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Thirty years ago, on BART’s twentieth anniversary, we buried a time capsule deep in the ground at Lake Merritt Station and Plaza in Oakland.

Until recently, only BART employees from three decades ago knew what lay inside. But, on the occasion of our 50th anniversary, BART recently pulled the time capsule from the earth and peered inside.

The silver metal container stands about two-feet-high. When we unburied it, we discovered inside 60 items. The contents include objects acquired from the inception of BART onwards, with plenty of 20th anniversary merch. There was dirt from the Market St. Subway groundbreaking in 1967. There was a survey marker from BART’s construction. And, befitting the 90s era, a cassette, VHS, and magnetic tape containing source code for BART’s old Computer Automatic Block System.

Some train equipment made it in the capsule, wedged among t-shirts and labor agreements, business cards and employee signatures. Among the equipment was a circuit board, a thyristor that controls motor current, and Automatic Fare Collection equipment that made the fare gates and ticket machines work.

In all, the time capsule reminds us of not just BART’s history, but the history of the Bay Area at-large. It transports us back in time – to an age of Tamagotchi and Nirvana – and helps us look toward the future. BART is, after all, burying a time capsule to be opened in 25 years, on our 75th anniversary. On Saturday, Sept. 10, public officials took to the stage at Lake Merritt Station and Plaza to deposit items in this new time capsule. The additions included a Clipper card, Fleet of the Future socks, a Not One More Girl poster, a BART 50th t-shirt, a resolution from 1992, a personal handstrap, a 2022 BART Pride sticker, a BART pandemic mask, some of the best tweets from the BART Twitter account, and a 50th anniversary pin given to employees for the occasion. 

Look through the above slideshow for some highlights from the 1992 time capsule and click here for a full catalogue of the items held within.

Courtesy Hernandez-Eli Architecture

There’s something oddly majestic about seeing a BART car “in the wild,” or in a place you wouldn’t expect it to be, far from its straight and narrow tracks. Soon, this will be a regular occurrence for Bay Area residents as BART announces the eight finalists that have been selected to receive legacy BART cars in the coming months. The legacy cars will be replaced by BART’s Fleet of the Future.

The eight recipients were selected after submitting a proposal to BART describing what they planned to do with the vehicle. The selected few will transform the old cars into beer gardens and short-term rentals, museum objects and more.

“These cars are iconic to the Bay Area and to the people that not only live in the Bay Area now, but grew up riding these BART cars,” said Brian Tsukamoto, Manager of Special Projects – Decommissioning at BART. “We’d like to see them given a new life. We’d like to see them repurposed and have people continue to enjoy these cars.”

None of the proposals sought to use the legacy cars for affordable housing projects or homes for the unhoused – two of the major problems facing the San Francisco Bay Area. Other public transit agencies have sunk their legacy cars into the ocean to serve as artificial reefs, but this is unfeasible for BART’s cars due to their aluminum composition. Likewise, BART cannot sell the cars to other transit agencies because its vehicles operate on a nonstandard gauge or track width.

Repurposing old BART cars is no easy feat – nor is moving and installing them. BART estimates the cost of transporting, installing, and permitting the vehicles will cost somewhere in the range of $8,000 to $15,000. Applicants were asked to provide plans for the vehicles’ retrieval, as well as a description of how they intend to dispose of the cars when they’ve served their purpose. It’s all about creative upcycling and a dash of creative thinking.

The remaining decommissioned legacy cars – there are 531 still in-service, as of Jan. 30 – will be mostly recycled, a few cars at a time, by Schnitzer Steel in Oakland.

It’s time for the big reveal. Keep reading to see how the legacy cars will be reborn.

Courtesy Arthur Mac's Tap & Snack

Arthur Mac’s Tap & Snack

A mainstay for pizza, hot wings, and beer in Oakland, Arthur Mac’s Tap & Snack plans to expand – by adding a BART car to its retinue in downtown Hayward. The restaurant wants to see the legacy car used purely for fun – it will transform the car into a “retro videogame arcade and kids play area,” as well as extra seating for weatherproof dining. Arthur Mac’s – an anagram in tribute of the MacArthur BART Station – said its vision for the legacy car “is to create a time capsule that transports our customers and community members beyond the confines of time and space.”

Courtesy Hospitality in Transit

Hospitality in Transit

The BART puns don’t stop there. Hospitality in Transit, the purveyors of “metrobar” – built from an old Metro car in Washington D.C. – intend to bring a similar concept to the Bay Area with “BARTbar.” To be placed at a yet-to-be-decided location, the primarily outdoor venue will serve as a coworking space, café and meeting place during the day and transition to a beverage-slinging joint by night. “We hope BARTbar will bring people together through local drinks, food, art, and culture,” the partners of Hospitality in Transit said. “We’re committed to being a space that supports and uplifts Bay Area creators and communities."

Courtesy the Western Railway Museum

Bay Area Electric Railroad Association

The Bay Area Electric Railroad Association, which runs the Western Railway Museum in Suisun City, plans to create a “Rapid Transit History Center” with one A, B and C car each to educate visitors about earlier modes of transportation. If all goes to plan, the museum will include various displays, a small theater, BART artifacts, and a history of the transit system. The project is currently seeking donations.

Courtesy Hayward Fire Department

Hayward Fire Department

A legacy BART car may soon help save lives. That’s the plan for the Hayward Fire Department, who intend to repurpose their car as a training “prop” to provide “station familiarization, vehicle rescue simulations and safety of the track and third rail system.” The department plans to keep its car “for many years” and noted that they will provide continuous maintenance and repairs.

Courtesy Hernandez-Eli Architecture

Residence and short-term rental

A partnership of private residents will transform a legacy car into a “metaphoric train station that blends the space age-modern esthetics of BART and a cozy cabin” in a Gold Rush-era town in the Sierra Foothills. The structure will be constructed as green as possible, with a solar panel roof, a gray water system and passive cooling, the partnership said. The owners hope to see the house last upwards of 100 years.

Courtesy the Original Scraper Bike Team

The Original Scraper Bike Team

The Original Scraper Bike Team works to enrich and empower urban youth in East Oakland by offering bicycle skill training, mentorship programs, and by encouraging creativity and art. The organization was awarded a legacy BART car that will be divided into two sections: One half will serve as a bike shop, which will provide free bike repairs and help children learn to build and decorate their own Scraper bike; the other half will be a clubhouse for community events and Scraper Bike Teams’ mentorship program. The car will be decorated with murals by local artists.

Oakland Athletics

Nov 29, 2023 Update: On 11/29/23, the Oakland A's informed BART that they have decided to decline the offer to take ownership of the BART car.

What’s the one thing missing from the Oakland Coliseum? A BART car, naturally. Entitled “Coliseum BAR(T),” the baseball team plans to retrofit their legacy car as a museum that celebrates the history of transit and sports in the East Bay, as well as a – wait for it – beer garden, which promises to serve local craft beers. According to the proposal, “The interior would commemorate A’s history, and BART as an extension of it, through memorabilia, historical photographs, old jerseys, [and] autographed bats and balls.”

Contra Costa County Fire Protection District

Update: on January 8, 2024 the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District withdrew their request for the legacy car due to lack of funding to build a platform to accommodate training.

Like the Hayward Fire Department, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District will use its legacy car for “scenario-based training and car familiarization training.” Because the district’s training facility is a regional training center, not only fire personnel will be able to benefit from the car’s teachings, but so will local EMS agencies, law enforcement agencies, and the Los Medanos Junior College Fire Academy.