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Today, March 1, marks the beginning of Women’s History Month, a time to recognize and celebrate the vital role women have played – and continue to play – in American history, including the history of public transportation, which has been shaped and transformed by women.  

BART is home to an amazingly diverse workforce with women serving in crucial roles across the agency, from trackworkers and train operators to executives and our Board of Directors, which is composed of a majority of women.  

To spotlight just a few exceptional women in the BART family:  

Tera Stokes-Hankins is the first woman to serve as Chief Transportation Officer at BART. Tera started as a part-time station agent in 1995 nearly fresh out of college. Since her hiring, she has been promoted six times! Tera says she is motivated to work hard each and every day because “if BART’s not running, that means people can’t get to an interview or an appointment or class. To get up every day and make sure we’re ready to go and putting our best foot forward – that keeps me going." Read more about Tera’s BART journey here.  

Thu Nguyen, a track operator, came to the Bay Area a few years ago with her daughter and just $300 in her pocket. She didn’t have housing or a job, but she eventually landed at Cypress Mandela Training Center, which offers free pre-apprenticeship program for Bay Area residents and helps connect them with employment opportunities, including at BART. Foreworker Jaime Ramirez said Nguyen is “no holds barred.” He added: “She’s not afraid of the work. She just goes for it.” Read more about Thu here.  

Stephine Barnes, a Crisis Intervention Specialist in BART’s Progressive Policing Bureau, recently won a Rider First Award in recognition of her work to move Bay Area transit forward. Stephine has worked for BART for more than two decades, and in her role as a CIS, she has changed the lives of many individuals. Her work has focused on reducing prison recidivism and advocating for those facing homelessness through intervention/prevention, de-escalation, case management, working with community partners, networking, and family reunification. Read more about Stephine here. 

From left to right: Tera Stokes-Hankins, Thu Nguyen, and Stephine Barnes.

BART is committed to recognizing, supporting, and uplifting all the passionate and hardworking women in the BART family by fostering a culture that values diversity, equity, and inclusion – the themes of Women’s History Month 2024.  

We thank every single one of the women at BART, who are working every day to make the system better for everyone.  

Happy Women’s History Month! 

BART will be running special extended service on New Year's Eve (5am to 1am). On New Year's Day (Wednesday, Jan. 1), BART will run a Sunday schedule (8am to midnight). Find more information below. Plan your trip by visiting BART's Trip Planner or use BART's New Year's Eve extended service timetable. 

New Year's Eve 1am Extended Service

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 1:47am 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 2:16am. 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 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.
• Plan your trip with our Trip Planner or use BART's New Year's Eve extended service timetable. 

Parking at BART on Holidays

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

All other parking rules will be enforced.

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 call buttons 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.

An innovative community partnership initiative that leverages BART capital funding to help local agencies make it easier for riders to safely walk and bike to BART stations is awarding funding to seven projects. The Measure RR Safe Routes to BART (SR2B) grant program’s third and final cycle will provide $16 million in funding for the projects, which are located across the three counties that make up the BART District (Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco). The program is made possible through Measure RR which was approved by District voters in 2016 and provides $3.5 billion to rebuild BART’s core infrastructure to make the system safer and more reliable.

The selected projects are focused on improving bike and pedestrian connections to BART. SR2B makes the most of Measure RR dollars by using them to support projects that can offer a minimum funding match of 30% and can provide evidence of governing body support, a full funding plan, and a minimum of 35% design completion.

Here are the projects selected for Cycle 3 awards.

Project                                                                                              Safe Routes to BART funding

• Lakeside Dr/Lake Merritt Blvd. Complete Streets Paving Project              $3 million
• Clement Avenue/Tilden Way: Broadway/Tilden Intersection                     $2.1 million
• Central Embarcadero Safety Projects                                                             $1 million
• Fremont Blvd. Elevated Bikeway                                                                      $3 million
• Union City BART Pedestrian At-Grade Railroad Crossing                            $3 million
• Ohlone Greenway Modernization and Safety Project                                  $3 million
• North Bailey Road Active Transportation Corridor Project                         $0.9 million

The projects awarded SR2B funding were selected from 16 applicants. Equity was a key factor in determining the award recipients. Applicants had to show how projects would improve active access for members of disadvantaged communities. Projects were also graded on readiness, leveraged funding, connectivity, rider experience, community desire, and other factors.

