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Installation of Next Generation Fare Gates is scheduled to begin December 13 at Hayward 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 Hayward Station.  Both gates are located next to the Station Agent Booth. When facing the booth from the non-paid area of the station, the fare gate to your right is used to enter the station and the fare gate to your left is used to exit. Additionally, a carpet will be installed immediately before the entrance to each temporary gate to make the gates easier to locate for riders with visual impairments. 

The work will not impact 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 11 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 at the project page. Riders can provide feedback about the new gates at bart.gov/comments.

Installation of Next Generation Fare Gates is scheduled to begin the week of September 3rd at Richmond Station. The installation process is expected to take approximately two weeks to complete. This work comes after the successful installation of Next Generation Fare Gates at Civic Center, Fruitvale, and West Oakland stations. 

During construction, there will be a barrier around the existing station gate array.  Riders will use two temporary accessible gates to enter and exit Richmond Station.  Both gates are located next to the Station Agent Booth. When facing the booth from the non-paid area of the station, the fare gate to your right is used to enter the station and the fare gate to your left is used to exit. Additionally, carpet will be installed immediately before the entrance to each fare gate, to make these two gates easier to locate for riders with visual impairments. The removal of the old gates and installation of Next Generation Fare Gates will not impact train service.  

All BART stations will have new fare gates by the end of 2025. You can learn more about BART’s Next Generation Fare Gate project at bart.gov/about/projects/fare-gate. Riders can provide feedback about the new gates at bart.gov/comments.

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.

Join us Saturday, July 27, at Orinda Station to toast the BARTmobile on chugging its way to 20 years. More event info here. 

The BARTmobile in the 2024 San Francisco Pride Parade. Watch the parade from the BARTmobile's perspective on Instagram. 

It has been said that its eyes can see through to your soul. Some have speculated it has the power to improve society. Those who cross its path are known to start acting joyfully and sometimes erratically. It’s even slowed traffic on the Bay Bridge.

If you have found yourself at a major Bay Area parade in the last two decades, chances are high you’ve encountered this mystical being, known as the BARTmobile.

The BARTmobile inspires in passersby what some may deem insane behavior. As it rolls down its given route, paradegoers will scream and shout at the anthropomorphic train as if it were Taylor Swift – “The BARTmobile is here! The BARTmobile is here!” In many instances, adults and children alike will dig through their wallets and pull out their Clipper cards, waving them maniacally at the BARTmobile’s smiling face as it rolls by.

But what exactly is the BARTmobile? And how did it come to have such a hold on the hearts and minds of Bay Area residents?

Jill Buschini, Principal Marketing Representative at BART, has been the official “BARTmobile wrangler” for the past eight parade seasons. She ensures the mobile gets where it needs to go for its bevy of local engagements. (Note: The BARTmobile currently participates only in major Bay Area parades and festivals.)

“When the BARTmobile arrives anywhere, the attention it gets still astounds me. It's incredibly fun to see and be part of!” said Buschini. “Kids and adults alike are transfixed by the small BART train with a face.”

Buschini said even the Golden State Warriors, during their 2022 Warriors Championship Parade, pointed and cheered at the BARTmobile when it caught their eye along the parade route.

There are a handful of crafty, ingenious folks responsible for birthing the BARTmobile. But there is one man responsible for kicking things off. That would be Doug Bartlett, a now-retired BART Principal Marketing Representative.

“Basically, anything that wasn’t normal BART marketing business was thrown to me,” Bartlett said, speaking by phone recently.

In the early 2000s, Bartlett arranged for a series of BART appearances in local parades and happenings. At that time, the Buildings and Grounds department lent BART paradegoers a few logo-emblazoned trucks to walk beside.

“The vehicles were obviously gas-powered,” Bartlett said. “It didn’t seem right. BART is electric!”

The BARTmobile by the Numbers

As a temporary solution, Bartlett began renting three-wheelers. They didn’t really have anything to do with BART, but they were electric, at least.  

Then, Bartlett attended an Oakland Athletics game at the Coliseum. At the game, the team had golfcart-sized Chevron cars on display, as well as miniature cars to give to children.  A switch flipped in Bartlett’s mind: “I said, ‘We should do this with a BARTmobile.’”

From that day forward, Bartlett set out to make the most fantastical, most adorable, most kid friendly BARTmobile possible.

“The justification was, my god, the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade is seen by more than one million people, just for starters,” Bartlett said. “In one year, a BARTmobile could be seen by more than five million people. It could obviously be justified from a marketing perspective.”

