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A photo of the attendees who participated in the Girls in Motion Fall 2023 Summit, hosted at BART Headquarters on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. Photo courtesy of Conner L’Hommedieu of Kimley-Horn. 

Transportation leaders from across the Bay Area came together recently to share their passion for transit and inspire young people to explore the industry as a potential career.  

On Thursday, Oct. 19, BART hosted the inaugural Girls in Motion Fall 2023 Summit, organized by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), California, Bay Bridge Chapter, and WTS San Fransico Bay Area Chapter, an international organization for women in transportation.  

“The summit was a great opportunity to collaborate with our external partners and provide a platform of exposure for high school girls and specifically those from marginalized communities,” said Cynthia Fields, Supervisor of Workforce Development at BART and a member of the summit planning committee. “We want Gen Z to have this level of awareness as they consider their futures. It’s important for our girls to see people who look like them in the workplace, especially powerful women.”

The standing-room only audience during the Girls in Motion Fall 2023 Summit, hosted at BART Headquarters on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. Photo courtesy of Conner L’Hommedieu of Kimley-Horn. 

Dozens of young women, mostly high school students, attended the rousing summit in BART’s boardroom. Many attendees are participants of Girls Inc of Alameda County, located just a few blocks down the street from BART HQ. Girls Inc. previously visited BART in March of this year to learn about engineering on International Women’s Day.  

The focus for this event was even broader in scope, and many of the transportation leaders who spoke noted the expansiveness of the transit industry and how its workers come from a surprising diversity of professional backgrounds.  

“There are so many different fields in transportation,” said Tess Lengyel, Executive Director of the Alameda County Transportation Commission. “Transportation is not just one thing; there are attorneys, communications professionals, planners. The list goes on.”  

Lengyel spoke during the opening session, a panel with fellow transit executives Bob Powers, the General Manager of BART, and Beverly Greene, Executive Director of External Affairs, Marketing and Communications at AC Transit. Michele DiFrancia, President of ACEC-CA, Bay Bridge Chapter, moderated the inspiring conversation. 

Each executive espoused their passion for transit and some of the surprising delights of working in the industry.  

At the opening of the session, Powers cited some data points to get the girls fired up. Thirty-four percent of BART staff are eligible to retire, he said, stressing the need for more young people with fresh perspectives and ideas to join the industry. He also noted that 25% of the BART workforce are women or nonbinary.  

(From left to right): Beverly Greene, Executive Director of External Affairs, Marketing and Communications at AC Transit, Tess Lengyel, Executive Director of the Alameda County Transportation Commission, Bob Powers, General Manager of BART, and Michele DiFrancia, President of ACEC-CA, Bay Bridge Chapter, photographed during the Girls in Motion Fall 2023 Summit, hosted at BART Headquarters on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. Photo courtesy of Conner L’Hommedieu of Kimley-Horn. 

“We have to do better as an agency to get that number up,” he said. “A job in transit pays well, has good benefits, and means something to the community. There’s so much opportunity in transit.” 

He also stressed the stability of the industry, which is often insulated from fluctuations in the economy. Layoffs, he pointed out, are rare in transportation compared to many other industries.  

Greene said she wasn’t even aware of transit as a career when she was in high school. Her advice to aspiring transit professionals was practical: Meet with your college counselor at least every other week and get involved with extracurriculars. She also shouted out the many women she’s had the opportunity to work with and learn from throughout her career. “And these women are running the agencies!” she said.  

A career tracks panel followed the discussion, featuring transportation professionals from a mix of fields, including, from BART, Alicia Trost (Chief Communications Officer), Sadie Graham (Director of Link21), Phoebe Cheng (Group Manager for Civil, Structural, and Track Engineering), and Ni Lee (Group Manager for Integration Engineering). Sarah Hersom, Vice President of HNTB and Jon Porterfield, Executive Vice President of Anser Advisory, also joined the discussion.  

“Working at BART is so exciting,” said Cheng. “You see it all, and it takes all kind of skillsets.  

