Search

On November 1, BART will begin the installation of Next Generation Fare Gates on the concourse level of Powell Street Station. The installation work will happen in stages so riders can continue to use the remaining current gates while new ones are being installed. There will be additional BART staff as well as signage to direct riders to the open gates. Installing each new array is expected to take up to two weeks to complete. The work is anticipated to continue into December when all six fare gate arrays are replaced at Powell Street Station.

A temporary barrier will be installed around the array to provide a safe workspace for the installation team as well as to protect riders from construction. The work will not impact train service, but riders may experience a few extra minutes wait to pass through the fare gates during peak travel hours.

The latest work comes after BART has successfully installed Next Generation Fare Gates at eight other stations across the system. All 50 BART stations will have new fare gates by the end of 2025. You can learn more about BART’s Next Generation Fare Gate project here.

The week of August 11th, BART will begin the installation of a second set of Next Generation Fare Gates on the concourse level of Civic Center Station. The work will happen at the fare gate entrance in the center of the concourse level of Civic Center Station near UN Plaza (Array 2 in the map).

A temporary barrier will be installed to provide a safe workspace for the installation team as well as to protect riders from construction. Installing this new array is expected to take about two weeks to complete. The station’s other two fare gate arrays will remain open during the installation work. There will be signage to direct riders to the open fare gates.

The latest work at Civic Center Station comes after BART successfully installed Next Generation Fare Gates at the Seventh Street entrance to the station in July. In April, crews successfully installed a Next Generation Fare Gate at the elevator entrance on the Civic Center platform. Once work on this set of gates is complete, BART will move forward with replacing the last remaining array of old gates.

All BART stations will have new fare gates by the end of 2025. You can learn more about BART’s Next Generation Fare Gate project here.

The week of December 1, BART will begin the installation of Next Generation Fare Gates on the concourse level of 12th Street/Oakland City Center Station. The installation work will happen in stages so riders can continue to use the remaining current gates while new ones are being installed. There will be additional BART staff as well as signage to direct riders to the open gates. Installing each new array is expected to take up to two weeks to complete. The work is anticipated to continue into January to allow for the replacement of all six fare gate arrays at 12th Street/Oakland City Center Station.

A temporary barrier will be installed around the array to provide a safe workspace for the installation team as well as to protect riders from construction. The work will not impact train service, but riders may experience a few extra minutes wait to pass through the fare gates during peak travel hours.

The latest work comes after BART has successfully installed Next Generation Fare Gates at ten other stations across the system. All 50 BART stations will have new fare gates by the end of 2025. You can learn more about BART’s Next Generation Fare Gate project here.

Update: June 26, 2024 7:15 am

Crews moved our maintenance vehicle out of the way last night. 

The Red Line returned to service when we opened this morning.

We apologize for the inconvenience it caused and we thank our riders for their patience.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At about 3:30am on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, a BART track maintenance vehicle derailed near 19th Street/Oakland Station blocking one set of tracks.

No BART stations are closed but the Red Line is cancelled. We anticipate the Red Line to be cancelled all day but back in service tomorrow. Red line trains will show as cancelled in real time departures and the Trip Planner. 

• San Francisco bound passengers coming from the Richmond direction who would normally take a Red Line train should take an Orange Line Berryessa train and transfer to a Yellow Line San Francisco train at MacArthur Station. 
• Millbrae riders should take the Yellow Line.
• Orange Line trains coming from Richmond will need to divert to West Oakland after 12th St. Station and then turn back towards the Berryessa direction. So they will run: 12th St, West Oakland, Lake Merritt, and so on. Orange Line trains coming from Berryessa don’t need to do this.
• Platform 2 at 19th Street/Oakland Station is closed and trains may be stopping at a different platform that usual at 12th and 19th St stations.

The incident is not causing major delays. 

BART Service Alerts are available via email, text, or customized push notifications in our official BART app. 

Text and email opt-in: http://cloud.info.bart.gov/signup 

On our app, select the profile icon and then notification settings. Set as many as you need for exactly when you typically ride BART. You will get push notifications of our alerts only during the selected times.

August 29, 2024 Update- This work is now complete and all fare gates at Civic Center Station have been replaced with new gates.

On August 22, 2024, BART will begin the installation of a third set of Next Generation Fare Gates on the concourse level of Civic Center Station. The work will happen at the fare gate entrance nearest 8th Street on the concourse level of Civic Center Station (Array 3 in the map).

A temporary barrier will be installed to provide a safe workspace for the installation team as well as to protect riders from construction. Installing this new array is expected to take about two weeks to complete. The station’s other two fare gate arrays will remain open during the installation work. There will be signage to direct riders to the open fare gates. 

The latest work comes after BART successfully installed two arrays of Next Generation Fare Gates at Civic Center Station (Array 1 and Array 2 in the map). Also, in April, crews successfully installed a Next Generation Fare Gate at the elevator entrance on the Civic Center platform. Once work on this set of gates is complete, Civic Center will be fully outfitted with Next Generation Fare Gates.

