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BART will participate in the Great California ShakeOut earthquake drill Thursday, October 19, 2023 to test our emergency response systems and to help raise public awareness of the importance of having a plan and being prepared.

At 10:19 am, BART staff will trigger our ShakeAlert early warning earthquake system to ensure it is functioning and working correctly. Once triggered, trains will automatically slow down to 27 mph. Then all trains will come to a very brief stop. BART will also make a systemwide public announcement encouraging riders to be prepared for earthquakes. BART will also test our internal communications systems to notify employees and the Operations Control Center will observe earthquake alarms and our train control systems to ensure they are working properly.

ShakeAlert Early Warning Earthquake System

BART is an early adopter of the ShakeAlert system which is connected to seismic stations located throughout Northern California. When the alarm is triggered, the system sends a speed restriction command to trains. This system removes human response time and can even slow trains down before the shaking occurs depending on how far away the quake is centered.

BART Adds Inspections to ShakeAlert Drill

For the first time in recent years, BART is adding simulated damage inspections to its ShakeAlert drill. Shortly after ShakeAlert is triggered Thursday, about 60 engineers will divide into teams and fan out to all 50 stations to conduct structural assessments. The engineers will inspect walkways, support structures, elevators, escalators – anything that could sustain damage in a powerful earthquake. The simulation is designed to identify areas for improvement and to exercise “muscle memory” for BART’s earthquake response. 

Emergency Response Plan

BART has an Earthquake Emergency Response Plan and we hold several drills a year to ensure staff is trained and ready to respond. In the event of an earthquake, riders should listen for instructions from BART personnel. Employees are trained to evacuate the public from dangerous areas.  Following an earthquake, BART trains are held in place (except for trains in the Transbay Tube and BART Caldecott Tunnel) until it is determined it is safe to move the train to the nearest station where riders will be off-boarded.

Earthquake Safety Tips

Where will you be and what will you do when the next big earthquake hits? Taking time to consider these questions now could help if you ever do find yourself in an earthquake.

LISTEN FOR INSTRUCTIONS

That’s one reason why the first guideline in a BART emergency is to follow instructions from BART personnel. The BART Operations Control Center is in constant communication with trains and Station Agents and is in the best position to manage emergencies and provide direction for the public.

ON A TRAIN

If you’re on a train during an earthquake, Train Operators will follow BART’s established emergency plan and provide you with important information. Sit down or grab a handhold to avoid injury. If an evacuation is necessary, emergency response personnel will coordinate.

IN A STATION

If you’re in a station during an earthquake, back away from the edge of the trackway. If you’re in the station concourse, don’t proceed to the platform. Instead, prepare to evacuate the station under the direction of BART personnel.

TRY TEXTING

No matter where you are, emergency experts recommend using text messaging instead of cell calls to communicate with family and loved ones in an emergency. Cell networks can be overwhelmed if everyone’s trying to call at the same time; text messages can be more efficient.

Earthquake Safety Program

BART has spent the last decade retrofitting vulnerable high traffic portions of the original system to make it safer in a large quake. The Earthquake Safety Program is funded in part by Measure AA, a $980 million general obligation BART bond approved by voters in 2004. The Program focused on upgrading portions of the original system not only for life safety but also to ensure that we can return to operation shortly after a major earthquake.

   
In December 2016, The BART Board of Directors awarded a $313 million contract to install a steel liner inside the Transbay Tube and the installation of a new water pumping system.

Listen to our podcast (or read the transcript) about our efforts to improve earthquake safety at BART.

Visit Shakeout.org for simple safety steps during earthquakes.

Ride transit, attend free events, win prizes, and connect with the community  

This September marks the Bay Area’s eleventh annual Transit Month. There are many opportunities to get on BART and celebrate the public transportation that keeps the Bay Area moving.   

Hosted by San Francisco Transit Riders and Seamless Bay Area with support from local agencies, Transit Month toasts the many trains, buses, and ferries that connect the region and uplift its communities, economies, and cultures.   

Transit Month is a great opportunity to explore the places transit can take you and to connect with local agencies and riders. The month is hallmarked by dozens of free events hosted by agencies, organizations, and transit fans. Find some of the BART-centric events below and the full event schedule here. 

Ride Contest

The annual Ride Contest invites participants to track their transit trips to win prizes, earn badges, and vie for top leaderboard positions. Some prizes require taking the most rides; others will enter your name into a raffle for each ride taken.  

There are great prizes contributed by local transit agencies, including the opportunity for you and a guest to ride in the BART mobile during a 2027 parade of your choice, a BART Legacy Fleet HO Scale Model Train Car, and a 2026 BART holiday sweater. 

Sign up at ridecontest.com and log trips between September 1 and 30.  

Anniversary BART Speedrun – September 6  

Speedrun the BART System to celebrate BART’s birthday and California Speedrun Day. What’s a BART speedrun? It means visiting all 50 BART stations as fast as possible. The schedule has been created by speedrunning pros and will take around 6 hours, with special appearances by BART representatives. Join for the whole ride or hop on for a portion. 