Graham shared her unique background – she studied landscape architecture in college – and how her diverse experiences have served her in career. She also pointed out that after ten years of public service, your college loans are taken away. Graham herself said her loans were recently erased.  

Tera Stokes-Hankins, Chief Transportation Officer at BART, assists attendees in building popsicle stick bridges during the Girls in Motion Fall 2023 Summit, hosted at BART Headquarters on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. Photo courtesy of Conner L’Hommedieu of Kimley-Horn. 

At the end of the discussion, the young women engaged in a team STEM bridge-building activity with popsicle sticks that put their science, technology, engineering, and math skills to the test. 

Arden Sorensen-Waod, a tenth grader at Piedmont High School, said she learned a lot of surprising facts at the summit.  

“I’m interested in urban planning and community service. Maybe transit, too?” she said. Her biggest takeaway was realizing that “you can start in one field and end up in another one.” She was also excited that so many efforts were being made in the industry to connect with a younger audience.  

As Powers noted during the panel: “Youth are the future of public transit. We want to hear your ideas – and we are listening and implementing them.”   

BART has many opportunities for young people to learn about the transportation industry, including a robust Summer Internship Program (info flyer here) and youth tours, a program that is slated to relaunch in the late fall of this year. For more information, email [email protected].  

On Saturday, Oct. 12, BART will display a selection of garments created from retired paper tickets at BART Headquarters as part of Oakland Style Week. The outfits were created for BART’s Project Doneway fashion show, presented at Rockridge Station on September 14. 

The unique garments were designed by fashion students from Oakland School for the Arts, Academy of Art University, San Francisco State University, and City College of San Francisco. The students created their looks using more than 150,000 paper tickets collectively. BART retired the iconic tickets in 2023, and the fashion show provided an opportunity to reuse what would otherwise be shredded and recycled. Read more about Project Doneway and watch the show here.

BART invites the public to view the outfits on Saturday from noon to 5pm at our headquarters: 2150 Webster St., Oakland, just a few blocks from 19th St Oakland Station. The garments will be displayed in the front windows of the building on either side of the main entry doors, located at the top of the steps. There is an ADA-accessible ramp.  

Members of the public will not be able to enter the building, which is accessible only by key card on weekends and monitored by security. We ask that you please respect BART staff entering and exiting the building.  

What: Paper Ticket Dresses on Display 

Why: Oakland Style Week 

When: Saturday, Oct. 12, noon to 5pm  

Where: BART Headquarters, 2150 Webster St., Oakland 

BART is hitting the runway this upcoming Transit Month to give a final send-off to our retired paper tickets that were a portal to our system for more than a 1 billion trips in the decades since BART’s inception.  

We gave fashion design students from four local schools more than 150,000 paper tickets with one condition: transform them into high fashion.   

The students from Academy of Art University, Oakland School for the Arts, City College of San Francisco, and San Francisco State University will strut their stuff and share their unique designs for a full-blown fashion show, “Project Doneway: A Farewell to BART Paper Tickets,” in the parking lot at Rockridge Station on Saturday, September 14, from 1pm to 3pm. 

The show will feature more than 30 unique garments created by nearly 80 designers. Models range in age from 4 years old to 75! The garments will be judged by local fashion luminaries Charleston Pierce, Randy Wells, and Mary Campbell. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place (in the high school, and college categories) and Best Use of Paper Tickets. Middle school students from Oakland School of Arts will display mini outfit designs, which the public will vote on before the show. 

There will also be a special guest appearance from Sean Porter, who inspired the event with a dress made out of BART’s blue paper tickets. 

There will be American Sign Language interepreters at the event, and we invite the deaf community to come out and enjoy! 

“We gave our legacy cars a proper send off when they were retired and our paper tickets deserve the same treatment,” said Chief Communications Officer Alicia Trost, who came up with the idea as another way to engage youth and young adults in the Bay Area and to activate BART stations through art. “Our paper ticket designs have long shown up in artistic Bay Area cultural references. This event was inspired by a dress made out of BART’s iconic blue paper tickets by Sean Porter nearly ten years ago, and I wanted to offer students who rely on BART to get around the opportunity to showcase their talents.” 
 