Projects now completed thanks to earlier rounds of SR2B funding include the 5th Street Improvement Project which enhances access to Powell Street Station in San Francisco and the Walnut/Liberty Protected Intersection Project which makes it easier and safer for riders to walk and bike to Fremont Station.

Members of the BART Board, BART executive staff, BART Police, OUTFRONT (BART's advertising partner), and CANA pose in front of some of the toys donated by BART for its 2024 Holiday Toy Drive.

Update: BART collected more than 1,100 toys and $3,600 in gift cards for Mission Food Hub families. More than 500 families attended the organization's recent toy giveaway, and each child was invited to select not just one toy, but two!

Each winter, BART hosts a holiday toy drive to give back to the diverse communities we serve. This year, we are honored to donate the toys to Mission Food Hub (MFH), a food bank that serves more than 300 families a week in San Francisco’s Mission District.  

Mission Food Hub was founded in 2020 to provide nutritious, culturally appropriate groceries to families affected by the pandemic. Though the lockdown is over and most of the hub’s clients have returned to work, the need for groceries in the Mission’s Latino community remains, especially as the price of food continues to climb nationally.  

Marisol and Otoniel Guillen's family of five relied on Mission Food Hub after the restaurant where Otoniel worked closed at the start of the pandemic. Now, Marisol, Otoniel, and their three children volunteer at the hub “to give back to the organization that gave to us,” said Marisol, speaking through a translator.   

“This is my second family,” she said of the food hub. “It has been beautiful to see its impact on my friends, neighbors, and community.”   

Mission Food Hub is under the umbrella of Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas (CANA), a 46-year-old organization whose objective is to educate people about the rich cultures and indigenous healing practices of the Americas and Caribbean. CANA is an outsize presence in the Mission – among other programs, it runs the San Francisco Lowrider Council, Somos Esenciales, Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco, and Carnaval San Francisco, the largest multicultural festival in California. BART has long been a Carnaval partner, and BART employees walk each year alongside the BARTmobile in the vibrant parade down 24th Street.  

“We are grateful to have such a strong relationship with BART and to get to expand it with the toy drive this year,” said Rosine Garcia, Mission Food Hub Program Manager and Festival Coordinator for Carnaval. Many of CANA’s clients are transit-dependent and travel from across the city to access CANA events and opportunities.

Marisol and her son in front of the altar at Mission Food Hub in San Francisco's Mission District.

BART’s annual Holiday Toy Drive is helmed by the Office of External Affairs and BART Police, who present the new, unwrapped toys and gift card donations in a joyful ceremony during the final BART Board meeting of the year. It’s tradition for the BART Board President to select the organization. Last year, BART employees donated more than 1,500 toys and $1,700 in gift cards to the Samoan Community Development Center of San Francisco (SCDC) and the Community Youth Center of San Francisco (CYC).  

“Hardworking Mission families have been deeply affected by the pandemic, unstable housing, and business closures,” said BART Board President Bevan Dufty, who selected the recipient organization. “In a small, but important way, BART’s toy drive shows that we see these hardships and that we are fostering hope and keeping faith for Mission children during the holiday season and New Year. I want to thank everyone who made this possible through their time and generosity.” 

Added Rodd Lee, BART Assistant General Manager of the Office of External Affairs: “It is an honor to spread joy to the youngest members of the Bay Area community with our toy drive. Connecting with the diverse youth who call the Bay Area home is an ongoing priority for BART, and the Holiday Toy Drive is a symbolic extension of this work." 

Mission Food Hub does its toy giveaway a little differently. Staff display all the gifts on tables, and the children get to pick exactly what they want, without adult input. 

