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One more week to submit a poem to the BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest (deadline: March 8)
Submissions are open - Click HERE to Submit
Official contest page: bart.gov/bartlines
Deadline to Submit: Friday, March 8, 2024, at 11:59pm PST (or sooner - see below)
IMPORTANT: Only 300 qualifying submissions will be accepted for review. The submission period will close when 300 applications are received, which may be before the stated deadline. We indicate on this page when we have received approximately 225 applications. We will close the Submittable application page when 300 qualifying submissions have been received.
Applicants must be between the ages of 13 to 19 as of Friday, March 8, 2024.
Interested in promoting the BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest at your school, library, or organization? Download this printable flyer (PDF).
Friday, Jan. 19 - We are pleased to announce the 2024 BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest. This will be BART’s first writing contest for youth, following last year’s short story contest for adults.
With the BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest, BART is thrilled to lift and amplify the voices of Bay Area youth, whose perspectives, opinions, and ideas are providing us with a roadmap for the future – one that is informed by their lived experiences as well as the unique histories of their communities. We are listening and learning from you!
By providing a forum for teens’ voices and creativity with BART Lines, we are underlining our belief that the words, ideas, and foresight of youth matter. One day soon, they will be the leaders and visionaries that decide the future of public transportation, and therefore, the future of our region.
Pictured above: One of BART’s free story dispensers, where the winning poems will be uploaded. The dispensers are like vending machines for creative writing, dispensing stories on eco-friendly recyclable, receipt-like paper. They’re touchless; you just hover your finger over the button to get your story.
BART Lines was created by BART Communications and BART’s Art Program. BART is organizing programs such as BART Lines to get people excited about transit and to emphasize the variety of ways you can use our system, as well as the places it can take you. By partnering with local organizations, including BART Lines partners and judges 826 Valencia and Youth Speaks, we are reinforcing the value arts and cultural organizations bring to BART and our community of riders. These partnerships also highlight the key role public transportation plays in connecting people to experiences that have the power to change and enrich their lives.
BART’s new ridership model emphasizes weeknight and weekend travel, which reinforces the notion that we are not simply a commuter service that transports people to and from work. Our system also carries people to impactful encounters and locations, be it museums, theaters, libraries, public parks, and people, too.
The BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest is one piece of BART’s robust rider engagement strategy that seeks to bring riders together through unique experiences in both virtual and IRL formats. Recent efforts include the BART Anime Project , the One Book One BART book club, Twitch livestreams, creative and informative TikTok content, shareable rider guides, and free celebratory events in stations and trains.
When we ride transit, we hold space for one another. On a crowded train, we remove our backpacks and latch our bikes; we stand for someone who needs to sit; and we scooch to the window seat when space is sparse. Riding transit reminds us that we exist in an interconnected web of others – your fellow passengers, who carry with them their dreams, imaginings, and aspirations (along with their shopping bags and suitcases). BART Lines seeks to celebrates this.
Pictured above: A BART Lines winner reads his poem at Glen Park Station.
Theme: Bay is Home
The theme for the BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest is “Bay is Home.” We want to read your poems related to the Bay Area. Your submission might describe a location – somewhere you take BART, for example – or maybe a specific spot that inspired your piece. With this theme, we’re asking: How do the many places, people, and aspects of the region make the Bay home?
Submissions-Timeline-Prizes
To submit an entry, authors must be between the ages of 13 to 19 as of Friday, March 8, 2024, and reside in one of the five counties where BART operates: San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara.
Submissions must not exceed 7,500 characters (including spaces). Each line longer than will fit on the dispenser print-outs, typically about 38-40 characters and spaces, will be divided as needed with a slash ("/"). Finalists may be required to edit their work to fit the dispenser format. BART will coordinate with you to finalize your work for publication.
To learn more, see the contest rules and submit your poem, click here. Authors may submit only one poem, including if they are co-author.