Download the Project Doneway flyer here. 

Project Doneway coincides with Transit Month, an annual celebration of the countless buses, trains, ferries, bicycles and people that make up the Bay Area’s vibrant transportation ecosystem. Throughout the month of September, members of the public can enjoy contests, prizes, panels, clinics, concerts, bar crawls, hikes and more across the region. Learn more about the special month hosted by San Francisco Transit Riders and Seamless Bay Area and the dozens of events happening throughout September on the Transit Month webpage.  

During Transit Month, the public is encouraged to explore the region by taking local transportation. The month is hallmarked by a Ride Contest. Every ride you take on Bay Area public transit is an entry into the Transit Month raffle. Track your rides to earn badges, win prizes, compete against friends by signing up and logging rides at ridecontest.com  

Some of the BART-related events this year include: 

• Wednesday, September 4, 5pm, at Balboa Station: Sound Tracks free concert. Featuring Congolese drummer Kiazi Malonga, performing with full percussion band.
   
• Sunday September 15, 10:45am, at Downtown Berkeley Station: Hiking by Transit: Berkeley to Orinda via Siesta Valley. This hike will head up through Claremont Canyon, taking in majestic views of the Bay, before crossing over Skyline Boulevard into Siesta Valley and descending into Orinda. BART back or stay for Ice Cream at local favorite Loard's. 
   
• Saturday, September 21, 2pm, at Pleasant Hill Station. BART and Bike to the Walnut Creek Walnut Festival:  The Festival offers live music, a carnival, a showcase of local and regional artists, builders, food, craft beer garden, and more. 
   
• Saturday, September 28, 11am, starting at Pittsburg/Bay Point Station and ending at Antioch Station: Bike East Bay Group Ride on the Delta de Anza Trail.  Explore the paved, multi-use hiking, biking and equestrian trail that connects Concord, Bay Point, Pittsburg, Antioch and Oakley.
   
• Saturday, September 28, 12pm, at Downtown Berkeley Station Plaza: Downtown Berkeley Transit Month Rally. Come rally support for and learn about public transportation in Berkeley and the Bay Area. 
   
• Sunday, September 29, 1pm, at Lake Merritt Station: The Craft of Transit: Craft Ride from Lake Merritt to San Jose Flea Market. Bring your favorite craft project to work on and make friends as we ride to the San Jose Flea Market. Gather at the Lake Merritt BART concourse at 1 p.m. then head down as a group to board the 1:27 pm rain to Berryessa / North San Jose BART Station.  RSVP here. 

BART ridership saw steady growth this summer with August ridership up 10% compared to a year ago, a reflection of the ongoing success of BART’s efforts to enhance safety, cleanliness, and customer experience, including the new fare payment system Tap and Ride. 

Tuesday, August 26, was BART’s third-highest ridership day since 2020 at the time, with 210,818 exits. This record was soon bested in the first two weeks of September, which experienced BART’s first and second highest ridership days since 2020 (219,918 exits on September 10 and 213,313 exits on September 9). 

Weekend ridership continues to trend upward with Saturdays in August seeing an 11% increase over a year ago and Sundays an 8.1% increase. These increases were bolstered by major events, including a three-day Dead & Company residency at Golden Gate Park, Outside Lands, and the Bay FC vs. Washington Spirit match that sold out Oracle Arena.  

A big win for customers was the launch of Tap and Ride on August 20, which gives BART riders the ability to pay adult fares at BART fare gates using contactless-enabled debit or credit cards and mobile payment methods. Tap and Ride trips accounted for 6.5% of total BART trips after the payment system launched in late August. Weekend Tap and Ride usage was higher than weekdays as tourists and infrequent riders took advantage of this new feature. Twenty-four percent of entries at SFO Station were paid for using Tap and Ride after it launched.  

