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Do you have a favorite BART memory or story to share? Email a short summary to BART Storyteller Michelle Robertson at [email protected], and she may follow up to schedule an interview.    

Katelyn Breaty and her family immigrated from the Philippines ten years ago. She got her first glimpse of the place she’d call home from the windows of a Richmond-bound BART train.  

Breaty was seven at that time and hadn’t yet learned to speak English. Through her young eyes, the terminal at San Francisco International Airport was a mess of chaos and kinetic energy.  

“I had no idea what was going on. I just hopped on BART,” she said. “I’d never experienced anything like it.”  

Though Breaty had ridden trains before, she’d never been on a system like BART before. She said, “Everything about the system mesmerized me since day one.” The speed of the trains – and the ease with which they stopped at each station – was especially memorable. From there on out, she took BART to learn the lay of the land.  

Since their arrival in the U.S., Breaty’s family has lived in Martinez, Vallejo, Daly City, San Francisco, Hayward...the list goes on. Every time they moved, BART was a lifeline for Breaty, keeping her connected to the friends she left behind.  

“BART was the driving force that helped me escape the suburbs, that made me feel free,” she said. “Having grown up poor, BART has been a getaway from my life that enables me to go somewhere fun, exciting, fulfilling." 

Before immigrating to the U.S., Breaty lived in urban centers, including Manila in the Philippines and Bremen, Germany. She said moving to the suburbs was “crushing and dehumanizing,” and learned quickly that in America, "cars are prioritized over people." Taking BART to San Francisco or Berkeley or Oakland was an escape from all that.  

Once, when she was ten years old, she snuck out of the house and took BART to meet friends in San Francisco. She’d never taken the train by herself before, but she figured it out. Her parents were understandably upset when she returned home, but also “glad and amused I was able to navigate the system myself.” From then on, they started giving her more freedom to go out on her own because “they knew I’d find my way home,” she said.  

Today, Breaty relies on BART to get to class at the City College of San Francisco, where she’s working toward a degree in computer science. On her BART ride to CCSF, she works on assignments for class and projects for her web development consulting business. She even makes time on the train to work on a complete model of the BART system she’s building in Roblox, a virtual game platform and creation system.  

Now that she’s sixteen, Breaty has her driver's license. But, she said, "I take BART over everything.” 

“I would rather sit and look out the window of a train than be behind the wheel looking at standstill traffic,” she said.  

Recently, she and her parents were going shopping in Walnut Creek. Her mom didn’t want to take the train, so Breaty made a bet that she and her dad would beat her to Walnut Creek on BART. 

“She was still looking for parking when we started eating,” she said. “Even with a bus bridge that weekend, we got home before her, too.”  

Breaty said the friendly bet persuaded her mom to start riding BART for non-work-related trips.  

She said, “BART has made me an advocate for public transportation and urbanism." When the new service schedule came out this past September, which increased weeknight and weekend service, she told everyone she knows: If you’re not already taking BART for leisure, you should start now.  

About the BART Connects Storytelling Series

The BART Connects storytelling series was launched in 2023 to showcase the real people who ride and rely on BART and illustrate the manifold ways the system affects their lives. You can follow the ongoing series at bart.gov/news. 

The series grew out of BART's Role in the Region Study, which demonstrates BART’s importance to the Bay Area’s mobility, cultural diversity, environmental and economic sustainability. We conducted a call for stories to hear from our riders and understand what BART means to them. The call was publicized on our website, social media, email blasts, and flyering at stations. More than 300 riders responded, and a selection of respondents who opted-in were interviewed for the BART Connects series. 

BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin at age 2 with his mother and grandparents at Lake Merritt Station on BART's opening day, September 11, 1972. 

For two-year-old Kevin Franklin, riding BART for the first time was something of a wonder. The trains were big, shiny, and fast. The stations, grandiose and cathedral-like. And the people watching, unparalleled. 

The toddler was one of the lucky Bay Area residents to ride BART the day it all began. He and his family attended opening day of the regional transit system on September 11, 1972, taking the train from Lake Merritt Station to Fremont Station and back. Though the ride took just about an hour, it left a lasting impression on him.  

“BART was something that made a kid feel like they could go anywhere,” he said. “It was like BART connected me to all these places to go that were so much fun.” 

Five decades later, Franklin is serving as the Chief of BART Police. This week, he celebrated thirty years with BART.  