“Toys are expensive, and many of our clients can’t afford them. For parents to come here and know their kid is getting a Christmas present means they don’t have to feel bad. It eases the parents’ pain,” said Rosine, adding that Christmas is an important holiday in Latino culture. “It’s about family and memories – that’s what the toys represent.” 

Marisol, who immigrated from Guatemala more than twenty years ago, said there’s a conception among Latino immigrants in the U.S. that “you can’t complain here because it’s better than there.”  

“It’s hard for parents to say no to buying a toy for their child,” she continued, “even when they really can’t afford one.”

A photo from a previous year's toy giveaway at Mission Food Hub in San Francisco's Mission District.

During the pandemic, Marisol volunteered at Mission Food Hub, an opportunity that snowballed into her being hired as an ambassador for San Francisco’s Community Ambassadors Program, a safety and neighborhood engagement effort run by the city. CANA staff served as references.  

"It’s not just me – my entire family has benefitted from CANA,” she said.  

Marisol’s 14-year-old son, Emmanuel, is interested in business, so CANA gave him a space at 2024 Carnaval to sell soda, water, and chips. With the money he earned, he was able to purchase his own computer. Marisol said he cited CANA staff, including Rosine, in his recent school applications.  

“I didn’t know that!” Rosine said through tears.  

When CANA was founded by CEO Roberto Hernandez more than four decades ago, it was primarily an arts and cultural organization that sought to connect people to their Latino heritage and community. Since the pandemic, CANA has expanded that purview to include health in all its manifestations – mental, physical, financial, etc. 

In February 2020, CANA pivoted after canceling Carnaval due to the onset of the pandemic. In those early months, COVID infections were concentrated among low-income Latino people with frontline jobs, who also experienced significantly higher mortality rates compared to other ethnic groups.  

Roberto was scrambling to find a way to serve the community during the unprecedented and devastating time. The idea for the Mission Food Hub came to him a few weeks after an impactful phone call with a señora who was trying to apply for unemployment. The restaurant she worked for was paying her in cash, and since everything was off the books, she didn’t qualify for a scrap of governmental assistance.  

So, Roberto asked her: “What’s the one thing I can help you with right now?” Her response: “Groceries.”

A photo from a previous year's toy giveaway at Mission Food Hub in San Francisco's Mission District.

In the days that followed, Roberto continued getting calls of that same ilk. The refrain: “We can't afford to buy groceries.”  

Roberto wanted to help as many people as he could, so he asked Carnaval sponsors if they could free up money from their festival contract to purchase food instead. Many obliged, and soon, dozens of pallets of food were headed to the ad hoc food bank Roberto was running from his garage.

There were so many incoming food donations – where would it all go?  

Roberto started making calls and quickly struck a deal with the Mission Language and Vocational School on Alabama Street. They started with one school room, but quickly, the operation took over the building’s entire first floor. At the height of the pandemic, more than 9,000 families were picking up groceries from the food bank up to three times a week.  

Mission Food Hub is still on that first floor, and it’s still serving up nutritious groceries to hundreds of families a week. 

The umbrella organization, CANA, is growing too. Soon, it will open an Indigenous Peoples Cultural Arts Healing Center with the mission to preserve cultural roots and traditions for generations to come.  

“Celebrating our cultural heritage is part of our healing mission, too,” Rosine said. 

Just in time for the arrival of All Star weekend, BART has successfully installed new fare gates at all four of its downtown San Francisco stations. Riders who use Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell Street, and Civic Center stations are now using the state-of-the-art gates that bring an entirely new look to BART and provide a boost for safety in the system.

“We’re excited to welcome visitors to BART in downtown San Francisco with these new fare gates that are helping to transform the rider experience,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “These gates are already proving to be an effective deterrent against fare evasion. The gates are not only boosting safety but they’re expanding access for people in wheelchairs and those who bring bikes or strollers to our system.”

The new gates feature clear swing barriers with a one-of-a-kind door locking mechanism to deter fare evasion. The gates include advanced 3D sensors that can detect if someone is in a wheelchair or has a bike, stroller, or luggage with them, allowing for more time before the swing barrier closes. They feature LED lighting on the swing barriers and pathway through the gate to help visually impaired riders.