Also in August, San Francisco city workers began returning to their downtown office and local schools returned to session. With the start of the fall semester at UC Berkeley in mid-August, Clipper BayPass ridership more than doubled from the previous August as the all-in-one transit pass rolled out to the entire Cal student body. In March, students approved a referendum that increases annual student fees to provide 50,000 undergraduates and graduate students with unlimited travel on Bay Area transit agencies for two years.  

Additional ridership information is publicly available here. 

Rudy Garza, BART’s new Director of the Office of Civil Rights. 

This Hispanic Heritage Month, BART is proud to celebrate employees with Hispanic and Latino heritage, who enrich our organization and the community at large. Over 15% of BART's workforce identifies as Hispanic and Latino, and we will be celebrating them throughout the month with additional stories and internal gatherings.

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

Rudy Garza and his fellow investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor were up at dawn one morning in the late 90s for a surprise inspection of crops in California’s Central Valley when they made a disturbing discovery.  
 
“We saw kids working the fields,” said Garza, BART’s new Director of the Office of Civil Rights. “There were even infants out there.” 

Garza’s team referred the children to social workers, seized the entire crop, and started an investigation that ended with significant civil penalties for the farmers, including back wages paid. 
 
His time patrolling the fields in the 1990s was a turning point for Garza, the grandchild of Central Valley farm workers himself.  

Garza is deeply influenced by his family’s journey to California. His grandmother immigrated from Mexico and met his grandfather, a veteran of World War II, in the southwest. They eventually made their way to Fresno, living in tents while working the fields. At the end of each work day, Garza’s grandfather would come home to construct the family’s future two-bedroom house with his own two hands.

“I am proud to come from an immigrant background and demonstrate that immigrants -- all immigrants, not just Hispanic immigrants -- are the backbone of this country,” he said, “where hard work and never giving up is the foundation of who you are.” 

Garza entered the military at 17. While serving, he saw the Berlin Wall fall; Germany win the World Cup; and the decommissioning of the Pershing nuclear missile arsenal as the Cold War came to a close. 

When Garza came back home, he had stints in law enforcement and even worked as a part-time high school football coach back in Fresno. But his work at the Department of Labor gave him a new sense of purpose. 

“That was really my first taste of civil rights,” he said. “I really enjoyed that, protecting the public good.” 

Rudy Garza during his time in the Army.

Garza’s career would take him on a tour across California government, always in roles ensuring complex laws were carried out to ensure the public’s rights were being upheld.  

There was his time at the Fair Political Practices Commission, investigating campaign finance violations. Then he worked to ensure incarcerated people received proper care at the California Correctional Health Care Services. That was followed by a job as a manager at the State Department of Public Health, where he made sure patients were receiving proper nursing care. Just before arriving at BART, he worked as the California Highway Patrol’s Civil Rights Officer.  

Garza is thrilled to join BART, a large, complex organization with a strong public mission.  

“We ensure that everyone has equal access to BART’s programs, our trains, the ability to contract with us,” he said of the Office of Civil Rights. 

Top: Rudy Garza with this family during his swearing in ceremony as a Fresno County Sheriff's deputy. Bottom: Rudy with his younger brother.

Garza has been impressed with the level of expertise and depth of talent at BART, not just among the Office of Civil Rights staff but across the District. 

“They're all very highly intelligent people. They see beyond the bend in the curve,” he said of his colleagues.  

Garza sees the Office of Civil Rights playing a big role in BART’s continued success and sustainability in the Bay Area.

“I am committed to ensuring we provide contracting opportunities for small and disadvantaged business enterprises, along with women- and minority-owned business enterprises to help BART continue to provide safe, reliable, and clean transit service to the residents of the communities we serve.” 

During Hispanic Heritage Month, Garza likes to return to Victor Villaseñor's epic novel Rain of Gold. It’s a tale of magical realism and a family’s saga of struggle crossing the border and making a life in the U.S. It also serves as a reminder that the Hispanic community is not a monolith. Whether you are Cuban American, Puerto Rican, Latino, Latinx, Chicano -- there is a rich mix of heritages and backgrounds that make up this diverse community and are celebrated during Hispanic Heritage Month.  