All BART stations will have new fare gates by the end of 2025. You can learn more about BART’s Next Generation Fare Gate project at bart.gov/about/projects/fare-gate.

Update 4/15/24: The final bus bridge that had been scheduled between Richmond and El Cerrito del Norte the weekend of April 27-28 has been cancelled. Instead, our team will do trackway replacement work on the Yellow Line between Rockridge and Lafayette stations the weekend of 4/27-28. Get more details on this project here: https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2024/news20240313

BART’s next major track improvement project will focus on replacing track equipment near Richmond Station. On four non-consecutive weekends in February, March, and April workers will replace an interlocking near Richmond Station. Interlockings allow BART to safely move trains from line to line and are an essential part of the system. Work will also be done to address vegetation that could impact service.

The weekend dates for this project are February 17-19 (Presidents’ Day Weekend), 3/16-17, 4/13-14, and 4/27-28.

• Free buses will replace train service between Richmond and El Cerrito del Norte stations on all four weekends. 
• The Red Line (Richmond-Millbrae) will be cancelled thus reducing service frequency and transbay options during these weekends. Transbay riders in the East Bay who would normally take the Red Line should instead board an Orange Line (Richmond-Berryessa) train and transfer to a Yellow Line train to San Francisco at MacArthur Station. This is scheduled to be a timed transfer to reduce wait times.
• Millbrae riders will be served by a shuttle train between SFO and Millbrae that is timed with the Yellow line train for an easy transfer at SFO. 
• Riders can expect delays of up to 20 minutes in the work area on shutdown weekends. 
• Richmond Station will not have train service but will still be open for Amtrak passengers and passengers traveling through the station. Riders will be able to board the bus bridge at Richmond.

Cyclists might find it faster to ride their bike along Nevin Ave in Richmond and the Ohlone Greenway to avoid the bus bridge and reduced frequency on the Richmond line. 

You can keep up with the latest updates for trackway repair projects that impact service by going to our Alerts and Advisories page. BART’s Trip Planner has been improved to show the full customer journey including bus bridges.

BART wants to thank AC Transit for providing buses for BART riders during this track closure. Bay Area transit agencies are improving regional coordination to keep the Bay Area moving.

The equipment being replaced is decades old and has outlived its design life. Riders will enjoy a smoother, safer, more reliable, and quieter ride once the projects are complete. 

This upcoming work is part of BART’s overall effort to improve the safety and reliability of the 131-mile, 50 station system. You can learn more about the progress of this work by reading the 2023 Measure RR Annual Report published by the independent Measure RR Bond Oversight Committee.

This article was originally posted on January 22, 2024.

(Updated 9am, May 14, 2024)

On Friday, May 10, 2024, a damaged, 20-year-old fiber optic cable was located just north of MacArthur Station late at night before the end of service. The damaged cable was impacting all communication necessary to run train service on the entire line. It was also impacting all station-level communication including the public address systems, phones, and message boards at all stations from Richmond to Ashby. Crews determined the degraded cable was not stable enough for a quick repair.

 At 4:48am, the first BART Service Advisory was released alerting the public there would be no Red Line service and the Orange Line would not run between Richmond and MacArthur. Orange Line service was provided from MacArthur to Berryessa and Millbrae service was provided by a shuttle train between Millbrae and SFO. The Yellow, Blue, and Green lines were not impacted.

 Partner bus agencies and Capitol Corridor honored BART fares. Extra BART employees were deployed to stations to help guide riders to the various bus options. Given how many stations were impacted, AC Transit was unable to provide a bus bridge with direct service to MacArthur Station. However, Richmond Line stations have high quality transbay and local bus route options and BART riders were able to ride them at no cost. A list of each bus option was posted on the home page of bart.gov and shared on social media.

 Crews worked with BART’s fiber contractors to successfully splice BART’s 48-strand fiber optic cable to redundantly located fiber optic cable allowing for service to resume at 11:10am. This solution will remain in place long term.

As of 11:10am, we have restored normal train service between Richmond and MacArthur. We will follow up with more details about the cause of the disruption on Monday.

In an effort to improve communication during disruptions we are asking impacted riders to take this short survey before Monday, May 13th, at 5pm:
bart.gov/delays

We currently have no Red or Orange line service between Richmond and MacArthur due to a wayside equipment problem. Crews are on scene and are trouble shooting the problem. We hope to have this resolved shortly but expect this service disruption to last through the morning commute. The Yellow, Green and Blue lines are not impacted, and we do have normal service throughout the rest of the system.

Richmond riders should seek other means to get to MacArthur Station. Richmond through Ashby station riders should use the existing bus service at each station. For Millbrae riders, take the shuttle train between SFO and Millbrae and transfer to/from the Yellow line (Antioch-SFO). Orange line service is running MacArthur to Berryessa.