“Getting Next Generation Fare Gates installed in time for All Star Weekend is a huge win for riders,” said Bay Area Council Chief Operating Officer John Grubb. “These four stations are gateways welcoming thousands of visitors from around the globe to downtown San Francisco. The gates give BART a whole new appearance and they’re providing a big boost for rider safety.”

BART has successfully installed new gates at 18 of its 50 stations. Full deployment systemwide will be completed by the end of 2025. Learn more about the project here. Riders can provide feedback about the new gates at bart.gov/comments.

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. 

BART is launching an early morning service blitz to help Cal fans get to the first ever appearance of ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show in Berkeley this Saturday, October 5. BART will offer five trains with limited stops before our regular Saturday service begins at 6am. The special early service will get fans to Downtown Berkeley Station around 5am, before the start of the pregame show. 

The special early morning event trains will only serve the following stations:  Daly City, 16th Street Mission, Powell, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Orinda, Fremont, Dublin/Pleasanton, Bay Fair, Fruitvale, El Cerrito del Norte, and MacArthur. These 12 stations in addition to Downtown Berkeley will be the only ones opened for the special early service. Full details on our added early morning service are available in the Trip Planner at BART.gov and on the official BART app.

The added early morning trains will go out of service once they complete their trips. Riders cannot board a train at Downtown Berkeley before regular Saturday service begins at 6am. 

The game against Miami kicks off at 7:30pm. BART will run longer 8-car trains on the Red and Orange lines as well as add several event trains to its normal service that night to accommodate the anticipated crowds.

Special Service Details

*A northbound Red Line train will leave Daly City at 4:19am and will make stops at 16th Street Mission, Powell, and MacArthur before arriving at Downtown Berkeley Station at 4:55am. 

*A southbound Orange Line train will leave El Cerrito del Norte at 4:47am and arrive at Downtown Berkeley Station at 4:55am. 

*A northbound Orange Line train will leave Fremont at 4:13am and will make stops at Bay Fair, Fruitvale, and MacArthur before arriving at Downtown Berkeley at 4:55am.

*A westbound Blue Line train will depart Dublin/Pleasanton at 4:08am and stop at Bay Fair at 4:25am where riders can then transfer to the northbound Orange Line train to Downtown Berkeley at 4:25am.

*A southbound Yellow Line train will depart Pleasant Hill at 4:25am and make stops at Walnut Creek and Orinda before arriving at MacArthur Station at 4:45am where riders can transfer to the northbound Orange Line train to Downtown Berkeley at 4:50am.

Tips

BART parking is free on Saturdays. People driving to BART to take the early trains should park at one of the stations being served. There is no BART parking available at 16th Street Mission and Powell stations.

Once on the platform, the added trains will be labelled as: “Limited Stops to Downtown Berkeley.”

Load your Clipper card in advance with enough funds for the round trip.

If you don’t have a Clipper card, add one for free ($3 savings) to your phone’s wallet in advance and use Google Pay or Apple Pay.

Left Image: A STEAM event with one of SCDC’s collaborative partners, "P.I.E.F.E.S.T." (Pacific Islanders Encouraging Fun, Engineering, Science & Technology). Right image: Participants from CYC’s Bayview Youth Advocates program work on an exercise of gratitude. 

Update: The BART Holiday Toy Drive collected more than 1,500 toys and $1,700 in gift card donations this year. The toys were presented to the two recipient organizations, the Samoan Community Development Center of San Francisco (SCDC) and the Community Youth Center of San Francisco (CYC), during the December 21 meeting of the BART Board of Directors. 

Each winter, BART gives back to the communities it serves with its annual Holiday Toy Drive, soliciting donations in the form of new, unwrapped toys and gift cards from employees. The donations are gifted to local organizations, selected by the BART Board President from within their district, in a joyful ceremony during the final BART Board meeting of each year.  