The group meets at Berryessa/North San Jose Station (on the lower level past the fare gates) at 10:20am to catch a 10:37am Orange Line train. Make sure you have $12.15 on your Clipper card, not including your BART ride to Berryessa, or pay for your trip with Tap and Ride.

More info here

Ride-Along with Transit CEOs – September 11 

BART General Manager Bob Powers and regional transit CEOs will participate in a Ride-Along on Friday, September 11. It’s a great opportunity to meet the leaders and ask questions while riding multiple types of transit around the Bay Area.  

All Aboard with Transit CEOs will include rides on with rides on AC Transit, BART, SF Muni, and Caltrain. The theme of this year’s ride is financial efficiency and raising awareness of the $1 billion in cost-saving measures taken by the four agencies from July 2019 through June 2025. 

View the full details, route, and list of participating CEOs.

Rapid Transit History Center Exhibit at Western Railway Museum – September 12-13 

A new interactive exhibit at the Western Railway Museum lets visitors step aboard three legacy BART cars and explore and explore the technology, design, and history of the system. 

The exhibit is open to the public September 12 and 13, 9:30am to 5pm, at the Western Railway Museum in Suisun City. BART's merch store Railgoods will have a pop-up at the museum on September 12, from 11am to 3pm. Purchase tickets here. 

More info here

All Aboard Bay Area Transit – September 15 

Tuesday, September 15, is All Aboard Transit Day, when transit agencies encourage people to hop onboard their systems to experience their recent service and customer experience improvements.  

On the morning of All Aboard Transit Day, BART staff will be stationed throughout the system to hand out special stickers to riders. If staff see you wearing the sticker later in the day, they'll gift you some BART swag (while supplies last).   

Let’s Glow! BART Anime Festival – September 19 

BART’s hallmark event this year will be the Let’s Glow! BART Anime Festival on Saturday, September 19 at Warm Springs/South Fremont Station. Let’s Glow! Is a celebration of anime, art, music, cosplay and transit fandom. This year’s free festival will be bigger and better than ever, with an expanded lineup of artists, performances, food, and cosplay.  

Learn more and RSVP at letsglowfestival.eventbrite.com (RSVP not required but helps us get a headcount).  

The latest numbers from the BART Police Department show through the end of August overall crime in the system is down 15% compared with the same period in 2023. The trend includes a 10% drop in violent crime. The decline in the crime rate comes as BART has been experiencing an increase in ridership. All of BART’s top 10 post-pandemic ridership days were in September, driven by special events including the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco and the final Oakland A’s homestand. Read the full Chief’s Report with all the latest safety numbers.

“The drop in criminal activity on BART is happening as we have been going all out to implement our Safe and Clean Plan,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “Our riders have been loud and clear that they want us to step our game up when it comes to their safety and the cleanliness of our system. We have more work to do on behalf of our riders, but these numbers indicate our commitment to maximizing our visible safety presence is paying off.”

“Since I became BART Police Chief one year ago, it has been my top priority to maximize the number of officers walking trains and patrolling our stations,” said BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin. “Our officers are more visible than ever. Their efforts are containing relatively small concerns before they grow into big problems that harm service.”

Additional safety highlights from the latest numbers:

*Only 12 electronic thefts and robberies were reported across the entire system in August. That’s the lowest total for any month since 2021 when ridership was much lower than today.

*BART PD reported 13,016 total enforcement contacts through August, up from 7,791 for the same period in 2023.

*BART PD’s response time for Priority 1 emergencies averaged 4 minutes and 25 seconds in August, among the fastest for any law enforcement agency in the Bay Area.

BART’s Safe and Clean Plan is a commitment to riders to maximize resources to boost their safety and provide clean service. BART’s stepped up safety efforts include sworn officers, non-sworn Crisis Intervention Specialists and Transit Ambassadors, as well as the implementation of Next Generation Fare Gates, which have now been installed successfully at seven stations. All 50 of BART’s stations will have Next Generation Fare Gates by the end of 2025.

BART PD patrols a system that spans five counties and includes 50 stations with 131 route miles of track. You can keep up with all BART’s safety trends in the monthly Chief’s Reports.

The BART Board of Directors has named Inez Gonzalez as the new BART Independent Police Auditor. The Office of the Independent Police Auditor (OIPA) is an essential part of the BART Civilian Oversight Model, which is among the most robust police oversight models in the country. The Board of Directors established both the OIPA and the BART Police Citizen Review Board in 2010.  Gonzalez succeeds Russell Bloom who was appointed Independent Police Auditor in 2016 and retired from BART earlier this year. Her first day on the job will be September 2, 2025.

“Inez Gonzalez has a wealth of experience that includes not only work in police oversight but also as a member of law enforcement,” said BART Board President Mark Foley. “BART has one of the most robust police oversight models in the country and it will be made even stronger thanks to the passion for equitable policing that Inez Gonzalez will bring to the Office of the Independent Police Auditor.”

