Search

BART is making minor changes to the schedule beginning Monday, August 12, 2024, to improve key connections and to provide less crowding by better spacing of trains. 

Some departure times have shifted by a few minutes, and we encourage riders to check the schedule before August 12th to see if their trip is impacted. 

The BART Trip Planner has been updated with the new schedule so riders can start planning their trips using the date August 12, 2024, and beyond. PDF timetables of the new schedule are posted below. BART shared the new schedule with all partner transit agencies in March 2024 to give time for them to ensure schedules are aligned and transfers are timed as best as possible. All Bay Area transit agencies are working together to advance schedule bid alignment (in August and January) as part of efforts to improve transfer timing across the region.  

Yellow line adjustments 

While the intervals between trains will remain at 8 and 12 minutes, we are swapping the pattern of Pittsburg Bay Point bound and Antioch bound trains to ease crowding on the trains that serve the transfer platform.

Even spacing on Orange and Green lines

Riders on the Berryessa line will experience better train spacing than ever before. The Green and Orange line will still run every 20 minutes, but trains serving the Berryessa line will now be evenly spaced 10 minutes apart. This reduces crowding and offers an option for riders every 10 minutes for those willing to transfer to complete their trip. 

Blue to Orange line transfer improvement at Bay Fair

BART will bring back the connection from the Blue line to the Orange line at Bay Fair. In the September 2023 schedule change, riders coming from Dublin and travelling towards Richmond were hit with a 17-minute wait at Bay Fair to make the Blue line to Orange line transfer. Instead, riders were given the option of a very tight transfer opportunity at West Oakland to a Red Line/Richmond train. The much easier connection at Bay Fair will return on August 12th.

BART and Caltrain schedule coordination at Millbrae

Both BART and Caltrain will make changes to improve some of the transfers at Millbrae. The improvements will go into effect when Caltrain launches its electric service on September 21. With BART’s schedule change in August and Caltrain’s schedule change in September, ~85% of all weekday trains will have a transfer between 5 and 19 minutes at Millbrae Station. On the weekend, ~90% of trains will have a transfer between 5 and 19 minutes. 

5-19 minutes allows for both systems to be off schedule a bit but still provide a reliable connection. If trains were scheduled with less than a 5-minute wait, delays would frequently break the transfer and result in a longer wait. 

Transfers at Millbrae don’t always line up perfectly because Caltrain has four trains per peak hour and two trains per off-peak hour/weekends. While BART has three trains per hour at all times. Both systems are also limited in flexibility due to key system timing points elsewhere.

Transit Coordination

Bay Area transit agencies are syncing schedules in a whole new way with a focus on improving transfers between systems and making schedule changes at the same time. Agencies convened a meeting in March 2024 to share planned changes for mid-August and to look for opportunities to improve transfers. 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. The major agencies are already working on another iteration of a coordinated schedule change to go into effect in January 2025. These coordinated schedule changes will benefit current transit riders while attracting new riders. Read more about these efforts and see details of the August improvements. 

Early Bird Express Bus Service

On August 12, 2024 the following Early Bird Express bus trips served by AC Transit will be eliminated:

*The 703 AC Transit bus from Dublin/Pleasanton Station to Salesforce Transit Center will now depart at 3:47am and will now serve what was previously the 706 with a stop at Bay Fair at 4:04am, then at Fruitvale at 4:20am, then arrive at the Salesforce Transit Center at 4:40am. 

View the Early Bird Express page for complete service information. 

PDF Timetables

Weekdays

August, 12 2024 Weekday Service for Antioch to SFO (Yellow) Line.pdf

August 12, 2024 Weekday Service for Berryessa_N San Jose to Daly City (Green) Line.pdf

August 12, 2024 Weekday Service for Berryessa_N San Jose to Richmond (Orange) Line.pdf

August 12, 2024 Weekday Service for Dublin_Pleasanton to Daly City (Blue) Line.pdf

August 12, 2024 Weekday Service for Richmond to Millbrae + SFO (Red) Line.pdf

Weekends

August 12, 2024 Weekend Service for Antioch to SFO (Yellow) Line.pdf

August 12, 2024 Weekend Service for Berryessa_N San Jose to Daly City (Green) Line.pdf

August 12, 2024 Weekend Service for Berryessa_N San Jose to Richmond (Orange) Line.pdf

August 12, 2024 Weekend Service for Dublin_Pleasanton to Daly City (Blue) Line.pdf

August 12, 2024 Weekend Service for Richmond to Millbrae + SFO (Red) Line.pdf

*This article was posted on July 22, 2024

Note: Janet Bennett’s tile murals have come to define the character of BART's Mission District stations, and yet, in the fifty-plus years since the tiles were placed, her contribution has gone unattributed...This Women’s History Month, BART is honored to bring forward the story of the artworks as well as that of the wonderful midcentury artist who made them.