Rudy commutes by BART and Capitol Corridor from Sacramento. 

We are taking over the parking lot at El Cerrito Plaza Station for a fun family event with music, food, fun, and games. 

The Go Green! Mobility Fair will also focus on educating neighbors about the many different ways to get around without a car to reduce your carbon footprint, just in time for Earth Month. BART will soon transform the parking lot at El Cerrito Plaza into housing and potentially a library, so it is critical to start thinking about alternatives to car travel now.

At the Go Green! Mobility Fair you can:

1. Discover plans to build housing at El Cerrito Plaza and North Berkeley BART
2. Enjoy music, food, fun and games for all ages
3. Test ride e-bikes
4. Learn about discounts for environmentally friendly transportation options

Bike East Bay will be offering a free Family Cycling Workshop at the fair. Registration is required — sign up here! 

The GO GREEN! Mobility fair is sponsored by the City of El Cerrito,  ECRA Walk and Roll, City of Berkeley, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), and Bike East Bay. For more information about the GO GREEN! Mobility Fair, click here.

We need volunteers for this exciting event! If you are interested in volunteering, please sign up here.

When: Saturday, April 26, 11AM–3PM

Where: El Cerrito Plaza BART Northeast Parking Lot (515 Richmond St.)

On Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, BART is launching a call for riders’ BART stories. We want to hear what BART means to you and gain insight into how we can continue to improve.  

Do you have a favorite BART memory? Have you met a dear friend or life partner aboard a train? Did you take BART to a seminal life event? Have you been sitting on a unique idea to improve the system? We’d like to hear it.  

To answer our questions, visit bart.gov/YourStory. We may contact you to learn more about your BART experience for future articles and communications (but only if you give us permission). You have the option to remain anonymous or share select information. Once you've answered the questions, you can enter a drawing to win one of three $100 e-gift cards. We’ll be sharing these stories in the coming months. 

This call for stories is one aspect of our Role in the Region Study, which provides insight into emerging trends and outlines BART’s benefits to the Bay Area through illustrative data, personal narratives, and factsheets, culminating in a comprehensive final report. The final report is anticipated to be completed in Spring 2024. You can keep up to date with the project and explore factsheets at bart.gov/RoleintheRegion.  

These materials highlight BART’s essential role in the region’s success as well as the compelling need for the continued funding and support of this essential transportation system. This study further develops the analyses and values illustrated in BART’s Transit Saves campaign and builds upon the findings from the 2016 Role in the Region Study.  

This Transit Month, ride BART and tell us what it means to you!  

Answer the questions and share your story at bart.gov/YourStory. 

BART will be running special service on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. 

You no longer need a Clipper card to ride BART and other Clipper agencies in the Bay Area! Try out Tap and Ride for the holidays. Tap and Ride gives you the option to pay for BART at the fare gates using contactless credit and debit cards, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay. It's an immense timesaver as you head out for holiday fun as for zero registration or setup is required (though you can still use Clipper, if preferred). Find more info on Tap and Ride below. 

BART Holiday Schedule 

Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December 24: Regular weekday service (5am-midnight) 

Christmas Day, Thursday, December 25: Sunday service (8am-midnight)  

Day after Christmas, Friday, December 26: Regular weekday service (5am-midnight) 

New Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31: Regular weekday service (5am opening) with extended late-night service, extra staffing, and additional event trains. BART will be providing extended service until 1am for late-night riders coming back from fireworks shows and celebrations. More on this below.  

New Year's Day, Thursday, January 1: Sunday service (8am-midnight) 

Day after New Year’s Day, Friday, January 2: Regular weekday service (5am-midnight) 

Looking for something to do? We've got a list of BARTable NYE celebrations.

New Year's Eve 1am Extended Service - More Info 

Our 1am extended service will be as follows: 

Three-line special service (Yellow, Blue, and Orange only in both directions, for total of six trains for 1am extended service).  