Thirty finalists will be selected by BART Lines partners 826 Valencia and Youth Speaks, two standout Bay Area organizations lifting the voices of teen poets. Each finalist will receive a $75 honorarium and their poem will be published in BART’s Short Édition Story Dispensers and Story Discs (scroll down for locations), as well as the BART Short Edition website. Select finalists will be invited to participate in a series of readings in and around BART stations (not a requirement for submitting a poem for consideration).
Judges/Partners
826 Valencia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting under-resourced students ages six to eighteen with their creative and expository writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Our services are structured around the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with individualized attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.
Youth Speaks is a leading presenter of Spoken Word performance, education, and youth development programs that was founded in San Francisco in 1996. Founded in 1996 in San Francisco, Youth Speaks is a leading presenter of Spoken Word performance, education, and youth development programs. Trailblazers of local and national youth poetry slams, festivals, and more, Youth Speaks offers a comprehensive slate of literary arts education programs and provides numerous opportunities for youth to be published and heard.
About BART’s Short Édition Story Dispensers and Story Discs
Short Édition is a French publishing house of short literature: poetry, short stories, and flash fiction. In addition to its online platform, Short Édition publishes fiction around the world via its Short Story Dispensers and Story Discs (a digital version of the dispensers that allow you to access unlimited content for free on a smartphone) for the public to enjoy a serendipitous literary experience, free of charge.
The dispensers are like vending machines for creative writing, dispensing stories on eco-friendly recyclable, receipt-like paper. They’re touchless; you just hover your finger over the button to get your story.
BART’s Story Dispensers are currently located at the following stations:
- Balboa Park
- Downtown Berkeley
- Fruitvale
- Pleasant Hill
- San Leandro (pending installation)
BART will soon install Story Discs at the following stations:
- Daly City
- Dublin/Pleasanton
- Embarcadero
About the Artist Behind the Contest Art
Amy Wibowo is a public transit fan and a creative technologist whose art ranges from sweaters made on a hacked knitting machine to RFID jewelry. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, Forbes, and Vox. She is also the author and illustrator of Bubblesort Zines, a zine series making computer science topics more accessible to a wider audience. Wibowo was chosen from a pool of artists selected from an open call for California-based artists for BART’s Anime Project.
Quotes from Contest Organizers and Partners
Alicia Trost, Chief Communications Officer at BART:
“BART Lines is another way for us to connect with current riders while also attracting new riders. Our adult short story contest helped increase ridership as people came to BART seeking out the story dispensers to read local content. It was thrilling to see people post about their experience on social media, noting they rode just to get a story. I’ll never forget the time our General Manager asked a crowd what their favorite thing about BART was, and someone shouted out: ‘The short story dispensers!’ We have no doubt the teen poetry contest will produce the same results.”
Jennifer Easton, BART Art Program Manager:
“The BART Art Program strives to bring the voices of artists into transit spaces in fresh and compelling ways to reflect our communities, to be in dialogue with our riders, to intrigue and compel. By engaging visual artists, writers, musicians and others in our transit spaces they become dynamic, humane, and more Bay Area. Youth poetry in the Bay is so strong right now, and we’re thrilled to bring a small bit of it to the story dispensers.”
Michelle Robertson, BART Storyteller:
“What do BART and poetry have in common? On BART, not only are we given space to read, write, doze, and dream, but we’re also given the gift of sharing space with other people and the stories they hold in their bodies and minds. BART is the ‘great connector of the Bay Area,’ and with BART Lines, we’re gratified to highlight the sometimes-unexpected connections our system enables, not solely in physical space, but also in transcendental space, where poetry lives and breathes.”
Bita Nazarian, 826 Valencia Executive Director:
"826 Valencia is thrilled to partner with BART to bring youth voices to transit stations across the Bay Area. Seeing one's writing in print can have a transformative impact on a young person's life, and we are excited to be a part of such a unique publishing project."
