They chatted in the Transbay Tube in 1983. This fall, they celebrate their 41st wedding anniversary

Cindy and Jeff, who celebrate 41 years of marriage this year after meeting on BART, smile in a recent photo. 

It was 1983. BART was pretty new to the Bay Area and so was 23-year-old Cindy when she stepped onto a BART train that would change her life.  

A few months before this BART ride, Cindy’s company had transferred her from Phoenix to their offices in San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid. Everything was different and new and exciting in the glittering city by the bay. Nonetheless, Cindy quickly realized Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City was rooted more in reality than fiction when it came to the local dating game. 

“I dated some interesting people when I got here,” Cindy said, laughing.  

It was the Friday before Memorial Day and a sunny spring day in the city – a refreshing reprieve from that winter’s record-setting rains – and Cindy was out with coworkers at a bar on the Embarcadero.  

“Back then, they’d let you go early on Friday afternoons before a holiday weekend,” she said. “And that meant happy hour.”  

After some cocktails and gossip, Cindy bid her coworkers farewell and walked to Embarcadero Station, catching an eastbound Yellow Line train.  

The train car was packed that evening, and Cindy – her feet aching from too many hours squished into heels – couldn't find a seat.  

“Why didn’t I bring flat shoes today?” she said aloud, speaking more to the universe than any person in particular.  

But then a human voice responded: “Why don’t you just take your shoes off?” 

The voice belonged to a young man hanging onto the strap beside Cindy. The two struck up a casual conversation as the train began its underwater journey through the Transbay Tube: “Where are you headed? Are you from here? What do you do for work?” 

“He told me he grew up in the Bay Area and had just moved back, and I told him how I’d just been transferred to work in the Transamerica Pyramid,” Cindy said.   

After chatting the entire way, the man got off at Lafayette, and Cindy continued her journey to Walnut Creek, where she was meeting coworkers for a “continuation of happy hour.”  

At that second bar, Cindy offhandedly mentioned she met a nice guy on BART. Her colleagues – most of whom were married and eager to set up the new girl in town – pestered her with questions. “Did you get his name? His number? Anything?” 

“Nope,” Cindy said. And that was that.  

Actually, that wasn’t that. Fast forward to the following Wednesday, and Cindy gets a call from the Transamerica receptionist on her floor.  

“Did you meet someone on BART last Friday?” she asked.  

“Uh why?” Cindy replied.  

According to the receptionist, a man had just stopped by with a bouquet of flowers and a note with his phone number, signed “Jeff.” He told the receptionist to deliver the flowers to “the girl who just moved to San Francisco from Phoenix.” He provided no further identifying information.  

After picking up the bouquet, Cindy returned to her desk, picked up her landline and called the man named Jeff.  

The two set a date for that Friday night.  They started out at the Washington Square Bar and Grill and then went to dinner at St. Pierre’s in North Beach. They were the first patrons at the restaurant and the last to leave. At the end of the night, they walked together to the BART station.  

“After that first date, I thought the guy definitely had potential,” Cindy said.  

Cindy’s early intuition was spot on. She and Jeff were engaged that April, less than a year after meeting, and married that October. Seven years later, they welcomed a baby girl, and three years after that, a baby boy. 

This fall, Cindy and Jeff celebrate their 41st anniversary. Four decades later, they’re still head over heels. 

So many people have found love on BART! Read some of our past BART meet cute stories:

BART attorney met the love of her life on San Francisco-bound train

BART Connects: A transit wedding happened naturally for these newlyweds 

Couple who met on BART tie the knot with whimsical BART-themed wedding at Fairyland  

"Good vibes on the train": BART employee takes BART to wedding ceremony at San Francisco City Hall 

“BART Guy” and “BART Girl” finds love on an empty Embarcadero platform