Board President Janice Li selected two recipient organizations this year: the Samoan Community Development Center of San Francisco (SCDC) and the Community Youth Center of San Francisco (CYC).  

“For immigrants like me, holiday time is community time. Growing up, it was important to me to have community spaces where I could speak my language, celebrate my culture, and be proud of my heritage,” Li said. “Organizations like CYC and SCDC are so critical to building welcoming and healthy communities"  

She continued: “Both of these organizations have humble beginnings and have always been rooted in supporting youth and families in the community. I love that they believe in and know how to do transformational work, particularly for AAPI communities in the southeastern neighborhoods of San Francisco, where there are fewer resources and services available.”  

BART’s Office of External Affairs and BART Police sponsor the drive each year. In 2022, BART collected more than 750 toys and $500 in gift cards for Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency. 

“The Holiday Toy Drive is the highlight of the season for many BART employees. We are gratified to spread joy and cheer to local children and their families, many of whom rely on our system to get to school, to work, to appointments, and to gatherings with their families during the holidays,” said Rodd Lee, Assistant General Manager of External Affairs at BART. “It is a special honor to work with historic organizations like SCDC and CYC, who have long been committed to making the Bay Area a better place for our youth.” 

SCDC and CYC support San Francisco youth with an incredible array of services, including afterschool programs, summer camps, mentorship programs, mental and physical health services, and enrichment activities. CYC was founded in San Francisco Chinatown in 1970 and serves youth across the city, aiming to provide them a sense of belonging as well as essential tools to succeed at school and in life. SCDC is located in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, where it has worked for more than three decades to improve the quality of life for Samoans and Pacific Islanders in the Bay Area. It is the only funded organization in San Francisco that is devoted to supporting these populations.  

Every single one of Treanna Noa’s seven children, ranging in ages from five to 21, has participated in SCDC’s programs.  

“SCDC has opened so many doors for us. I don’t know where we would be without the center,” Noa said.  

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Top image: A STEAM event with one of SCDC’s collaborative partners, "P.I.E.F.E.S.T." (Pacific Islanders Encouraging Fun, Engineering, Science & Technology). Bottom image: A snapshot of SCDC’s PIYA Summer Celebration 2023.   

SCDC “picks up where my kids’ schools are lacking,” she said. The children’s schools don’t have STEAM programs, for example, but every Wednesday, SCDC brings in a STEAM facilitator to teach kids about science and technology after school. The facilitator is a member of the Pacific Islander community, Noa said, and therefore understands the unique challenges her children experience in school and at home.  

“My kids aren’t as open as they could be with their schoolteachers. They think, oh, you wouldn’t understand what I’m talking about; I’m Samoan, and we do things a bit differently,” she said. “Having someone who looks like you and who can relate to you, it brings your guard down and you’re more open to receiving information.”  

Noa said SCDC even picks her younger children up from school, and the center provides them with a safe, supportive space where they can finish their homework until Noa gets off work. She said if SCDC didn’t exist, she wouldn’t be able to afford childcare.  

“They do so much for us, including things we didn’t even ask for,” she said, like hosting drive-through graduations for her children when they finished high school and kindergarten during the pandemic. 

 “They have made life so much easier for us,” she said.  

Susan Tan’s son, Ben, began attending CYC's afterschool program when he was in middle school. She credits the organization with helping him become the person he is today. 

Ben was a preteen when he and his mother immigrated to San Francisco from China. They didn’t know English very well and assimilating was difficult. Ben struggled in school, behaviorally and academically, and his mother recognized his struggles as “a cry for help.”  

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Top image: Erica Mitchell works with a student from Redding Elementary on academics at CYC’s afterschool program. Bottom image: Stefanie Almendares works with a student from Aptos Middle School during a 3D printing workshop as part of CYC’s STEM program. 

“I reached out to everyone I knew to see if anyone could help, and CYC was one of the names that came up,” Tan said, speaking through a translator. She took a parenting class first, where she learned to be more patient and communicative, and then enrolled Ben in CYC's afterschool program. In the span of just two or three years, she said she saw him blossom and transform.  