Michelle Mush Lee, Youth Speaks Executive Director:
“Youth Speaks is thrilled to partner with BART on this unique public art project celebrating youth voice and poetry. I see poetry as a universal journey, much like public transportation. Just as BART transports passengers across city lines and social jurisdictions, poetry transcends political and cultural barriers. In each line and verse, lies an invitation to journey beyond our immediate surroundings, to explore landscapes of emotion and thought. It is our vision at Youth Speaks to harness this power, creating a world where words are not just a means of expression, but a vehicle for transformative change, carrying Bay Area residents closer to ourselves and each other.”
Special announcements recorded by local children with autism now playing at BART stations for Autism Acceptance Month
Beginning Wednesday, April 3, you'll hear the voices of some of BART’s biggest fans playing over our PA system. For the second year in a row, BART is celebrating Autism Acceptance Month by participating in the Autism Transit Project, which invites youth on the autism spectrum to record station announcements for transportation agencies around the nation. Jonathan Trichter, who runs multiple schools for children with autism and other neurological differences, spearheads the project.
The recordings will play at 35 BART stations across the system every hour for the remainder of April. You can find the list of stations and listen to the recordings at the bottom of this announcement.
“My name is Antoine, and the reason I like BART is because it gets me to my destination without traffic,” is one example of an announcement you may hear.
Other announcements remind riders of BART rules and courtesy measures, like Bella's: "I love BART because it’s fun looking out the windows. Please remember to keep our train clean and offer your seat to someone in need. Have a fantastic day."
Some participants kept things simple and gleefully shouted out their favorite things about BART. Said Cameron: "I love BART because they run the next-gen [trains], although I do miss the old boys.”
In just two years, the Autism Transit Project has become a beloved tradition at BART. It is widely documented that some people with autism have an affinity for trains. Though it’s not entirely known why that is, experts believe the allure could be related to the repetitive and predictable natures of trains, as well as the visually and auditorily stimulating rhythms and patterns they produce as they run along the tracks and pull into stations.
“Children with autism don’t always come to language naturally, the way neurotypical children do,” said Trichter, who started the Autism Transit Project in 2022. “They grab phrases where they are most focused and may repeat them the same way other kids babble. It is not unusual for the first sentence a child with autism utters to be a regular service announcement at transit stations — something we take for granted every day. For these kids, it is the language they first use to communicate with their family and peers. That’s why this project is so very meaningful to them. I’d like to thank BART for letting these beautiful children be heard. “
To record their announcements, participants were invited to BART Headquarters, where the BART Communications team recorded their statements in a soundproof room with professional microphones and equipment. The children also did on-camera interviews after their recording sessions, which will be featured in an upcoming video.
When they weren’t recording, participants listened to presentations in the BART Boardroom from BART General Manager Bob Powers, Manager of Scheduling and Services John FitzGibbon, and Transportation Supervisor Casey Unger. They also rotated between different tables set up around the room, which were run by energetic BART staff. The stations included a table with tactile equipment from around the BART system, including a piece of rail; a dress-up station with real uniforms from a variety of BART jobs, such as train operators and station agents; a crafting table; and a capsule ball machine where participants won BART-themed prizes.
We hope you enjoy the announcements.
Announcements
The child’s name and the stations where their announcement is playing are listed below. To listen, click on the blue hyperlink.
Antoine – Fremont and Milpitas
Bella – Castro Valley and Civic Center
Cameron B. – 19th St. Oakland and Pleasant Hill
Cameron C. – Pittsburgh/Bay Point and West Oakland
Damian – Fruitvale and MacArthur
Eden – Lafayette and Walnut Creek
Emmett – 24th St. Mission and Downtown Berkeley
Isaias – Bay Fair and El Cerrito del Norte
Joseph – Berryessa and Millbrae
Lucy – Glen Park and Montgomery St.
Milo – 12th St. Oakland and SFO
Nita – Rockridge and Union City
Tougher new fare gates greet travelers at BART's SFO station in time for busy travel season
BART has equipped its state-of-the-art Next Generation Fare Gates at its showcase San Francisco International Airport Station just in time for the busy holiday travel season.
SFO Station is now the ninth in the BART system to be outfitted with the more formidable fare gates as part of BART’s highest priority capital project.
