclusive giveaway  

Parking at Warm Springs/South Fremont Station will be extremely limited, so attendees are encouraged to park at nearby BART stations and take BART to the festival. Free parking is available at Fremont and Union City stations, and paid parking is available at Milpitas and Berryessa/North San Jose stations. Learn more about parking at nearby BART stations.  

As a special bonus, anyone who takes BART to the event can receive an exclusive BART anime giveaway. 

Come celebrate anime, art, music, cosplay and transit fandom with thousands of fellow fans. Let’s Glow!

December ridership rose 13.5% year over year, capping a year of steady growth for BART. 

The ridership gains reflect the continued impact of the New BART experience, a systemwide focus on customer experience improvements. Recent investments in safety, cleanliness, and innovative offerings, such as Next Generation Clipper and a new BART App integration with Uber, are helping strengthen rider confidence and bring people back to the system.  

Even with these gains, ridership growth alone won’t solve BART’s budget shortfalls. While most riders have returned to BART, they are riding less frequently, resulting in fewer trips. The Bay Area has the highest work-from-home rates in the nation, and BART ridership closely mirrors office occupancy. 

Each 5% increase in ridership translates to about $13 million a year in new revenue, and to close BART's ongoing structural financial deficit of $350-$400 million with just fare revenue, ridership would need to more than double.  

Highlights from the December Ridership Snapshot: 

• Weekend ridership showed a steady increase this December, in keeping with 2025 trends. Saturday ridership in December rose 23% year over year, while Sunday ridership increased nearly 13%, underscoring the system’s expanding role in leisure, airport, and non-work travel. 
• 13% of all BART trips were taken using Tap and Ride, which allows riders to pay by tapping a contactless credit or debit card at the fare gates. Usage climbed toward the end of the month as travelers and casual riders hopped onboard around the holidays. Ridership at SFO Station alone increased 14% compared with December 2024. 
• On December 10, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission began the rollout of Next Generation Clipper, a fare payment system upgrade that expanded Tap and Ride to all Clipper agencies and introduced additional improvements, including free or discounted transfers between operators and enhanced online account management at clippercard.com. 20% of all free or discounted transfers in the Bay Area included a leg on BART in December, and two-thirds of all Tap and Ride trips were on BART, reinforcing BART’s role as the backbone of the regional transit network. 
• BART trips using Clipper BayPass increased 157% year over year as more employers, schools, and housing providers adopted the all-in-one transit pass for employees, students, and residents. Nineteen organizations are enrolled in Clipper BayPass, as of January 2026. 
• Clipper START usage grew by nearly 40% in December compared to a year ago. Clipper Senior trips increased by more than 10%. 

Additional ridership data is published monthly at bart.gov/about/reports/ridership. 

BART is pleased to announce it will host its 2024 Small Business Summit event on Monday, April 29th, 2024 on the first floor of its headquarters located at 2150 Webster St. in Oakland.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear tips from small business owners who have been awarded BART contracts, network with prime contractors, hear about upcoming contracts, learn about BART’s equity program and certifications process and learn about resources available to small businesses from community partners and other regional transit agencies.

BART is committed to ensuring that small businesses are afforded equal opportunities to participate on District contracts and agreements. Small businesses include Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, Disadvantage Veteran Business Enterprises, Minority-Owned Business Enterprises, Women-Owned Business Enterprises and Micro Small Business Entities.

Representatives from several departments and groups at BART will be available at the event to answer questions about upcoming contracts, programs and resources for small businesses. These include representatives from BART’s Infrastructure Delivery and Procurement departments along with staff from BART’s Office of Civil Rights and Small Business Support Services. April 29-May 3 is National Small Business Week. Visit bart.gov/ocr for a list of scheduled events during the week.   

Registration is preferred for BART’s 2024 Small Business Summit. Here are event details:

Date: Monday, April 29, 2024 
Location: 2150 Webster Street, Oakland CA 94612 (1st floor)
Time: 12:30-3:30 PM 

 Here is the event schedule:

• 12:30 -1:00 PM: Registration 
• 1:00 - 1:30 PM: Opening Remarks 
• 1:30 - 2:00 PM: Small Business Success Stories Panel 
• 2:00 - 3:30 PM: Networking between BART Staff, Primes, Small Businesses and Public Transit Agencies 

 Please register at the link here! 

The BART Police Department’s Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau has won the American Public Transportation Association’s national Innovation Award. The Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau (PPCEB) has established itself as a national model by increasing BART’s safety presence while ensuring the system is welcoming to all members of the community. The PPCEB is a trail blazing part of the effort to ensure BART is the safest way to travel across the Bay Area.

“The members of the Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau are force multipliers for rider safety,” said BART PD interim Chief Kevin Franklin. “The bureau has become a national model with both transit and traditional law enforcement agencies reaching out to us to learn more about the innovative steps we’re taking to boost safety for our riders.”