“It became a second home for him. I was working so much, and there was nowhere for him to go after school,” she said. At CYC, she knew Ben was safe.  

Today, Ben is studying math and computer science at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Last summer while home from school, he participated in CYC’s transitional-age-youth program.  

Administrators at CYC and SCDC said they are honored to be this year’s BART Holiday Toy Drive recipients. They emphasized the toys will immensely brighten their youth participants’ holidays. The organizations will receive the toy donations during the December 21 BART Board meeting at BART Headquarters.  

“The majority of our youth come from low-income families, and they don’t necessarily have the means to give their kids many presents, if any presents. To provide families with something as simple as a toy can have a profound impact,” said Ben Mok, CYC Community Relations Manager.  

Michelle Wu, a communications consultant for CYC, added: “One of the things we believe in the most is providing access to things, including providing access to moments of joy.” The toys from the drive will specifically go to youth at CYC’s Bayview program. 

Lynn Peleseuma, Senior Program Specialist at SCDC, said her organization hosts a holiday celebration every winter before the kids start winter break. There’s caroling, cultural dancing, and festive food and drink. At the gathering, Peleseuma and her colleagues “want to make sure each and every kid has a toy to unwrap.” 

“To get toys from BART, from folks in our community, is a blessing for us,” she said. “And it’s a blessing to our kids and their parents.” 

If you are a member of the public interested in gifting a donation to SCDC or CYC, you can visit their websites here and here.  

BART’s schedule will change on August 10, 2026, with targeted improvements that will enhance reliability and reduce wait times for some riders. By making a change in how trains travel through Daly City Station and operating it as a center platform station, service will be improved throughout the system with more even headways, better transfers, and less train congestion.  

With these improvements, some departure times will shift by a few minutes, and we encourage riders to check the schedule before August 10, 2026, to see if their trip is impacted. The new schedules are posted here as pdfs. BART's Trip Planner is updated with the changes when you input trips on and after August 10.

Even spacing for Berkeley, El Cerrito, and Richmond-bound riders 

Trains will be more evenly spaced apart for Richmond-bound riders coming from San Francisco, which means wait times will be reduced and trains will have less crowding. Yellow Line and Red Line trains will be spaced 10 minutes apart instead of 5 and 15 minutes today. This gives riders the option to take a Yellow Line train and transfer at 19th Street/Oakland to a Richmond-bound Orange Line train or they can take the direct Red Line train. This will more evenly distribute riders in San Francisco and ease crowding. 

Better spacing for Dublin and Berryessa-bound riders 

Dublin- and Berryessa-bound riders will also have better spacing between Green and Blue line trains, from 3 and 17 minutes today to 8 and 12 minutes. This will reduce wait times on the platform and crowding on trains. Currently some riders are waiting 17 minutes in San Francisco between trains heading towards Bay Fair, leading to platform and train crowding. Now the wait time for these riders will be no more than 12 minutes. 

New and shorter transfers wait times 

Riders who transfer will experience improvements. 

Dublin to/from San Jose  

There will be a new cross-platform transfer at Bay Fair for Dublin (Blue Line) to Berryessa (Orange Line) riders and the reverse trip. This improves service for riders commuting from Dublin and the Altamont Pass to San Jose. Currently the transfer is 19 minutes, now the trains will pull up together. 

Antioch to/from Berkeley/El Cerrito/Richmond  

Riders coming from Antioch (Yellow Line) transferring toward Richmond (Orange or Red Line) will save 17 minutes with a new four-minute transfer at MacArthur from Platform 4 to Platform 1.   

BART to Antioch Transfer Platform 

Yellow Line riders who transfer to and from the BART to Antioch service will experience better connections at the transfer platform in Pittsburg. Currently, regular Antioch-bound Yellow Line BART trains are often slightly delayed because they hold for an Orange Line train at 19th Street/Oakland. This is causing compounding delays further up the Yellow Line at the BART to Antioch transfer platform for riders connecting to and from a DMU train. This schedule change will now have the Orange Line train coming in sooner to meet the Yellow Line train improving on time performance and thus improving the timed connection at the transfer platform.  

