Search

BART has energized three newly constructed substations that are providing tangible benefits to BART riders in the core of the system. The added redundancy helps minimize service disruptions while improving operational flexibility throughout the core of the system. 

New substations at Civic Center/UN Plaza Station, Montgomery St. Station, and near the Oakland entrance to the Transbay Tube, entered service between January and June 2026 as part of BART's Transbay Corridor Core Capacity Program.  

This comes as BART's ridership has been increasing and passenger on-time performance has been on the rise. In the latest quarter, BART's Passenger On-time Performance Rate was 94.4%, the best result in more than 10 years outside of the COVID period.  

"Traction power substations are the backbone of the BART system," said Myat San, BART's Chief Infrastructure Officer. "Every train depends on them to receive the power needed to operate safely and reliably. The recently energized substations increase capacity, improve redundancy, and makes our electrical network more resilient, which helps us provide dependable service now and prepare the system for the future." 

The new facilities allow power to be supplied from multiple locations if another substation is taken out of service for planned maintenance or an unexpected outage.  

The substations also increase available power capacity by approximately 20 percent over the baseline capacity on the M-Line through the system's core, improve voltage performance, and reduce stress on older electrical equipment during periods of heavy demand.  

The increase in available power from the new substations will also give BART the future capability to run additional trains through the Transbay Tube as part of BART’s Transbay Corridor Core Capacity Program (TCCCP). TCCCP will see the construction of a total of six substations, including the downtown San Francisco substations. These will provide the energy needed to power additional trains, with the objective of running up to thirty ten-car trains per hour in both directions of the Transbay Tube.  

"Modernizing our traction power system gives us greater flexibility to operate under a wide range of conditions," said Gordon Wong, BART Principal Electrical Engineer. "With additional capacity and redundancy built into the network, we can better maintain reliable service while supporting growth in ridership for decades to come." 

BART currently operates 136 traction power facilities throughout its system. Construction on three additional substations (one in Richmond, one in Concord, and one in Oakland) is expected to begin within the next year. 

The majority of the funding for BART’s Traction Power Substation project comes from Measure RR funds, as well as contributions from TCCCP, the Federal Transit Administration and BART funds.

UPDATE: BART Holiday Merch is so popular, we have sold out of our current inventory. 

Fear not: You can still purchase all BART holiday merch -- sweaters, vests, beanies, and scarves -- at an upcoming Railgoods holiday popup shop at select BART stations, which will have limited inventory on hand (see dates and locations below). You also have the option to preorder holiday merch on Railgoods.com here (more info below). 

Railgoods Holiday Popups:

• Wednesday, Nov. 6, 3pm to 6pm, Daly City Station

• Wednesday, Nov. 13, 3pm to 6pm, Pleasant Hill Station

• Wednesday, Nov. 20, 3pm to 6pm, El Cerrito del Norte Station 

• Saturday, Dec. 7, 1pm to 4pm, Sweaterfest at Rockridge Station 

• Thursday, Dec. 12, 3pm to 6pm, Dublin/Pleasanton Station

If you preorder your items on Railgoods.com, at checkout you will have the option to:

• Pick up your order at SweaterFest on Saturday, Dec. 7, 1pm-4pm, at Rockridge Station. More info below. 

• Ship your order for a fee. Items will begin shipping the week of December 9. 

• Pick up your sweater at BART's Customer Services Center at Lake Merritt Station (hours: M-F 8:30am to 4:45pm). If you select this option, you will receive an email when your order is ready. Orders should be available for pickup the week of December 9. 

SweaterFest is back! 

Mark your calendars for Saturday, Dec 7, 1pm to 4pm, at Rockridge Station (College Ave. @ Keith). Wear your BART holiday sweater from any year and enjoy crafts, cookies, music, and more. 2024 BART holiday merch will be on sale at the event. There will also be a booth to pickup preordered holiday merch. 

If you preordered a sweater this summer...

