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In celebration of Transit Month 2023, the Bay Area transit agencies and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) are hosting a third “All Aboard with Transit CEOs,” a ride-along and social event giving the public a chance to ride with and meet regional transit leaders. The event is also an opportunity for transit leaders to call for on-going financial support for transit operations and to showcase the coordination happening among agencies to improve the rider experience in the Bay Area.

The event is Friday, September 29, 2023, starting at 5pm at the Palo Alto Caltrain Station/Transit Center. The Palo Alto Transit Center is an intermodal transit center served by Caltrain, SamTrans, VTA, Dumbarton Express, the Stanford University Marguerite Shuttle and several local shuttle services. 

Trip details:

Before 5pm: The public and Transit CEOs will come from different transit systems, connecting with the public along their route to the Palo Alto Caltrain Station/Transit Center.

5pm:  The public and Transit CEOs meet at the Palo Alto Transit Center (Caltrain Northbound Platform to San Francisco) for photos and mingling.
5:19pm – Everyone boards Caltrain #709 for an onboard Happy Hour (BYOB)
5:44pm – Train arrives at Millbrae Transit Center (100 California Drive, Millbrae)
6:03pm – The Ride-a-long ends as the train arrives at San Francisco Caltrain Station (700 4th Street, San Francisco)

Members of the public and the media are invited to ride for the full or partial journey. This event is a great opportunity for the public to chat with CEOs about transit service and transit career opportunities. Follow on social media for real time updates of the CEOs journey.  

Participating CEOs include:  SamTrans (April Chan), Caltrain (Michelle Bouchard), VTA (Carolyn Gonot), MUNI (Jeff Tumlin), BART (Bob Powers), WETA/SF Bay Ferry (Seamus Murphy), County Connection (Bill Churchill), and LAVTA/Wheels (Christy Wegener). 

The CEOs will be taking transit to the Palo Alto Caltrain Station and posting on social media using the #TransitMonth hash tag. Several CEOs will announce their routes to get to Palo Alto Transit Center if you want to join them on the journey. 

BART General Manager Bob Powers will take BART's Red Line to Millbrae leaving 19th Street Station at 2:57pm and transfer to Caltrain at 4:02pm

SamTrans CEO April Chan will ride ECR leaving San Carlos Ave / El Camino Street at 4pm 

Caltrain Executive Director Michelle Bouchard will ride Caltrain #410 leaving San Carlos Station at 4:48pm

VTA CEO Carolyn Gonot will ride the VTA Blue Line from River Oaks Station leaving at 3:45, changing trains at Baypointe to the 4 pm Orange Line to Mountain View. Then Caltrain #309 departing Mountain View at 4:40 pm

BART's new Transit Saves 2024 campaign art is featured in the slideshow above. 

Earth Day is an international event held annually on April 22 to celebrate sustainability and raise awareness about environmental protection. At BART, it is an important opportunity for us to reflect on the many challenges our planet faces, including climate change, deforestation, and environmental pollution, as well as the ways we can be part of the solution.  

BART takes special care to acknowledge Earth Day every year because sustainability is a core value of our organization. On past Earth Days, we interviewed riders on trains about their carbon footprints; we created a map highlighting some of the creatures and green features around the BART system; we even put together a BART-themed Earth Day quiz.  

This year, we’re celebrating Earth Day with a new educational marketing campaign that highlights some of the environmental benefits of taking BART. The campaign is now live on the digital screens in select stations and will also occupy the ad spaces in stations and trains. You can see the art in the slideshow below. 

Additionally, this year BART collaborated with the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation and Trees for Oakland to host a tree planting event. The volunteers, which included many BART employees, planted more than 100 native trees at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline in Oakland.  

Public transportation is one of the greenest ways to get around, and on Earth Day, BART celebrates that. Learn more about the campaign and the tree planting below.  

Happy Earth Day! 

BART launches second edition of Transit Saves marketing campaign

A panel from Transit Saves 2023.

Today, BART is thrilled to launch the second edition of our Transit Saves marketing campaign with three novel art concepts. We debuted Transit Saves in 2023 to highlight the many reasons public transportation enhances our communities, but there were simply too many ways “transit saves” to include in a single campaign. So, we created another one.  

You can view the new art, which includes updated data from our forthcoming Role in the Region Study, in the above slideshow. As of today, you will begin to see the art around the Bay Area, including in the ad spaces on trains and in stations. Animated versions of the art will be rotating on the digital advertising screens in some BART stations as well.  

Check out our Transit Saves webpage for some quick facts about BART’s importance to the region (environmentally and otherwise) and to view our methodology.  

BART collaborates with local organizations for tree planting event

BART is committed to bringing the community together to safeguard our local environment. 

For Earth Day, BART’s Sustainability Department organized a tree planting event at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline in Oakland on Saturday, April 20, in collaboration with the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation and Trees for Oakland.  BART employees, their loved ones, BART District 4 Director Robert Raburn and his wife, Pat, and other members of the community came together to plant 100 trees, including Monterey cypress, Catalina ironwood, hollyleaf cherry, flannel bush, and various types of oak. These trees are native, climate adapted and/or shoreline adapted, and will help sequester carbon that would otherwise contribute to climate change. As you can see in the above Transit Saves art, if we didn’t have BART, we’d have to plant a San Francisco-sized forest every 2 years to offset the extra CO2 emissions. The trees we planted will also provide habitat for animal species and shade for humans and animals seeking relief from heat. 

“It was such a pleasure to see everyone out here doing work that helps fight against climate change,” said BART’s Principal Sustainability Analyst, Michael Cox. “We are all public servants at BART, and we take extra pride in being able to help our community with events like this.” 

Added Alex Pinto, the Community Greening Program Manager at Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation: “I see Earth Day as an important opportunity for us to connect with nature in new ways and learn about the natural world. Putting away our electronics and placing our hands in the soil can be a relaxing and gratifying experience.” 

Please join us this Earth Day by learning about the role transit plays in protecting the Bay Area and our planet. Additional information about BART's ongoing sustainability efforts can be found here. And of course, consider taking BART to your destination whenever possible!