Reduced confusion at SFO Station     

Red and Yellow line trains coming in and out of SFO Station will now be better spaced apart, reducing confusion over which train to board and which train will leave first. Currently, a Yellow Line train towards the city and the East Bay arrives first to the platform but holds longer due to a change in train operators. While a Red Line train coming from Millbrae arrives at the platform and then departs before the Yellow Line train following a brief dwell time. This pattern is frustrating to riders who have boarded the Yellow Line train thinking it will leave first. This schedule change will reduce the frequency in which both the Yellow and Red line trains are at the platform for boarding at the same time. 

Changes at Daly City Station unlock benefits 

The improvements being rolled out in the schedule change are cost neutral. They are realized due to creative train movement efficiencies development by BART’s Operations Planning Department. By changing how trains come in and out of the Daly City Station, the entire BART network will become more resilient because Day City Station’s current configuration, and the location and use of several track switches north of the platform, can be a choke point for train congestion and service volatility, causing ripple effects on the entire system.  

The Daly City Station will now operate as a center platform station, like other stations in San Francisco, simplifying the rider experience.  All San Francisco-bound trains will depart from a single platform. Platform 3 will now be a terminal for the Blue and Green lines, meaning it will be an exit only platform for riders getting off at Daly City and then those trains will head out of service to the nearby yard. Boarding trains will now only occur on Platforms 1 and 2 where Yellow and Red line trains will have a clear path for through service without being delayed by Blue and Green line trains being taking out of service to the yard.  

Blue and Green line riders heading beyond Daly City, to the SFO Airport for example, should transfer to a Red or Yellow line SFO or Millbrae train at Balboa Park to ensure an easy transfer on the same platform. If they transfer at Daly City, it will require changing platforms. 

Transfer to Caltrain at Millbrae   

Some of the BART trains that currently line up with Caltrain at Millbrae will change. BART has coordinated with Caltrain on these changes. Connecting riders should review the new BART/Caltrain transfer timetable for trip planning to reduce transfer wait times.  

Construction delays from Communications-Based Train Control  

The schedule accommodates continued late evening construction between Daly City and Millbrae to replace BART’s aged train control system with a state-of-the art Communications Based Train Control System. Riders will continue to experience delays Sunday-Thursday through the area after 9pm.  

Regional Coordination – The Big Sync 
Bay Area transit agencies have been syncing schedules in a whole new way to make riding transit even faster and improve transfer reliability and timing. Transit agencies from across the region are rolling out new schedules in mid-August in coordination with each other and have now aligned the timing of schedule changes twice each year, once in summer (mid-August) and once in winter (mid-January). 

Agencies met in February 2026 for the Big Sync to share planned changes and to look for opportunities to improve transfers. This gives agencies enough time to make changes to ensure buses and rail connect.  

Advancing schedule change alignment is a key priority for Bay Area transit general managers who meet on a weekly basis to make transit more rider-focused and efficient.  

Longer trains added July 20

On Monday, July 20, BART began to run some longer trains on the Red, Yellow, Blue and Green lines during peak commute hours with some shorter trains running during non-peak hours and on the Orange Line. 

• For the Red Line, peak period trains run as 10-car trains (previously 8-and 6-cars) with 5-car trains during non-peak (previously 6-cars).  
• For the Yellow Line, eight of the busiest morning trains and six of the busiest afternoon trains have increased to 10-cars during the peak periods (previously 9-cars). 
• For the Green Line, two additional morning trains toward San Francisco are 8-cars in length (previously four trains ran as 8-cars and the rest were 6-cars).  
• For the Blue Line, one additional afternoon Blue Line train toward the East Bay is 8-cars in length (previously four trains ran as 8-cars and the rest were 6-cars). 
• For the Orange Line, four trains are running as 5-cars and the rest will remain 6-cars. 

These longer trains will carry over to the August 10 schedule change. 

*This article was posted on July 9, 2026

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.)