“As a transportation system, we take tremendous pride in saying our community is what runs BART," said BART General Manager Bob Powers. "Among the world’s transit agencies, BART relies the most on rider fares; they are directly responsible for funding our operations. These new fare gates will protect against fare evasion, expand access to transit-dependent riders, and reduce system downtime due to maintenance, which helps boost investment in BART’s long-term growth.”
“BART is making great progress on this initiative, which is increasing the sense of safety and security of riders while also bringing in more revenue,” said Bay Area Council President and CEO Jim Wunderman. “We applaud BART’s commitment to making the system safer and working so hard to install these new modern fare gates as quickly as possible.”
The new gates bring an exciting new look to BART. They feature clear swing barriers with a one-of-a-kind door locking mechanism to deter fare evasion. The gates include advanced 3D sensors that can detect if someone is in a wheelchair or has a bike, stroller, or luggage with them, allowing for more time before the swing barrier closes. They feature LED lighting on the swing barriers and pathway through the gate to help visually impaired riders.
“These gates at San Francisco International Airport are an important improvement for travelers and employees at the Bay Area’s premiere airport,” said SFO Airport Director Ivar C. Satero. “The sensors that allow riders with luggage additional time to get through the gates is just one of the game-changing features of the new fare gates.”
BART is moving rapidly to install Next Generation Fare Gates at more stations. Work is currently underway at Coliseum with plan to begin the installation process at Montgomery Street, Powell Street, Warm Springs, and 12th Street/Oakland City Center stations in November.
By the end of February 2025, BART will have installed new fare gates at more than half its 50 stations.
Full deployment systemwide will be completed by the end of 2025. Learn more about the project at https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/fare-gate.
“There’s always a path to get to BART”: Mission Valley ROP students get rare look inside Hayward Maintenance Complex
Jose Cuellar, Assistant Component Repair Maintenance Shop Superintendent, holds up a detached BART seat on Dec. 9, 2022, during a tour with students from Mission Valley ROP. On a balmy day in December, about thirty students from Mission Valley ROP disembarked a charter bus and filed into the warmth of the
Tera Stokes-Hankins, the first woman to serve as BART’s Chief Transportation Officer, started as a Station Agent
(Photos from left to right: Tera Stokes-Hankins at her Station Agent graduation in 1995; Tera handing Station Agent Michael Francis a certificate of recognition at a recent employee appreciation event.)
During Black History Month each February, BART honors the history and contributions of our Black employees, including trailblazers like Tera Stokes-Hankins, the first woman to serve as BART's Chief Transportation Officer. You'll find her "BART story" below.
Tera Stokes-Hankins joined BART in the summer of 1995 as a twentysomething near-fresh out of college. Back then, she worked part time as a Station Agent at El Cerrito Plaza Station. Today – 28 years later – she oversees not only El Cerrito Plaza, but all of BART’s stations, service and delivery of day-to-day operations, and the agency’s train operations, Station Agents, and Train Operators. Following an impressive six promotions, including one in 2023, Tera now serves as BART’s Chief Transportation Officer – one of the highest-ranking positions within the organization. She is the first woman to hold the title at the organization.
“What’s kept me here so long? The people, the relationships I’ve built, and the work is fun!” she said speaking recently on a rare break between operational meetings and field visits, during which she makes sure “we’re running the service we have promised the public.”
She credits her success to a lifelong love of people and her constant striving to be fair and honest.
“And I couldn’t have done it without my team. They are BART,” she said.
Tera's BART Trajectory |
---|
1995 - Station Agent |
1998 - Operations Foreworker |
2001 - Operations Supervisor |
2013 - Transportation Manager |
2015 - Group Manager |
2019 - Assistant Chief Transportation Officer |
2023 - Chief Transportation Officer |
Tera grew up in Oakland and still lives there with her family. It never occurred to her to apply for a job at BART. In college, Tera majored in computer systems information and business administration. When BART came calling, she was working an entry-level position at the Federal Reserve in San Francisco and figured she’d be there awhile.
“My father was trying to get a job at BART, and he saw a listing for part-time Station Agents,” she recalled. “That led my mother to tell me I had to apply.”