If you preordered your holiday merch this summer, your order will arrive shortly. Those who selected the in-store pickup option during the presale should keep an eye out for an alert that their order is ready for pickup.  

You can also win holiday merch from BARTable! Sign up for the BARTable This Week newsletter on bart.gov/bartable to enter holiday sweepstakes and to hear about fun holiday events by BART stations.  

2024 BART Holiday Merch Prices 

Shipping costs vary by weight and location. 

Sweater - $49.99 (limit to 2 sweaters per order)   

Vest - $39.99   

Beanie - $15.99   

Scarf - $19.99 

BART is at the heart of the Bay Area, and we should be proud of the public institutions that make our region merry and bright. Buy some merch and rep your love for BART and the Bay – the ugly sweater way.  

This is the fourth year BART has sold holiday sweaters. Last year, we sold our entire inventory of 3,000 sweaters. Sales exceeded $100,000.   

BART is one of the first transit agencies to sell holiday sweaters. We designed the first sweater in 2021 as a BARTable contest giveaway and ordered just five for the contests. Our inventory proved insufficient after General Manager Bob Powers wore one of the sweaters during a media event about BART’s air filters. People wanted them...badly. A week later, we held a sale for the public, and the sweaters sold out in under an hour.   

Every year since, despite increasing our inventory into the thousands, the sweaters have sold out.

Beginning Monday, March 24, 2025, BART to Antioch train times will shift by several minutes to improve the connection with BART at the transfer platform in Pittsburg. 

We are lengthening the window of time for the regular BART train to connect to the BART to Antioch DMU train to improve the reliability of the transfer. While this will lengthen the total time for trips that include BART to Antioch service, it will significantly cut down on the number of missed transfers, which is currently causing even longer delays for Antioch riders.

This change means departure and arrival times at Antioch and Pittsburg Center stations are shifting by six or seven minutes depending on the direction of travel. We encourage Antioch and Pittsburg Center riders to look up the new train times before the change goes into effect. 

Trips from Antioch and Pittsburg Center toward SFO will leave seven minutes earlier than before. Trips from SFO towards Pittsburg Center and Antioch will arrive six minutes later.

For riders who rely on clock-face schedules, here is an example of the change:

• For the current schedule, trips at Antioch Station start on the 10/30/50 minutes after the hour and trips at Pittsburg Center start on the 17/37/57 minutes after the hour.
• For the new schedule, trips at Antioch Station start on the 03/23/43 minutes after the hour (except for the first three trains of the day) and trips at Pittsburg Center start on the 10/30/50 minutes after the hour.

The times for regular BART trains on the Yellow Line (Pittsburg/Bay Point to SFO) are unchanged. 

View the Yellow Line PDF timetable for weekday service.
View the Yellow Line PDF timetable for weekend service.

The Trip Planner is in the process of being updated, and riders will be able to see their new itineraries by selecting the date of March 24, 2025, and beyond.

“Making this transfer at Pittsburg work for our riders is very important to us,” said BART Board President Mark Foley, who represents BART to Antioch riders. “It is frustrating to riders when they must wait on the transfer platform with little information. The current schedule has too narrow of a window for the regular BART trains and the BART to Antioch DMU trains to line up. This change will improve the transfer. BART to Antioch riders have some of the longest and most expensive commutes, and I am grateful to the BART team for quickly making changes to prioritize this transfer and East Contra Costa County riders.”  

BART ridership continues to grow, with notable gains on weekends as Saturday ridership this September was nearly 20% higher compared to the previous year. More than 5 million trips were taken on BART in September, exceeding expected trips by 5%. Overall, ridership saw a nearly 10% increase over the same month last year.  

The increase in ridership on the weekends, especially Saturdays, demonstrates that people are taking BART for purposes beyond getting to the office. For example, the Japan v. Mexico soccer match on Saturday, September 6, drew 23,000 trips to Coliseum Station, the third-highest ridership day for the station since the pandemic. In fact, ridership for the match was nearly a third higher than the average Saturday ridership for A’s games in 2019.  