Yellow Line will be the only line running in San Francisco and Peninsula. Blue Line will run between Bay Fair and Dublin/Pleasanton. 

Trains will be waiting at MacArthur and Bay Fair to complete timed transfers. 

Yellow Line and Orange Line trains in all directions will be timed to meet at MacArthur Station at 1:51am in a "grand meet." This is the transfer point for riders coming from San Francisco heading toward Richmond or Berryessa or riders coming from the East Bay heading toward San Francisco. 

Orange Line and Blue Line trains will be timed to meet at Bay Fair Station at 2:15am. Dublin-bound riders can take the Berryessa-bound Orange Line train and transfer at Bay Fair Station. 

SFO and OAK airport stations will NOT be served. 

Last East Bay-bound train running through downtown San Francisco will be at around 1:30am. 

Last southbound train heading toward Millbrae will run through downtown San Francisco at around 2:10am. 

The regular last trains of the evening (Yellow, Blue, and Orange lines) will be dispatched from the end of their lines at midnight and then at 1:00am. We will run another set of last trains of the evening to serve 48 out of our 50 stations. The 1am trains will not serve SFO and OAK airport stations. 

Pay with Tap and Ride 

BART riders now have the option to pay for BART at the fare gates using contactless credit and debit cards, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay.  

Tap and Ride is an immense timesaver for riders because zero registration or setup process is required, and riders will no longer need to add fare to their Clipper cards. All Bay Area transit agencies now offer Tap and Ride as of December 10, 2025.  

If you want to continue using a Clipper card, take it out of your wallet or purse when you pay. To continue using Clipper on your Apple Wallet, make sure Express Mode is turned on for Clipper card. Android devices will automatically present the digital Clipper card if the user has one in Google Wallet. 

Find Tap and Ride FAQs at bart.gov/tapandride. 

Parking at BART on holidays 

Parking is always free after 3pm and on weekends. Parking will also be free on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. This applies to all BART stations except for Milpitas and Berryessa/North San Jose, which are operated by VTA. 

All other parking rules will be enforced. 

Parking at BART for Holiday Travel 

Airport parking can be a hassle and is always expensive, except at BART stations. We offer inexpensive multi-day parking (see options below) at most stations with easy online reservations. Purchase parking on the Official BART App or pay by website.  

Single/Multi-Day Reserved parking is for consecutive overnight stays of up to 20 weekdays at a time. You will need to provide the license plate of the car you plan to drive and a phone number. Please purchase in advance to ensure availability. Reference our guide for paying for Single/Multi-Day Reserved parking here. 

Monthly Reserved parking is for stays of up to 24 hours at a time, charged on a recurring monthly basis, and provides a guaranteed space until 10am. This is not to be used while travelling for several days in a row. 

During the holidays we experience a higher demand in Reserved Parking at stations near the airport. To accommodate, Reserved Parking is allowed in any Reserved or Daily Fee spot at Millbrae Station and San Bruno Station. Reserved parking signs are blue + white or yellow. Daily Fee parking is only allowed in the Daily Fee area. 

Find an overview of parking at BART at bart.gov/parking.  

Taking BART to SFO or OAK  

Traveling by plane for the holiday? It’s easy to ride BART to the airport. You can take the train directly to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Oakland International Airport (OAK). Plan your trip and find fares by using BART’s online Trip Planner and read our comprehensive guide on riding BART to the airport. 

Another option for travel to SFO via BART is to purchase Multi-Day Reserved parking on the Official BART App or  website and drive to Millbrae Station or San Bruno Station, then take a quick ride to SFO Airport.  

Stay Safe 

Save these numbers in your phone: 

510-200-0992 to text BART Police dispatch to discreetly report criminal activity 

510-464-7000 to call BART Police in an emergency (It’s faster than calling 911) 

We also offer the BART Watch App--a free mobile app available on the App Store and Google Play that allows you to quickly and discreetly report criminal or suspicious activity directly to BART Police. 