Tera got the job and decided to accept the position. The rest, as they say, is history.
Every promotion since, she’s called her mom to thank her for that initial push to apply.
“I wouldn’t be here if she didn’t tell me take this job,” she said.
As for her dad? “He didn’t get the gig,” she said with a laugh.
Tera’s days are not without their challenges; being the Chief Transportation Officer is arguably one of the most stressful gigs in transit. What gets her out of bed each morning is knowing “that we are providing an absolutely essential service to the Bay Area and the people who rely on us.”
“My employees are counting on me, and my family is counting on me, too,” she said. “If BART’s not running, that means people can’t get to an interview or an appointment or class. To get up every day and make sure we’re ready to go and putting our best foot forward – that keeps me going,”
She also credits her husband with helping her stay grounded.
“It helps me in my day to day to have someone I can bounce ideas and situations off of,” she said. “He tells me when I’m right and when I’m wrong – especially when I’m wrong.”
BART is a workplace that seeks to support and elevate its employees to achieve their dreams and rise to their professional aspirations. Tera said she has been consistently uplifted by her mentors, BART’s training and educational opportunities, and the many managers who have supported her in her rise through the ranks.
“Us managers at BART have a lot to offer,” she said, reflecting. “We are just waiting for our employees to come and ask us how to grow and expand their knowledge.”
Over the past three decades, Tera has hit many of her most major life milestones while working at BART. In her first year at BART, she got married. Not long after that, she had her first child, and later, her second.
She now does for her daughter what her mom once did for her.
“I’ll see opportunities and go, ‘Baby, you should apply for this!’” The approach has paid off so far, she said.
We invite you to read BARTable's suggestions for honoring and celebrating Black History Month here and to explore One Book One BART's Black History Month Reading List, which highlights a selection of books that illuminate and educate readers about the experiences of Black Americans, especially in the Bay Area.
BART employees: Later in the month, you will receive an invitation via District Announcements for a special Black History Month event hosted by the Employee Resource Group.
Take transit to Fleet Week; BART running longer trains for the weekend (10/12 & 10/13)
San Francisco Fleet Week 2024 begins Monday, Oct. 7, and culminates on Monday, Oct. 14, and transit is the best way to get there as thousands of people flood the city for air shows and other special events.
To accomodate the predicted crowds, BART will be running longer trains that weekend: Saturday, Oct. 12, and Sunday, Oct. 13.
Here's how to reach the various air show viewing areas with BART + Muni:
- Pier 39: Take BART to Embarcadero Station and use Exit A1 to transfer to the Muni F Market streetcar or bus.
- Fort Mason, Marina Green, and Crissy Field: Take BART to Montgomery St and use Exit A1. Walk to Kearny St and board the Muni 30 Stockton bus.
- Fort Mason (option 2): Take BART to 16th St Mission and use Exit B to board the Muni 49 Van Ness bus.
Rider Tips
Parking is free at all BART stations except Milpitas and Berryessa/North San Jose (which are operated by VTA) on the weekends. Pay for parking easily on the BART app.
Before you leave home, put Clipper card on your cellphone through either Apple Pay or Google Pay. Please ensure you have sufficient funds for a round trip. Plan at the cost of your trip in advance.
Real-time departures and train alerts can be found at bart.gov/eta or on the BART app.
Discover more fun events happening this weekend on BARTable.
Initial public notice: FEMA intends to provide federal financial assistance under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to BART
INITIAL PUBLIC NOTICE SLOPE STABILIZATION AND EROSION CONTROL ALONG BART’S A-LINE AND C-LINES (PHASE 2) ALAMEDA COUNTY AND CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA HMGP 4308-307-37 The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) intends to provide federal financial assistance
The biggest BART fan in Japan flew to the Bay for a day to ride a legacy train one last time
A photo of a scrapbook showing Atsushi Goto on a BART train in 2001. The text reads, "Me riding the BART subway. The vibe inside the cars reminded me of an office with sofa chairs." Photos courtesy of Atsushi Goto.