The numbers show how the PPCEB is boosting rider safety. In the first six months of this year members of the PPCEB performed more than 10,700 welfare checks on people in the BART system who appeared to need help. There were more than 2,500 instances when PPCEB members intervened when they saw violations of BART’s Code of Conduct. In the past those violations would have required a response by a sworn officer. Instead, members of the PPCEB can offer a more appropriate response with unarmed, specially trained BART PD staff. That has freed up sworn officers to respond more quickly to urgent emergency calls. BART PD has one of the fastest response times for tier 1 emergency calls at an average of just more than 4 minutes.

The PPCEB is primarily composed of non-sworn Transit Ambassadors and Crisis Intervention Specialists. These unarmed employees of BART PD receive specialized training in de-escalation techniques. Transit Ambassadors walk dozens of trains and platforms each day. They’re equipped with radios to report safety concerns. They observe, report, and call upon traditional sworn officers when enforcement is needed. Crisis Intervention Specialists have backgrounds in social work and specialize in connecting people at risk with potentially lifesaving services.

The PPCEB was launched in 2020. It was the first of its kind for a transit agency in the U.S. The BART PD model stands out because members of the PPCEB are full-time BART PD employees as opposed to contractors that many other systems rely on. The bureau builds on a history of more than a decade of reform efforts aimed at elevating equitable policing at BART. 
 

BART has been awarded the Triple Crown Award by the Government Finance Officers Association, one of the highest honors in public finance. The distinction for the fiscal year that ends in 2024 recognizes governments that have achieved excellence in budgeting, financial reporting, and financial planning, and is earned by only 441 governments across the United States and Canada. 

The Triple Crown Award recognizes agencies that achieve excellence in three critical areas of financial reporting and accountability: the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the Popular Annual Financial Report, and the Annual Budget. Organizations must meet rigorous standards for transparency, accuracy, and communication of financial information to qualify. 

The award places BART among a small percentage of public agencies recognized for demonstrating the highest levels of professionalism and excellence in public finance. 

“This recognition reflects BART’s ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and responsible stewardship of public funds,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “As we face significantly challenging financial times for public transit, we remain focused on ensuring taxpayers, riders, and stakeholders have confidence in how we manage every dollar entrusted to us.” 

The honor comes as BART continues to implement cost-saving measures and pursue new revenue opportunities. Earlier this month, when the BART Board of Directors adopted a balanced FY27 budget, it also voted to adopt a series of recommended early action strategies meant to enhance revenue and reduce costs. The items are based on recommendations from an independent Bay Area Financial Efficiency Review commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.  

The actions approved by the Board include improving fare compliance through optimization of BART’s new fare gates, enhancing parking revenue, leasing communications assets, expanding the Clipper BayPass program, improving service reliability through schedule changes, operating shorter trains during lower-demand periods, identifying contract savings opportunities, and evaluating expanded retail partnerships. 

The third-party review found that between 2019 and 2025, BART reduced operating costs by more than $516 million through service reductions, workforce controls, and operational efficiencies. 

The Triple Crown Award also follows another significant external validation of BART’s financial and operational management. In its FY 2025 Triennial Review, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) found BART in compliance with all 23 federal standards evaluated, including financial management, federal grant administration, procurement, and project implementation. The review was the result of a nearly 10-month process that included multiple site visits and thorough examination of BART’s management practices. The FTA’s findings reinforced BART’s commitment to responsible use of public resources and effective oversight.  

Together, the GFOA Triple Crown Award, the independent Financial Efficiency Review, and the FTA’s comprehensive assessment underscore BART’s continued focus on fiscal responsibility, transparency, and delivering value for riders and taxpayers across the Bay Area.

BART’s busy and recently modernized El Cerrito del Norte Station now has a restroom attendant to greet riders and ensure restrooms remain clean, safe, and accessible to riders. This recent expansion to El Cerrito del Norte has been accomplished without an additional cost to BART’s budget because BART is using existing staff resources, utilizing employees on a temporary modified assignment. 

This is the first time BART is deploying an attendant to an above ground station and the first time BART is using existing BART staff and not a contractor. Previously only underground station restrooms that have been recently reopened to the public included attendants staffed by contracted workers from District Works.  

Seven BART stations now have restroom attendants during all operating hours including Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, Lake Merritt, 19th Street Oakland, Downtown Berkeley, and now El Cerrito del Norte. Attendants greet riders, record bathroom usage, check on cleanliness, notify janitors when they are needed, and intervene, if necessary, by calling BART Police.  

When the El Cerrito del Norte Station was modernized, the restrooms were rebuilt with a more open concept with partitions inside and no main door at the entryway. This design, along with the addition of an attendant, has reduced lines to use the restroom. Station Agents can now focus on other customer service assistance instead of needing to check on the restrooms and handle issues related to restrooms being abused.  

BART Director Rebecca Saltzman requested the addition of attendants at El Cerrito del Norte station, “Restroom attendants have proven to discourage unwanted behavior inside restrooms, ensuring they remain open, clean and safe,” said Saltzman. “Since we’ve added an attendant at El Cerrito del Norte, I have personally noticed an improved experience for riders using the restrooms. I want to thank BART leadership for testing this new approach of using existing staff resources to add an attendant to the restroom.”