The wheels truly began turning on Halloween 2001, when the Commuter Check Service Corporation, a pre-tax commuter benefit solutions provider, agreed to donate $75,000 to cover the cost needed to construct the entirely electric BARTmobile, as well as a trailer and storage container for it to call home.  

Initial concept sketches for the face of the BARTmobile by David Yee.

With funding secured, the design process began. First, playwright and carpenter Tony Pelligrino sculpted a model. Then, designer David Yee created initial sketches and concept art, trying to determine the right face for the roving mascot.

“Some of these drawings were the coolest I’d ever seen in my life -- think ‘Star Wars’ meets Tesla,” Bartlett remembered. “It was nuts! But at the same time, we had to dial it in to make it really look like a BARTmobile.”

Bartlett said the design team went “more for the character, the softness, the cuteness.”

“I wanted future BART riders to look at this as if BART has a personality,” Bartlett said. “We went through many iterations trying to get that face to look happy, but not strange. Some of the drawings were absolutely demonic – like Chucky leading the BARTmobile.”

Bartlett eventually connected with Charlie Bailey of Industrial Light and Magic, the Marin-based visual effects company founded by George Lucas in the 1970s.

“At the time [Bailey] was building the BARTmobile, his crew was building a massive ship for the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie. It was like 40 feet long!” Bartlett remembered.

Bailey and his colleague Mark Anderson, of the freelance Bailey Design Services team, built the BARTmobile on nights and weekends out of Anderson’s garage. First, they sculpted the face and the rear of the train out of foam and built the middle section from plywood and polyurethanes. They then painted the model and made a mold of the train, which was used to create the fiberglass body. Inspiration for the shape and style of the BARTmobile came from 1958 VW buses and Corvette concept cars.

At some point, Anderson and Bailey – who could not be reached for comment – purchased an eight-seater golf cart from Bay Area Golf Carts, which they reinforced with steel. Finally, they built a steel chassis and secured the fiberglass body atop the cart. The last step: painting the BARTmobile with blue bumper strips and Chrysler silver.

Then came the electrical wiring. According to Bartlett, the same Industrial Light and Magic team that worked on “Star Wars” designed and installed the BARTmobile’s electronics. They even converted an actual BART train horn to run on 12-volt battery for the friendly faced vehicle.

“Generally speaking, we had all these incredible guys who oddly loved this project,” Bartlett said. “It was something so different. It was a challenge. And unlike a lot of their projects, it would be around for years to come.”

Bartlett is a musician – he said his current music project is making tunes for robots and aliens – so he was “obsessed” with equipping the BARTmobile with “giant speakers and a monster amp.” Today, he is proud to say that the BARTmobile’s sound system “will rattle your bones” at full throttle, thanks in part to a subwoofer that’s the size of an entire bench – a “must have” for Bartlett.

If you’ve ever witnessed the BARTmobile in a local parade, you will certainly have noticed its “outfits.” The mascot has a variety of specially constructed hats that it wears depending on the occasion: a top hat with rotating “skins” for St. Patrick’s Day, July Fourth, Pride, and the holiday season; a Lunar New Year hat; a Carmen Miranda hat (complete with giant fruit); and a baseball cap for sporting events.

A foam sculpture of the BARTmobile face.

The hats, like all things BARTmobile, have a story of their own. They were made by a team of crafty, creative individuals at Scientific Art Studio, a design and fabrication studio in Richmond that creates everything from museum exhibits to playgrounds and sculptures.

“The BARTmobile was one of those things,” said Ron Holthuysen, the Creative Director and Owner of Scientific Art Studio. “We had a hard time saying no [to the project]. When somebody comes to us, we typically say, ‘Oh yeah, we can do that.’”

To create the hats, Holthuysen began by drawing some concepts. Then, it was a matter of finding the right materials that were “lightweight but also durable,” said Gordon Glasgow, Shop Manager at Scientific Art Studio.

Once they found the materials – they range from heavy cotton to a “very fancy” silk brocade – Glasgow began crafting patterns as well as foam inner structures that would ensure the hats kept their shape and wouldn’t break. What couldn’t be found in stores, the designers made themselves.

“We do basically everything [at Scientific Art Studio],” Holthuysen said. “That’s how we ended up doing BARTmobile hats.”

Construction of the BARTmobile completed in February of 2004. The mascot was unveiled shortly thereafter with a “birthday party,” intended to attract “visibility for marketing programs to gain riders,” according to the run-of-show document for the day. A fife and drum corps kicked off the celebration, which also featured a birthday cake, train-themed CDs (it was the early 2000s after all), and toy train giveaways.  