On Friday, April 19, at 3pm, Atsushi Goto’s plane touched down at San Francisco International Airport. He hastily collected his carry on, went through customs, and dashed toward the SFO BART station. A train was waiting for him on the platform.
The last time Atsushi rode BART, the trains still had yellow carpets and fabric seats. The Fleet of the Future trains were just an idea, and the legacy fleet didn’t have that adjective attached to its name yet. Actually, at the time, the legacy fleet was only a few years older than Atsushi, then a 21-year-old university student in Japan touring the U.S.
That was 2001. This past April marked 23 years since Atsushi last set foot on a BART train. And the trains that met him at SFO in April were not the ones he knew.
The 24 hours that followed his touchdown were a whirlwind of a trains, buses, cable cars, and one big party for a bunch of old trains at MacArthur Station – BART’s retirement celebration for the legacy trains. On the night of Saturday, April 20, just over a day after arriving, Atsushi was on a plane again, headed back home to Japan. Atsushi is an automobile designer, and on Monday, he had work.
Atsushi poses with the train cab cutout at the legacy retirement ceremony on Saturday, April, 20, 2024. Photo courtesy of Atsushi Goto.
“I feared this was my last chance to see these trains. I could not wait any longer,” Atsushi said, speaking on a videocall from Japan. He’d never intended for his return to the Bay Area to take so many years, but between work and his other adult responsibilities, it just happened that way.
Atsushi had heard rumblings of a BART legacy fleet retirement party and final ride from rail fans online, so every single day, he checked BART’s X account to see if the event information had been posted. He immediately started looking for plane tickets. A few weeks before, it finally appeared on his feed. Just a few days later Atsushi booked his ticket. Due to his work schedule, he could only get away for the weekend.
He has no regrets. His final ride on the legacy fleet was everything he dreamed it would be.
“It was unforgettable, a wish come true,” he said.
On his last ride, Atsushi took tons of photos, celebrated with fellow rail fans, and reflected on the 23-year-long ride that took him from his first spin on an original BART train to his final one that day. Before the train returned to the yard from Fremont Station, Atsushi said, “I touched the train to thank it for its many years of service.”
Atsushi Goto pictured with one of his legacy car number plates back home in Japan. Photo courtesy of Atsushi Goto.
BART Communications learned about Atsushi and his love of BART from Customer Services Assistant Nathan Nguyen. Nathan’s the kind of guy who’ll go out of his way to help a customer, even if that customer lives in a different time zone halfway around the world.
Before he learned about the legacy retirement event, Atsushi was desperate to get his hands on some legacy car number plates. There’s no international shipping option on Railgoods.com, where you purchase the quick-to-sellout plates, but Nathan made it happen just for him. The cost of shipping was as much as the plates themselves, but Atsushi wanted them nonetheless.
“As I got to know Atsushi communicating through email and learning the love he has for BART, I made it my mission to get these plates to him in Japan," said Nathan. "Atsushi is a very genuine guy, and the love he has for BART is overwhelming!”
A photo of the full scrapbook page with photos Atsushi took in 2001 and the BART ticket he used. Courtesy Atsushi Goto.
Atsushi has a page in an old scrapbook commemorating his first BART ride. There’s a photo of himself at 16th St. Mission Station. He’s 21, and the ends of his hair are bleached like a true 90s kid. Below the photo, Atsushi pasted his first BART ticket. The text reads on the page reads: “I took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). The interior of the train felt like an office sofa. It was luxurious and modern.”
Atsushi had wanted to visit San Francisco since he was a child. His mother used to read to him from the 1950s-era children’s book “Maybelle the Cable Car” by Virginia Lee Burton, translated into Japanese from the original English.
A snapshot of the opening lines of “Maybelle the Cable Car” (Copyright Houghton Mifflin).
“Maybelle was a cable car / a San Francisco cable car / Cling clang . . . clingety clang / Up and down and around she went,” the the classic story begins.
“I was really surprised by the angle of that hill,” Atsushi said.