BART will be installing plaques at 16th St. Mission and 24th St. Mission stations to recognize Bennett as the artist behind the character-defining murals. 

Janet Bennett, the artist behind the tile murals at 16th St. and 24th St. Mission stations, seated in front of one of her paintings in her New York City home. 

Every day, thousands of people pass through BART’s Mission District stations in San Francisco. As they enter the fare gates, walk along the concourse toward the stairs, then onto the platform to await their trains, they are walking through history.  

It’s a history wrought by many hands over more than five decades: the planners who mapped the system, the architects and engineers who drafted the plans, and the workers who sweated day by day to construct a transit space that would function not just during their lifetimes, but the lifetimes of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on.  

BART stations serve a practical purpose, of course. But they are not solely utilitarian spaces. Stories are woven into their floors, their trackways, and their walls. These individual components speak together and alone, and if you take a moment to pause and investigate, they might reveal the stories they contain. 

Artist Janet Bennett, now 95 years old and long retired, is a protagonist in the story of 16th St. and 24th St. stations. During the construction of these transit spaces, Bennett was hired by the station architect, Hertzka and Knowles, to design the striking tile murals on the stations' concourse and platform walls. Next time you’re passing through, look around and you’ll find you are surrounded by her tile artworks, from the snaking yellow formations on the platform at 24th St. to the tree-like waves of green and blue that dance on the concourse at 16th St.  

“It’s gratifying that these works are still a part of people’s lives,” said Bennett, speaking from her New York City home. “They’ve gone through different lifespans so to speak. I’m happy that my tiles remain and that they’ll be there quite a while longer.” 

Bennett's tile murals pictured on the concourses at 16th St. (top photo) and 24th St. (bottom photo). 

Bennett’s tile murals have come to define the character of the Mission stations, and yet, in the fifty-plus years since the tiles were placed, her contribution has gone unattributed. Said Jennifer Easton, BART’s Art Program Manager: “As a woman and someone who works with artists all the time, it’s so common to see women artists obscured throughout history.” BART learned about Bennett and her connection to the Mission stations after her daughter, Maria McDonald, called BART Customer Services and told them that “my 95-year-old mother named Janet Bennett should be credited as the designer of the ceramic tile artworks at 16th and 24th St. stations.” She added: “It means a lot to her.” BART verified McDonald's claim via 1971 news clippings from local papers.

This Women’s History Month, BART is honored to bring forward the story of the artworks as well as that of the wonderful midcentury artist who made them.  

“She really is a creative genius in my estimation,” said McDonald.   

When Bennett was working as a staff and consultant for architectural firms and corporations in the 60s and 70s, she “was constantly breaking the glass ceiling and unconsciously taking on the lead in roles usually reserved for men,” her daughter said.  

Bennett acknowledged that during that period, she was the only woman working for these major architecture firms outside of the secretarial staff. Even before then, when she was a student at Cranbrook, an art and design school in Michigan, Bennett said “no one expected that I would be anything but an architect’s wife.” 

“It didn’t bother me at the time,” she said. “I was just doing my thing.”  

(A relevant side note: Bennett also designed the famous mosaic passages at LAX, and her boss at the time, Charles Kratka, was long credited as the artist behind the works. Bennett set the record straight in 2007 after reading an obituary for Kratka that named him as the designer. She is now widely credited as the artist behind the mosaics. The artistic similarities between the LAX murals and the BART works certainly reinforce her claim.) 

When the station architect contacted Bennett about designing the tile murals, she said she was “very, very excited.” Much anticipation and curiosity swirled around this new “Space Age” transit project, and Bennett was intrigued by the idea of leaving her mark on the system.

Upon accepting the assignment, Bennett got to work in her San Francisco studio outlining on paper the concepts for the murals. Once the initial designs were greenlit by the architect, Bennett executed the working drawings, which indicated the placement of every single tile. It was a lengthy and painstaking process.  