Since then, the BARTmobile has appeared at a multitude of events, driven over 250 miles, and seen by millions of people. To use Bartlett’s phrasing, the mobile has indelibly “put a face on BART.”

Initial concept sketches for the BARTmobile.

But the BARTmobile would never be seen in public were it not for its army of “handlers” – the BART workers who prepare and transport it to its multitude of engagements.

“I started working at BART in 2018. Since then, every time there’s a parade, I’m trying to get on [BARTmobile duty],” said Tomasz Radzikowski, Buildings Worker. Radzikowski estimates he’s delivered the mobile from its home, in BART’s Oakland Shop Annex, to local events at least six times. 

“It’s a very exciting thing to do,” he said. “I like it – no, I love it.”

To prepare the BARTmobile for an event, one team of BART workers polish the chassis, charge the electronics, and soundcheck the stereo. This crew is also in charge of decorating, as well as dressing the BARTmobile in its event-specific hat.

From there, a second team loads and secures the BARTmobile on a special trailer. They’ll drive it from the Oakland Shop Annex to wherever it needs to appear that day and unload the 700-pound vehicle. At the end of the event, the process repeats itself in reverse.

“Whenever we drive from the Oakland shops to the city, people will wave at us and ask us to pull over to take pictures,” Radzikowski said. “Sometimes, people on the Bay Bridge will slow down because they’re so excited to see it.”

Radzikowski often hangs around the parade until it’s time to pack the BARTmobile back up. He said the joy and energy from the crowd when they see the mobile rolling down the street is palpable.

“You can see the good vibes and happiness,” he said. “It’s a beautiful feeling to experience.”

UPDATE April 8, 2026:

Crews were able to complete the work sooner than anticipated, so this entrance was re-opened early afternoon on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

From April 7 through April 10, riders will not be able to enter the station from the UN Plaza entrance as the contractor installs fencing around the escalator. The escalator going up from the station will remain in service, allowing riders to exit the station. Signs at the top of the closed escalator will guide customers to an alternate entrance.

Riders should use the following options to access the Civic Center station during this period:

North Side of Market Street – Stairway Access

• Stair-only Entrance in front of Orpheum Theatre
• Stair-only Entrance at 7th Street @ Charles J. Brenham Place

North Side of Market Street – Elevator Access

• Elevator at UN Plaza

South Side of Market Street - Stairway / Escalator Access

• 8th & Market Canopy Entrance – Entrance has both stairway and escalator 
• Mid-Block Stair-only Entrance 
• 7th & Market Street – Entrance has both stairway and escalator  

Status of the Escalator Project

There are two escalator units located above the Civic Center Station that serve the United Nations Plaza on the north side of Market Street. The BART Escalator Renovation Project contractor plans to complete the replacement of the first of the two units in early April and expects to start replacement of the second unit soon after that. All work at the Civic Center / UN Plaza entrance is expected to be completed by October 2026.

BART’s Escalator Renovation Project is replacing 44 escalator units (40 BART plus 4 additional MUNI escalators) in the four downtown stations at both platform and street levels. To date, BART has completed installation of 26 units, 1 is currently under construction, and there are 17 remaining escalator units to be completed through January 2029.  

Thank you for your patience as we work to complete this important escalator renovation project. 

For more information on this project visit: bart.gov/about/planning/sfentrances

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

On Wednesday, Dec. 10, BART joins the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and our regional transit partners in celebrating the launch of Next Generation Clipper, the Bay Area’s electronic fare payment system administered by MTC. Next Generation Clipper will make fare payment faster, simpler, and more integrated. 

MTC has begun the eight- to 12-week process of transitioning Clipper card customers to the next generation. See instructions below to initiate the transition process yourself. 

New and improved features include:

• Tap and Ride has been rolled out to all Bay Area transit agencies that use Clipper, meaning riders can pay adult fares using contactless credit and debit cards and mobile payment methods, in addition to Clipper cards. BART became the Bay Area’s first Tap and Ride system on Aug. 20, 2025.  

• Instant value: Clipper's transition to a cloud-based system allows for instant availability of added value or passes on plastic and mobile cards no matter how value is added — eliminating wait time. An improved auto-reload function allows customers to customize both the reloading amount and the schedule or reloading. 

• Free and discounted transfers: Riders who use more than one transit agency in a single trip (e.g., BART to Muni) will only be charged full fare on the first operator. A transfer discount of up to $2.85 will apply on any additional transit agency the rider uses within a two-hour window. This feature will be immediately available for contactless bank cards. Clipper card users must wait for their cards to be upgraded to the new system for this feature to apply, a process customers can initiate (see below).  