When he finally made it to the U.S. in 2001, Atsushi felt like he was on a movie set.
“I really like America because as a child, I’d often see American movies on tv, like “Speed” and “Top Gun” with Tom Cruise,” he said. He’s also a big fan of American hard rock, including Guns N’ Roses and Aerosmith.
Atsushi on a Muni bus in 2001. The 8042 bus was retired in 2016. Photo courtesy of Atsushi Goto.
During his visit, he traveled west to east, stopping in cities along the way, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C., New York City, and Dallas. The Bay Area was one of his favorite places, and he spent lots of time riding its many forms of transit.
“The great thing about the Bay Area’s transportation system is that it combines modern and traditional elements and together, they function as a means of daily transportation,” he said. “For example, on the one hand there are advanced systems like BART and Muni, on the other hand, there are cable cars and the Muni F line. It’s fascinating and wonderful.”
A Tokyo Metro Series 6000 train. Photo by Atsushi Goto.
BART’s “sofa-like spacious seats and seamless exterior” made him feel as if he were riding in a vehicle from the future. The cars’ exterior design was quite unlike the trains in Japan, where most of the trains are square and boxy, Atsushi said. He noted that the BART trains influenced the design of the cab on the Tokyo Metro Series 6000 trains, which he used to ride to get to school in Tokyo. He felt a strong sense of familiarity, communion even, with the BART trains off the bat.
“The legacy train’s design is so simple and iconic a child can easily draw it. With its round headlights and large windows, the design is still fresh even 50 years after its introduction,” he added.
He also thought the stations were cool thanks to their modern architecture, red electronic display boards, and the hip BART logo and color scheme.
Atsushi eats clam chowder at a stand in San Francisco during his visit in 2001. Photo courtesy Atsushi Goto.
On his second visit to the Bay Area so many years later, Atsushi said his heart leapt when he came face to face with a BART train at SFO Station. He said his first ride on the new trains was “very comfortable,” and he appreciated the “sloping cross section and color scheme of the cars," which reminded him of the original cars. He also liked how the colors of the train “really match the beautiful Bay Area scenery.”
After dropping his bag at his hotel in downtown San Francisco, Atsushi hopped on a cable car on Market Street and rode it to Fisherman’s Wharf. After dining on some clam chowder on the waterfront, Atsushi rode back to his hotel on the F Market and Wharves Line, a heritage streetcar service that uses legacy equipment from retired fleets from San Francisco and abroad.
Scenes from the legacy train retirement event on Saturday, April 20, 2024. Photo by Atsushi Goto.
Saturday morning, he rode BART to Fruitvale Station because he got a tip that the legacy trains would be passing through the station on their way to MacArthur for the ceremony. He met another rail fan waiting for the train, too, and so they hung out and chatted while they waited.
Then, at last, he rode to MacArthur and basked in the atmosphere generated by thousands of rail fans celebrating BART and its historic trains.
A legacy train on the tracks during the legacy train retirement event on Saturday, April 20, 2024. Photo by Atsushi Goto.
On the train, he said the scene on the train was very lively and fun.
“It was a wonderful experience to sit in a spacious seat and ride while looking out at the Bay Area,” he added.
After the train pulled into its final stop – Fremont Station – Atsushi waited on the platform with dozens of other rail fans to see the trains off to the yard.
Once the train sailed away, Atsushi had one more rail system to ride. His rail fan friend at Fruitvale told him about Caltrain’s Nippon Sharyo cars, which are being retired. So, Atsushi dashed back to San Francisco, caught one of the double-decker, Japanese-made beauties, and rode it a few stops. Then, it was back on BART to SFO and a long plane ride back home.
Atsushi said he won’t let so much time pass between now and his next visit to the Bay. He admits he should have come back sooner, but when he started working after graduation, it became difficult to take long holidays.
“I would definitely like to visit again,” he said. But he’s going to wait until the Western Railway Museum opens it BART museum with its three legacy train cars.
A Timeline of Atsushi’s Whirlwind Visit to the Bay Area
9pm JST, Friday, April 19: Atsushi Goto’s plane departs Narita Airport in Tokyo.
