BART is excited to announce the release of five BART- and Bay Area-themed anime mascots that will help us in our mission to promote public transportation use, especially among youth riders -- a growing and reliable ridership demographic.
Inspired by BART frontline employees and BART-contracted animals who have gone on to reach national fame, like Pac-Man the Harris hawk and the goats that graze BART property, the anime mascots contain numerous details highlighting the tight-knit connections between BART and the Bay Area. BART's new mascots were inspired in part by public transportation agencies in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, which use anime mascots to connect with their riders and communities.
The mascots were the result of an open call for California-based artists BART released in Summer 2022. The call was wildly popular, receiving nearly 500 submissions. Following the call, BART worked with selected artists to conceptualize and create the mascots, which will serve as BART's friendly and approachable avatars.
We encourage people to cosplay as our mascots! The guides were developed by Crafty Sorceress. Find them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, Twitter, and TikTok under the handle @craftysorceress.
Introducing the Mascots
Baylee is inspired by: Grazing goats contracted by BART
Nimbus is inspired by: Pac-Man, the Harris hawk contracted by BART to scare pigeons away
Jasmine is inspired by: BART fans who attended the 50th anniversary celebrations last September
Mira is inspired by: Our own train operators!
Barty is inspired by: The BART legacy fleet currently being retired and repurposed
Questions & Contact Info
Contact Melody Starling with questions at [email protected].
Merch
Get official mascot merch on http://railgoods.com/bart/anime We have acrylic standees and sticker sheets of all the mascots: Baylee, Jasmine, Mira, and Nimbus.
Events
BART will be at FanimeCon 2024, more details to come.
BART launched the mascots at FanimeCon 2023, the largest anime convention in the Bay Area. We gave out exclusive mascot charms and educated people about how to take BART and VTA to travel to South Bay. We also promoted our youth discount.
BART also had a table at the OffKai Expo VTuber convention in June 2023.
On September 16, 2023 BART held a Meet the Anime Mascots event at Powell St. Station. More than 700 riders came by to take photos with the mascots and grab a prize from the BART capsule ball machine.
Some people came in cosplay of our mascots. We also introduced a stamp rally.