• Managing multiple accounts: Clipper's transition to a cloud-based system will enable families to manage multiple registered Clipper cards through the Clipper app. 

• Apply for youth or senior cards online: The new Clipper system will give youth and senior riders the option to apply for their discount program online in addition to applying in person or by mail. 

Because of the eight- to 12-week transition period needed to upgrade individual Clipper cards to the next generation system, not all features will be immediately available to all customers. 

For faster transition to the new system, customers may initiate the upgrade by:

• Logging into your account on the new account-based Clipper website
• Logging into the new account-based Clipper mobile app
• Calling and providing your Clipper card number to the new account-based customer service center (details below)

More on Tap and Ride:

Tap and Ride means you can use mobile cards as well as traditional plastic credit or debit cards in the place of a Clipper card. Clipper will still be accepted regionwide.  

Customers who use a mobile card on an iPhone are advised to turn on the Express Transit feature, and those who use a plastic credit or debit card are advised to remove the card from their wallet or purse before tapping to avoid card clash.  

Since BART became the Bay Area’s first Tap and Ride system, usage of the innovative system has steadily grown. In September, Tap and Ride usage accounted for approximately 8% of total BART trips on weekdays and 12% on weekends, with SFO Station accounting for nearly 30% of all Tap and Ride and trips. 

Find BART’s guide to using Tap and Ride at bart.gov/tapandride.  

Clipper Customer Service 
Weekdays: 7:00 am - 7:00 pm 
Saturdays:7:00 am - 4:00 pm 

Email: [email protected] 
Phone:(877) 878- 8883 
TDD/TTY: 711 or 800.735.2929 

Web: clippercard.com 

This article was originally published October 21, 2025. 

Photo courtesy Mandela Station Partners, LLC (MSP)

Update 05/04/26: BART and our development partners, Mandela Station Partners LLC, are excited to start construction on the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) project at West Oakland Station this year. The TOD project is planned to include 762 new residential units, including 240 affordable units, retail and office space, a new bike station, improved bikeways, streetscape improvements, enhanced walking access to the station, and a new BART plaza.  

Phase 1 is currently scheduled to start in mid-2026 with the construction of 240 affordable housing units on the southwest portion of the station parking lot. To prepare for this transition, as of May 4, 2026, Reserved parking is no longer offered. Approximately 440 Daily Fee parking is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. As soon as July 2026, approximately 300 may become unavailable. All remaining Daily Fee spaces will be available on a first-come, first-served basis until construction formally begins.  

You can learn more about the upcoming TOD project by visiting this page: Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) - West Oakland. More information to come. 

02/04/26: BART and our development partners, Mandela Station Partners LLC, are excited to start construction on the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) project at West Oakland Station this year. The TOD project, also known as Mandela Station, will include 762 new residential units, including 240 affordable units, retail and office space, a new bike station, improved bikeways, streetscape improvements, enhanced walking access to the station, and a new BART plaza. Phase 1 is currently scheduled to start in mid-2026 with the construction of 240 affordable housing units on the southwest portion of the station parking lot (labeled T1 in the above rendering).

As part of the required pre-construction activities, soil testing will take place Tuesday, February 10, through Tuesday, February 17, and will require temporary closures of portions of the BART parking lot. The West Oakland parking lot consists of nearly 440 parking spaces, and no more than 60 parking spaces will be taken offline at a time for soil testing. Given the high demand for parking at West Oakland Station, we encourage those who park there to plan ahead and arrive earlier, consider parking at another BART station, or consider biking or taking transit to the station.

Larger lot closures to begin mid-2026

The development team will take the results from soil testing to inform environmental remediation work needed and future construction phasing. Construction activities that will begin in mid-2026 will require the temporary closure of approximately 300 parking spaces (out of 440 total). A portion of these spaces will be restored when construction is completed, while approximately 200 of the 300 affected by construction will be permanently removed as part of the approved development project. 

Reserved parking to be phased out soon

Reserved Parking at the station will be phased out this spring prior to construction. Daily Fee parking will be available on a first-come, first-served basis during and after construction. We will provide additional details on the construction date and phased lot closures on bart.gov/parking. 

We want to be transparent about this now so those who drive and park at West Oakland can start looking into alternatives for the change later this year. 

You can learn more about the upcoming TOD project by visiting this page: Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) - West Oakland.

Figure 1. Temporary Parking Closures 2/10 - 2/17