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Sam Johnson sports a tattoo of the BART system map on their bicep. 

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.”  

Sam grew up in El Cerrito and now lives in Concord, where they’re studying technical theater at Diablo Valley College. Sam still remembers being six years old and waiting for their Youth Clipper card to arrive in the mail. They still have the card – a memento of BART rides past and how much they’ve grown. 

Sam took BART all the time as a kid with their mom and brother and then on their own when they didn’t have a driver’s license and just wanted to get out.  

“Sometimes things in my house were not super fun and awesome,” they said. “Being able to get on BART and go somewhere was comforting.” 

Sam felt safe in a BART station, where they knew a train would never fail to arrive.  

“Every time I saw the train pulling into El Cerrito, felt the wind blowing, the sound of it on the tracks, I felt at home,” they said.  

BART is “the veins of the region" and a gateway to community for Sam. When they were growing up, they were pretty shy and introverted. BART and the requisite interactions with strangers on trains "gave me the ability to be myself.”  

Sam Johnson shows off their tattoo.

“Without BART, I would be less outgoing, less enthusiastic, less able to adapt to new situations,” they said.  

Sam especially appreciates that on the train, they get a brief glimpse into others’ daily lives as well as access to a “shared sense of humanity." 

“We may be in different worlds, but we’re all here together,” Sam said of their fellow passengers. “When I’m with people on the train, I always think to myself, ‘I hope you get home safe; I hope you have a good day; I hope you get an extra long break at work.’” 

So, why the BART tattoo? 

For Sam, it’s a way to “spread the gospel of transit.” They’d been thinking about the tattoo for awhile, and one day, they finally got the courage to walk into Black Sea Tattoo in Walnut Creek with a printout of the System Map. Tattoo artist Earl Pitt took care of the rest.  

In about two-and-a-half hours, after checking multiple times there were the right number of stops on the BART lines, Sam walked out of the shop with an aching, but beautiful, tattoo.  

Thus far, when people see the tattoo, Sam hasn’t had to do much transit evangelizing.  

“Everyone loves it and thinks it’s so fun,” they said. “People go, ‘Is that BART?’ They are so tickled.”  

And Sam is already thinking about the next one: “I’m thinking it will be a tattoo of a legacy train.”  

See Sam on our trains. They're featured in our new BART Connects marketing campaign.

About BART Connects

The BART Connects storytelling series was launched in 2023 to showcase the real people who ride and rely on BART and illustrate the manifold ways the system affects their lives. The subjects of BART Connects will be featured in videos as well as a forthcoming marketing campaign that is slated to run across the Bay Area. Find all the stories at bart.gov/bartconnects.  

The series grew out of BART's Role in the Region Study, which demonstrates BART’s importance to the Bay Area’s mobility, cultural diversity, environmental and economic sustainability. We conducted a call for stories to hear from our riders and understand what BART means to them. More than 300 riders responded, and a selection of respondents were interviewed for the BART Connects series. 

Students in class at Orion Academy near Concord Station.  

Do you have a favorite BART memory or story to share? Email a short summary to BART Storyteller Michelle Robertson at [email protected], and she may follow up to schedule an interview.  

In 2022, Orion Academy moved from Moraga to Concord, largely to be closer to a BART station.  

The academy is a private high school that provides a comprehensive program for gifted students who are neurodivergent. In addition to rigorous college preparatory classes, such as Latin and physics, the 24-year-old school requires students to pass transitions classes that emphasize social and executive functioning skills.  

“I don’t care how good you are at math and science, if you can’t keep track of assignments and turn them in on time, you’re going to fail,” said Dr. Kathryn Stewart, the founder and Executive Director of the academy.  

More than half of Orion Academy’s students take BART to school, located just a short walk from Concord Station. Moving the school near a station makes the academy’s resources accessible to a broader community and teaches students how to independently navigate urban environments, where many will live and work after graduation. 

The Orion Academy campus near Concord Station. 

“My kids are bright, but can you imagine working as a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley Lab and having mommy drop you off each day?” Stewart said.  

Because many Orion Academy students have trouble with visual-spatial processing, driving a car can be overwhelming.  

“So, what is your alternative? Taking public transportation!” said Stewart. She strongly encourages parents to teach their children how to navigate the BART system before the school year starts.  

BART has also become crucial for field trips, transporting students to destinations like the Asian Art Museum, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and the Aquarium of the Bay. The school’s van was recently vandalized, so public transportation is the only way to take students off campus, Stewart said.  

This past summer, Samantha Greenstone’s dad taught her how to take BART. She'd used the system only rarely before starting at Orion Academy this past fall, and when she did ride the train, it was always with her parents. Now, she takes BART to school every day by herself.  

Students in class at Orion Academy near Concord Station. 

Greenstone’s commute is slightly unconventional. She lives in Marin, and each day her mom, who works in San Francisco, drops her off at Embarcadero Station. From there, Greenstone catches a train to Concord Station then scooters the short distance to school.  

Taking BART makes Greenstone “feel much more environmentally conscious,” she said. She appreciates its affordability and the fact that she never gets stuck in a traffic jam. Only once has she missed her stop. 

“I think BART makes the world a better place,” she said. “It provides an economy of scale, is better for the environment, and allows for more urbanization in the region.”  

It also makes her dad’s life easier, she said, “and I’ve learned I should be good to my dad.”  

Greenstone intends to become an engineer or physicist. She says she’ll continue to take BART after she graduates, maybe even to travel to her future workplace.  

About the BART Connects Storytelling Series

The BART Connects storytelling series was launched in 2023 to showcase the real people who ride and rely on BART and illustrate the manifold ways the system affects their lives. You can follow the ongoing series at bart.gov/news. 

The series grew out of BART's Role in the Region Study, which demonstrates BART’s importance to the Bay Area’s mobility, cultural diversity, environmental and economic sustainability. We conducted a call for stories to hear from our riders and understand what BART means to them. The call was publicized on our website, social media, email blasts, and flyering at stations. More than 300 riders responded, and a selection of respondents who opted-in were interviewed for the BART Connects series. 

Today, July 26, 2024, marks 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. 

Earlier this month, Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed July Disability Pride Month. BART joins our governor in celebrating and recognizing riders with disabilities and the contributions they have made to our transportation system and region. We encourage you to read about Harold Willson, an activist who fought to make BART accessible for all in the 1960s. 

We are continuously striving to make BART as easy to use as possible for every single person who rides and relies on us. Our work is ongoing. Learn more about BART's Accessible Services at bart.gov/accessibility.