3pm PDT, Friday, April 19: Atsushi touches down at San Francisco International Airport.
5pm PDT, Friday, April 19: Atsushi takes BART from SFO to Downtown San Francisco and walks to his hotel by Civic Center/ UN Plaza.
7pm PDT, Friday, April 19: Atsushi catches the cable car on Market Street to Fisherman’s Wharf.
9pm PDT, Friday, April 19: Atsushi rides the Muni F train back to downtown.
11am PDT, Saturday, April 20: Atsushi photographs a legacy train passing through Fruitvale Station as it heads to MacArthur for the celebration.
1pm PDT, Saturday, April 20: Atsushi attends the legacy train retirement ceremony at MacArthur Station and queues to board the last train.
2pm PDT, Saturday, April 20: Atsushi rides the last legacy train to depart MacArthur, then sees it off as it returns to the yard.
7pm PDT, Saturday, April 20: Atsushi arrives at Caltrain station and boards the Nippon Sharyo double-decker train.
9pm PDT, Saturday, April 20: Atsushi takes BART from Civic Center to SFO.
1am PDT, Sunday, April 22: Atsushi’s flight to Tokyo departs San Francisco.
5am JST, Sunday, April 22: Atsushi’s flight lands at Tokyo Haneda International Airport.
BART's 2024 Holiday Sweater pre-sale is now live on Railgoods with new items and discount codes
Have yourself a BARTy little sweater – and vest and beanie and scarf. That’s right, we just kicked off the Railgoods.com BART Holiday Merch Pre-Sale, and this year, we have four brand new items to help you toast BART and the winter season.
The heatwave’s over, the sweat on your brow has dried, your sunburn’s faded. It’s time to start shopping for knitwear. Get ‘em while it’s hot.
Do you want to be sleighing in the Bay next winter? Preorder the new holiday goodies before this sled sails. The pre-sale is open on Railgoods.com now and will close July 31. Pre-sale items ship early November.
If you miss the pre-sale, we will have sweaters and other holiday merch on hand in late November, which you can order on Railgoods.com, buy at the Customer Services Center at Lake Merritt Station, or purchase at seasonal Railgoods pop-ups at events around the Bay Area, including SweaterFest 2024 (more details to come).
You can also win holiday goodies from BARTable! Sign up for the BARTable This Week newsletter on bart.gov/bartable to be alerted when contests are running.
BART holiday sweaters always sell out, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Order now so you don’t have to DM us later asking if we can “strike up a deal.” We cannot.
We will however give you a discount code. Use code 2024BARTholiday20 for $20 off holiday merch orders over $100 and 2024BARTholiday10 for $10 off holiday merch orders over $50. This is the first time we’ve offered discounts on holiday merch, and this is the lowest priced sweater we’ve ever sold (it’s also the least expensive holiday transit sweater in the Bay).
Holiday merch prices (shipping costs vary by weight and distance):
Sweater - $49.99 (limited to 2 sweaters per order)
Vest - $39.99
Beanie - $15.99
Scarf - $19.99
BART is at the heart of the Bay Area, and we should be proud of the public institutions that make our region merry and bright. Buy some merch and rep your love for BART and the Bay – the ugly sweater way.
This is the fourth year BART has sold holiday sweaters. Last year, we sold our entire inventory of 3,000 sweaters. Sales exceeded $100,000.
BART is one of the first transit agencies to sell holiday sweaters. We designed the first sweater in 2021 as a BARTable contest giveaway and ordered just five for the contests. Our inventory proved insufficient after General Manager Bob Powers wore one of the sweaters during a media event about BART’s air filters. People wanted them...badly. A week later, we held a sale for the public, and the sweaters sold out in under an hour.
Every year since, despite increasing our inventory into the thousands, the sweaters have sold out.
Thank you to this year's BART holiday merch models: Mag Tatum, Senior Board Analyst; Damya Belford, BART Communications Intern; and Oscar Brown, Principal Internal Auditor.