You can reach the Train Operator using the emergency call button in each car located by the side doors on the new trains. 

Note your train car number when contacting police or the Train Operator. The train number is located above the doors on the inside of each end of the train car. 

BART will have extra safety staff working on New Year’s Eve. 

Holiday Fun 

BART Kwanzaa Coloring Sheet 

BART Hanukkah Coloring Sheet 

BART Christmas Coloring Sheet 

The BART Board of Directors voted to adopt a balanced budget for FY26, protecting safe, clean, and frequent service for one more year before facing a fiscal cliff in FY27 that could have dire and widespread impacts on the Bay Area's greater transportation network. The BART board continued its strategy of avoiding service cuts by using the remaining $318 million of state and regional emergency funds to help pay for the cost of running train service, while supporting deficit-reducing, cost-cutting measures, such as a strategic hiring freeze and running shorter trains. A planned 6.2% fare increase, expected to go into effect January 1, 2026, also helps close a projected $35 million deficit. 

The FY26 budget is also supported by a fiscal year-over-year 4% increase in paid trips thanks to new fare gates, new fare programs, such as Clipper BayPass offering employer-paid unlimited transit passes, attracting more riders with a cleaner, safer ride, and schedule coordination with connecting transit agencies.

BART’s overall expenses grew by less than 1% in FY26, demonstrating that cost controls and targeted cuts to non-labor expenses are holding costs down, as well as the effectiveness of BART’s disciplined approach to belt tightening and prudent fiscal management. No new positions were added to the budget and dozens were frozen in a strategic hiring freeze. 

“Our riders are noticing the improvements we have made to the overall BART experience, resulting in the highest satisfaction rates in ten years,” said BART Board President Mark Foley. “We made strategic decisions in this budget to show the Bay Area we must be part of the solution in reducing costs, but also ensuring we have frequent, clean, and safe service at this critical moment when traffic congestion is increasing and people are returning to the office and wanting to take car-free trips on nights and weekends as well.”

Operating budget prioritizes Safe and Clean Plan   

BART’s $1.2 billion operating budget will continue to fund the current service plan with no planned cuts to service this fiscal year. In August, small adjustments will be made to BART’s schedule in coordination with other transit systems to improve timed transfers with Caltrain at Millbrae Station and to improve transfers with Wheels Bus service at Dublin Station. Improvements to the BART to Antioch transfer are also planned. 

While the FY26 operating budget includes $35 million in reductions and cost controls, these cuts will not impact BART’s ability to provide clean and safe service or impact BART’s efforts to have an increased safety presence on trains and inside stations. 

Capital budget prioritizes reliability improvements and modernization efforts 

BART’s $1.1 billion capital budget prioritizes funding Fleet of the Future rail cars, BART’s project to upgrade its aged train control system to a modern Communications Based Train Control System, new traction power equipment which will improve reliability, new escalators, a new BART Police headquarters, and other rebuilding efforts. 98% of the capital investments are allocated to system reinvestment and service and capacity enhancements that will allow us to continue to serve as the backbone of the region’s transportation system. These projects are funded by voter-approved Measure RR and other local, regional, state, and federal grant sources, in addition to allocations from BART’s operating budget to help pay for these essential projects. 

Fiscal cliff is rapidly approaching

The FY27 preliminary budget, which includes no emergency assistance, shows a $376 million deficit due to BART’s outdated funding model and the fact the Bay Area has embraced remote work at higher rates compared to the rest of the country. The BART Board has voted to support SB 63 (Wiener/Arreguin), also known as the Connect Bay Area Act, which would authorize a regional transportation funding measure on the November 2026 ballot to enact a sales tax in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties, with an option for San Mateo and Santa Clara counties to opt in. Funds from the measure would support transit agency operations and rider-focused transit coordination improvements. 

BART is also advocating for state budget funding to prevent service cuts in FY27 as well as requesting that BART’s current funding allocations from state programs continue to be honored in the coming state budget, which is under development now.