Bennett said the designs at each station intentionally contrast with one another – there’s the dry, sunny feeling at 24th St. with its terra cottas and yellows and tans, and then the cooler tone of 16th St. with tiles of olive and gray and yellow green.  

“One mural is more earthy, while the other is more sylvan,” she said. “Those concepts helped me create the overall program.” 

Bennett’s artworks often reference “something from life,” and in many cases, she lets the colors and their relationships to one another inform her pieces. For 24th St., she referenced the vibrant hues of the Mission District and its close cultural ties to Latin America. The horizontal tiles that wrap around the core structures on the platform represent a yellow serpent, she said. 

At 16th St., Bennett was influenced by visits to Marin County, its singular “forests, grasslands, and water.”  

"Overall, the concern was that the colors worked well together,” Bennett said. “Part of it was motivated by a feeling that I wanted to express." 

Bennett frequently traveled to Marin to meet with the tile maker for the project, the historic Heath Ceramics, which was and still is known for its unique glazes and handcrafted tiles. Heath Ceramics was founded by Edith Heath in 1948 in Sausalito, and its architectural tile line had gained acclaim with many architects throughout California by the time Bennett was working in the industry. Bennett said she collaborated closely with Heath to create the color palette for the BART station tile glazes, which she believes were custom made for the project. 

Ceramic tiles are expensive, but you will notice that many BART stations incorporate them. That's because the material is durable, easy to clean, and conveys a sense of handcraftmanship, much like the use of wood, unique concretes, marble, and other unique architectural finishes used in the early BART stations. Bennett’s longstanding tile murals are a testament to the durability and timelessness of these materials. 

The large ten-inch tiles Bennett used for her project added to its cost, she said. Because they were so large, the tiles sometimes warped during the firing process and had to be tossed out. 

The architects of the stations also had something of a bone to pick with Bennett’s decision to use a horizontal tile layout on the core structures of the platform at 24th St.  

“The architects said the horizontal tiles complicated the overall layout, and therefore were too time-consuming and costly to use. They said I should change my working drawings,” Bennett said. “I countered that it would cost more to redraw them." 

“So,” she said triumphantly, “the horizontal tiles remain.”  

After perfecting the drawings and selecting the last tiles, Bennett finally handed the project to the tile layers. The workers installed the tiles one at a time with special care and attention. Their skilled work in tandem with Bennett’s amaranthine designs has ensured that these murals will remain for many years to come. 

Image

A portrait of the artist.

Bennett has left a mark on many public spaces, including those in the Bay Area where she lived for a time. She said she created works for a variety of local institutions: metal mobiles for the Ice House, a longstanding set of buildings in San Francisco’s Waterfront District; an illuminated acrylic and steel sculpture for Memorex, considered to be one of Silicon Valley’s first tech startups; and even a stage set for a San Francisco Opera gala.  

Back in the 60s and 70s, Bennett said her artworks were mostly considered “decorative” because of their functional usage in architectural settings. She thinks the term demeans her work and its artistic value.    

“I didn’t think of my work as merely decorative,” she said. “Heck, [by that definition] Michelangelo ‘decorated’ the Sistine Chapel. It’s applied art made to enhance a space and give dignity to it." 

Many of Bennett’s artworks have disappeared in time, just like the buildings and businesses that housed them. But she recognizes that "often art is here one day and gone the next.”  

“Artwork has its moment,” she said, “and sometimes that’s it. But artwork as part of architecture can exist for centuries.”  

Though Bennett’s art practice mostly consists of painting these days, she says she’d consider taking on another mural commission if the right project came along.  

“If somebody contacts me because of this article, I could certainly do this type of work again,” she said. “I don’t have the strength to set the tiles, but I certainly have the strength to design some murals.” 

September 6 update:

The closure has been extended to Sunday, September 15 due to unforeseen complications. We thank you for your patience.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BART’s escalator contractor will close the Embarcadero Station entrance located at Davis and Market (stairway and escalator) this Friday, August 30 to Sunday, September 8.  This full entrance closure is necessary to complete installation of panels at the entrance. 

Please note there will be two entrance closures at the Embarcadero Station during this 10-day period.  A map below shows the open entrances and elevator location.  Wayfinding signs will be installed on the barricades inside the station and on the street level to detour pedestrian traffic from this entrance. 