Ridership growth is only part of the solution to BART’s significant financial crisis. To close BART’s $375 million deficit with only fare revenue, current ridership levels would need to more than double; BART’s latest budget forecast estimates a 4% ridership increase in 2026. 

BART’s slow and steady ridership recovery correlates with work from home rates in the region. While individual riders are returning to BART, they’re taking fewer trips, likely due to remote and hybrid work schedules. 

September ridership highlights at a glance:  

• September ridership was 10% higher compared to previous year (5,047,000 total trips).
• Saturdays in September of this year grew 20% over a year ago.
• Highest ridership day: Wednesday, September 10 (220,073).
• BayPass, the region’s all-in-one transit pass, ridership more than doubled over last September, driven primarily by UC Berkeley students voting to expand the program to the entire study body of ~45,000. The BayPass referendum was approved with 90% "yes" votes. Ridership growth at Downtown Berkeley Station has outpaced systemwide growth since the start of the Fall 2025 semester.  
• Tap and Ride usage accounted for approx. 8% of total trips on weekdays and 12% on weekends. SFO Station accounts for nearly 30% of all Tap and Ride trips. Tap and Ride gives riders the ability to pay adult fares at BART fare gates using physical contactless credit or debit cards or mobile payment methods, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.  
• Usage of Clipper START, the region’s low-income discount fare program, is at an all-time high and accounted for 3.4% of total trips in September. BART has more Clipper START rides than any other agency. 

Additional ridership information is publicly available and posted monthly at bart.gov/about/reports/ridership. 

Batter up, Bay Area!  

On Saturday August 1, BART and AC Transit are stepping up to the plate for Public Transit Night: Ride the Rally at the Oakland Ballers.  

For the third year running BART and AC Transit – proud partners of the Ballers since season one – are joining the Oakland Ballers, the Pioneer League champions, at Raimondi Park for a night that celebrates the Town’s favorite pro baseball team and the public transit systems that take you from home to home plate.  

The first 750 ticketholders to enter will receive a commemorative Transit Night pin.  

Oakland Ballers vs. RedPocket Mobiles 

Date: Saturday, August 1 

Start time: 4:35pm first pitch; Ride the Rally live band pregame in Scrappy Town from 3:30pm to 4:30pm 

Location: Raimondi Park, 1800 Wood St, Oakland, CA 94607 

Buy tickets here 

What to expect 

• 1st 750 ticketholders to enter receive a commemorative pin 
• Giveaways 
• Photos with the BARTmobile 
• Races and games 
• BART Police Honor Guard 
• More transit-themed fun! 

How to get to Raimondi Park 

West Oakland BART station is about 1 mile (about a 15–20 minute walk) from Raimondi Park. Free shuttle buses run between the ballpark and BART station every 20 minutes starting 1.5 hours before game time and a half hour after the game ends. At West Oakland BART, you can also transfer to AC Transit Line 22 for direct service to Raimondi Park.  

Riders also have the option of disembarking at 19th St. BART station and boarding the AC Transit NL bus at the 20th St/Thomas L Berkley Way stop. From there, ride five stops to W. Grand Ave. and Mandela Parkway, which is about .3 miles from the park. 

Parking is free at BART stations on weekends, with the exception of Milpitas and Berryessa/North San Jose stations, which are operated by VTA. Find the Baller's guide to taking transit, biking and parking here. 

Free transfers: Riders who use more than one transit agency in a single trip, for example BART to AC Transit, will only be charged full fare on the first operator. A transfer discount of up to $2.85 will apply on any additional transit agency the rider uses within a two-hour window. Transfer discounts are calculated automatically using Tap and Ride or Clipper for accounts that have been upgraded to the next generation system (click here to upgrade your card).   

Ballers x BART merch on Railgoods 

Visit Railgoods.com, BART’s official merch store, to buy the BARTxBallers jersey tee (available in youth sizes with BARTy design), a selection of Ballers caps, and Ballers BARTy stickers.