Chief Kevin Franklin with his parents, wife, and daughter at the BART legacy car retirement party at MacArthur Station in 2024. 

During his tenure as chief, crime on BART has plummeted. In 2025, crime dropped by 41% from the previous year, a testament to smart safety strategies, such as doubling the officer presence on trains and in stations, hardworking staff, and investment in initiatives and infrastructure, including new fare gates at all 50 stations. 

For Chief Franklin, it’s a point of pride to have ridden BART on its very first day. He said it makes him feel “nostalgic and connected” to a transit system he’s used his entire life. 

In one photograph from the day – the opening of BART was something you’d be sure to bring a camera to – a bite-sized Chief Franklin can be seen holding his mother’s hand on the platform, smiling as his grandparents look on. In another black-and-white image, Chief Franklin peers into the Train Operator’s cab, his tiny hands on the glass. 

2-year-old Chief Franklin (left) on BART with his grandfather during BART's opening day on September 11, 1972. 

“I see so many things that are still the same,” he said, noting a church in the background of a photo that’s still standing and a parking lot that hasn’t been razed. “I’m connected to it in a lot of ways.” 

Of course, not everything has stayed the same. Exhibit A: a man smoking a corncob pipe in the background of the photo below. 

Growing up in Oakland, Chief Franklin remembers how BART seemed to “open up the Bay Area.” 

“We could go anywhere,” he said. “I remember riding down to Fremont, and it felt like it was almost a foreign country because it was so far away. But you could get there on BART.” Often, he’d hop on BART “just to go someplace,” with no destination in mind. 

Though he doesn’t clearly recall BART’s 1972 opening day, he does remember many opening days thereafter – especially the first day San Francisco International Airport Station went into service in 2003. 

“We were standing on the platform when the very first train arrived carrying the travelers heading off to their destinations around the world,” Chief Franklin said. He could feel a twinge of recognition with those bleary-eyed travelers, taking BART to a location where once there was no BART. Chief Franklin had a hand in planning the station and its safety features. 

2-year-old Chief Franklin pictured with his mother and grandparents on the platform at Lake Merritt Station on BART's opening day on September 11, 1972. 

Chief Franklin has also seen BART evolve and change profoundly. He saw ridership explode in the 90s onwards, parking lots become multistoried garages, and stations that started as ideas open to the public.  

“It felt like the expansion of BART really changed what a police officer had to do,” he said. “It was a lot simpler in the 80s, when there were fewer passengers, facilities, and stations. The 90s were that period where things really started to grow.” 

One of the most profound changes Chief Franklin experienced in his tenure as a police officer came after the tragic shooting death of Oscar Grant by a BART Police officer. 

“That was a world-changing event for us and for the community,” he said. “We went through that and had a lot of pain, and a lot of change came out of that.” 

(L to R): Deputy Chief Joshua Patzer, POST representative and former BART PD officer Gary Clark, BART PD Chief of Staff Olivia Jackson, Deputy Chief Alan Love, Chief Franklin, and Deputy Chief Gina Galetti at a December 2025 BART Board meeting after Chief Franklin was presented with the Executive Certificate from the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).

In the aftermath of the tragedy, BART Police showed its “willingness to innovate,” Chief Franklin said. “This was a situation where we had an opportunity to grow and change. So, we did, in training, hiring, supervision – nearly every facet of the department.” 

In 2021, BART Police formally established its Progressive Policing Bureau, which deploys unarmed civilians in situations where an armed police officer may not be appropriate, such as mental health crises.   

“What have we done and accomplished in 30 years? The growth is great. But implementing a crisis intervention team is groundbreaking,” he said.  

Chief Franklin's grandparents pictured on BART during its opening day, September 11, 1972.

While BART has changed profoundly since opening day in 1972, so has Chief Franklin. But that sense of wonder a young boy felt riding BART remains to this day. Still, he can recall that majestic feeling of seeing the Port of Oakland cranes creep along the shoreline, only to enter the darkness of the Transbay Tube, then emerge in downtown San Francisco, dwarfed by skyscrapers. 

“I just remember feeling so small,” he said. 

Chief Franklin is looking to the future with excitement, especially as BART faces a staggering financial crisis after ridership plummeted during the pandemic. 

“I’m excited to be part of ‘the New BART’ and the efforts to show riders the positive changes that have resulted from our efforts to reimagine policing and deliver safe, clean, and reliable transit.” 

A previous version of this article was published in 2022.