Gonzalez brings more than 25 years of progressive experience in police oversight, law enforcement, and investigations to her new role as BART Independent Police Auditor. Gonalez most recently served as the Executive Director of the Police Civilian Oversight Board in Charlottesville, Virginia. While there she implemented a comprehensive civilian investigation program to promote integrity and systemic improvement in police services. Before that, Gonzalez rose to the rank of Captain in the Newark, New Jersey Police Department. Among her roles in Newark was serving as Commander of Internal Affairs where she directed complex investigative operations while ensuring compliance with department policies, attorney general guidelines, and state law.

“I am profoundly honored by the trust the BART Board of Directors has placed in me in appointing me as the Independent Police Auditor,” said Inez Gonzalez. “The Office of the Independent Police Auditor serves as a cornerstone of accountability, transparency, and fairness in policing. With integrity, impartiality, and purpose, I am committed to building upon the strong legacy established by my predecessors. I look forward to fostering collaborative relationships with the BART Police Citizen Review Board, BART leadership, and most importantly, the communities we serve.” 

The mission of the OIPA is to provide effective and independent oversight of the BART Police Department by conducting unbiased and thorough investigations, monitoring internal affairs investigations, and making policy recommendations to improve the performance of the police department.  OIPA also reports to the public and maintains communication with communities served by BART. The OIPA has unfettered access to police records, data, reports, and videos to perform their investigative and monitoring work. OIPA accepts complaints, including anonymously, and can investigate complaints from community members whether or not they were the victim of alleged police misconduct.

Learn more about BART’s Independent Police Auditor.

Ride transit, attend free events, win prizes, and connect with the community 

This September marks the Bay Area’s tenth annual Transit Month. There are many opportunities to get on BART and celebrate the public transportation that keeps the Bay Area moving.  

Hosted by San Francisco Transit Riders and Seamless Bay Area with support from local agencies, Transit Month toasts the many trains, buses, and ferries that connect the region and uplift its communities, economies, and cultures.  

Transit Month is a great opportunity to explore the places transit can take you and to connect with local agencies and riders. The month is hallmarked by dozens of free events as well as a monthlong Ride Contest that invites participants to track their transit trips to win prizes, earn badges, and vie for top leaderboard positions. Last year, riders logged some 3,000 transit trips across every Bay Area agency. Sign up for the Ride Contest at  ridecontest.com and start logging trips September 1.  

BART’s hallmark event this year will be the Let’s Glow! BART Anime Festival on Saturday, September 6. Learn more about the celebration of art, anime, transit, and music here and RSVP (optional) at bartletsglow.eventbrite.com. 

And be sure to mark your calendars for All Aboard Bay Area Transit Day on Tuesday, September 23, when we encourage the region to ride transit. BART staff will be riding trains and handing out stickers and surprising riders wearing the stickers with fun BART prizes.  

Lastly, a virtual bonus: On the first day of Transit Month, September 1, BART will release the first of 12 YouTube videos of sped-up footage of the entire BART system – one line and one direction at a time. We’re calling it the BART Cab Cam, and every Monday for three months we’ll unveil a new video. Only Train Operators get to experience these views! Subscribe to BART’s YouTube channel to be alerted when a new video is posted.  

Below, we’ve highlighted some of the month’s BART-centric events. Find the full event schedule at sftransitriders.org/transitmonth. Some programming is virtual.  

Selection of Upcoming Transit Month Events 

September 29 - October 5 -- National Week Without Driving

Past Events

September 1 - Fairyland’s Big Birthday Party Parade from 19th St. Station 

September 1 - September 7, all day - Dress to Impress on Transit Week

September 4, 9am to 10am, SF City Hall (Civic Center) - Transit Month Kickoff Rally

September 4, 5:30pm to 7pm, SPUR Urban Center (Montgomery) - Transit Trivia Night

September 6, 4:30pm to 8pm, Warm Springs/South Fremont  – Let's Glow! BART Anime Festival  

September 6, 1pm to 5pm, Berryessa and Richmond – Books and BART Takeover with Silent Book Club Oakland  

September 9, 6pm to 9pm, Castro Valley - Learn to Juggle at Castro Valley BART

September 12, 7:30pm to 11pm, 12th St. - East Bay Bike Party

September 14, 10am to 4pm, Millbrae – 53rd Anniversary BART Speedrun + Trivia 

September 20, 9am to 3pm, Embarcadero – Peaks and Alleys: A BART to BART Walk 

September 21, 11:15am, Hayward Station - Sunday in the Park Without Having to Park

September 23, all day – All Aboard Bay Area Transit Day 

September 24, 3pm to 6pm, Salesforce Transit Center (Embarcadero) – Pop-up Transit Art Fair 

September 26, 3pm to 6:30pm, 19th St./Oakland – All Aboard with Transit CEOs Ride-Along and Happy Hour, including BART GM Bob Powers 

September 28, 10am to 3pm, MacArthur – Bay Bridge Trail Anniversary Ride  

September 28, 10am to 6pm, Embarcadero – YPT SF Bay Area: Transit Month Amazing Race