BART crews are busy working on the single largest contract for escalator replacement in BART history.  The Market Street Escalators Renovation Project team is working to install and replace 41 escalators at Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, and Civic Center stations.  Of the escalators to be replaced, 23 are street to concourse level and 18 connect concourse with station platforms.  Project completion is expected to be in 2026. You can view the four downtown station maps for escalator and canopy progress at: https://www.bart.gov/about/planning/sf-escalators

The installation of Next Generation Fare Gates is scheduled to begin Friday, April 18 at Lake Merritt Station. 

The installation process is expected to take approximately two weeks to complete for each of the station’s two sets of gates, which are on opposite sides of the station. During construction, there will be a barrier installed around the set of gates being replaced and along a path to travel to the opposite set of gates. There will be a 3’ x 6’ rug at each end of the path. The first set of faregates to close will be closest to the west side entrance, near 8th Street. The second phase will close the east side gates near 9th Street.  There will be signage and additional BART staff to direct riders to the open gates.

The work will not affect train service, but riders may experience a few extra minutes wait to pass through the fare gates during peak travel hours.

The latest work comes after BART has successfully installed Next Generation Fare Gates at 25 other stations across the system. All 50 BART stations will have new fare gates by the end of 2025. You can learn more about BART’s Next Generation Fare Gate project here.

Update 10:00am, September 13:

The final Sunday of scheduled work for this project between Balboa Park and Daly City has been cancelled. BART will now run its normal service on Sunday, September 24 instead of reducing service to one track.

On three non-consecutive Sundays in August and September BART will be cutting back and removing trees that could pose a hazard to the trackway between Balboa Park and Daly City stations. To ensure safe conditions for workers, service will be reduced from two to one track on the following Sundays:

*August 27
*September 10
*September 24

Riders in the area on those workdays should anticipate delays of 10-15 minutes. Also, all Green Line trains will be cancelled.

On those three dates BART will also perform tree removal work in southern Alameda County. That work will happen on both Saturdays and Sundays on those three weekends and will require free buses to replace train service between Union City and Fremont stations. You can learn more about the work in Alameda County here. You can also get more details about BART’s systemwide safety initiative to remove potentially hazardous trees at the project page.

Work is scheduled to begin the week of April 29, 2024, on the installation of new segments of Class IV bicycle lanes at Ashby Station. Once completed, the new bicycle facility will provide a connection between Adeline Street and Martin Luther King Jr Way through the BART parking lot, formalizing bicycle circulation in and out of the Adeline Street driveway. Curb ramps on Adeline Street at the driveway will also be upgraded. 

Construction impacts will include the following:

• The Adeline Street exit driveway will be temporarily closed.
• The 13 parking spaces at the south end of the parking lot will be blocked. 
• Parking spaces for GetAround will be temporarily relocated.
• Pedestrians traveling north-south on the west side of Adeline will be routed around the work area with barriers, ADA-compliant ramps, and temporary wayfinding signage.
• When the project is completed, the south driveway on Martin Luther King Jr Way will be converted to inbound vehicle movements only.

Most work will be carried out between 7 am and 5 pm on weekdays. The work is expected to last 3-4 months.

In addition to BART’s project, City of Berkeley is currently designing additional bicycle improvements between the BART driveway and Woolsey to the east and between the BART driveway and Prince Street to the west.

Thank you for your patience as we complete this important work.

Installation of Next Generation Fare Gates is scheduled to begin December 13 at Dublin/Pleasanton Station. The installation process is expected to take approximately two weeks to complete. 

During construction, there will be a barrier around the existing station gate array.  Riders will use two temporary accessible gates to enter and exit.  The temporary gates are located at each end of the station entrance. The gate to exit the station will be next to the Station Agent Booth and the gate to enter the station will be on the far left at the end of the existing array against the wall. There will be signage and additional staff to help direct riders through the temporary gates. Additionally, a carpet will be installed immediately before the entrance to each temporary gate, to make them easier to locate for riders with visual impairments. 

The work will not impact train service, but riders may experience a few minutes wait to pass through the temporary gates during peak travel hours. 

This latest work follows the successful installation of new fare gates at 11 BART stations across the system. All BART stations will have new gates by the end of 2025. You can learn more about BART’s Next Generation Fare Gates at our project page. Riders can provide feedback about the new gates at bart.gov/comments.