While we do have extra staff at each station to help with buses, there isn’t a direct bus bridge. We do have mutual aid from Capitol Corridor and various bus agencies that varies from Station to Station. 

Capitol Corridor will offer free rides to BART passengers only between Richmond and Oakland Coliseum until 3PM.

BUSES TO DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO 

Richmond Station

• 72M to NL (AC Transit)
  • Transfer from 72M to NL at 20th/Broadway in Oakland 
  • Takes 1 hour and 25 minutes

El Cerrito del Norte

• 72/72M to NL (AC Transit)
  • Transfer from 72M to NL at 20th/Broadway in Oakland 
  • Takes 1 hour and 7 minutes
• L (AC Transit)
  • Takes 48 minutes
• 72/72M/72R to G (AC Transit)
  • Transfer at San Pablo and Gilman 
  • 48 minutes
• 72/72M to F (AC Transit)
  • Transfer at San Pablo and 40th
  • 53 minutes

El Cerrito Plaza

• G (AC Transit)
  • 54 minutes
• L (AC Transit)
  • Walk from station to San Pablo and Central
  • 42 minutes
• 72/72M to NL (AC Transit)
  • Transfer from 72M to NL at 20th/Broadway in Oakland
  • Takes 55 minutes
• 72/72M to F (AC Transit)
  • Transfer at San Pablo and 40th
  • 51 minutes

North Berkeley

• J (AC Transit)
  • Walk to Sacramento and University
  • Takes 48 minutes
• G (AC Transit)
  • Walk to San Pablo and Delaware
  • Takes 41 minutes

o Casual Carpool: https://sfcasualcarpool.com/ 

Downtown Berkeley

• F (AC Transit)
• Takes 41 minutes

Ashby

• F (AC Transit)
• Takes 37 minutes

LOCAL OPTIONS for travel between stations. 

Richmond Station – El Cerrito del Norte – El Cerrito Plaza

• AC Transit 72/72M

North Berkeley – Downtown Berkeley

• AC Transit 52

MacArthur – Ashby – Downtown Berkeley

• AC Transit 6 
• AC Transit 18

Downtown Berkeley – Rockridge

• AC Transit 51B
• AC Transit 79

Join us Saturday, July 27, at Orinda Station to toast the BARTmobile on chugging its way to 20 years. More event info here. 

The BARTmobile in the 2024 San Francisco Pride Parade. Watch the parade from the BARTmobile's perspective on Instagram. 

It has been said that its eyes can see through to your soul. Some have speculated it has the power to improve society. Those who cross its path are known to start acting joyfully and sometimes erratically. It’s even slowed traffic on the Bay Bridge.

If you have found yourself at a major Bay Area parade in the last two decades, chances are high you’ve encountered this mystical being, known as the BARTmobile.

The BARTmobile inspires in passersby what some may deem insane behavior. As it rolls down its given route, paradegoers will scream and shout at the anthropomorphic train as if it were Taylor Swift – “The BARTmobile is here! The BARTmobile is here!” In many instances, adults and children alike will dig through their wallets and pull out their Clipper cards, waving them maniacally at the BARTmobile’s smiling face as it rolls by.

But what exactly is the BARTmobile? And how did it come to have such a hold on the hearts and minds of Bay Area residents?

Jill Buschini, Principal Marketing Representative at BART, has been the official “BARTmobile wrangler” for the past eight parade seasons. She ensures the mobile gets where it needs to go for its bevy of local engagements. (Note: The BARTmobile currently participates only in major Bay Area parades and festivals.)

“When the BARTmobile arrives anywhere, the attention it gets still astounds me. It's incredibly fun to see and be part of!” said Buschini. “Kids and adults alike are transfixed by the small BART train with a face.”

Buschini said even the Golden State Warriors, during their 2022 Warriors Championship Parade, pointed and cheered at the BARTmobile when it caught their eye along the parade route.

There are a handful of crafty, ingenious folks responsible for birthing the BARTmobile. But there is one man responsible for kicking things off. That would be Doug Bartlett, a now-retired BART Principal Marketing Representative.

“Basically, anything that wasn’t normal BART marketing business was thrown to me,” Bartlett said, speaking by phone recently.

In the early 2000s, Bartlett arranged for a series of BART appearances in local parades and happenings. At that time, the Buildings and Grounds department lent BART paradegoers a few logo-emblazoned trucks to walk beside.

“The vehicles were obviously gas-powered,” Bartlett said. “It didn’t seem right. BART is electric!”

The BARTmobile by the Numbers

As a temporary solution, Bartlett began renting three-wheelers. They didn’t really have anything to do with BART, but they were electric, at least.  

Then, Bartlett attended an Oakland Athletics game at the Coliseum. At the game, the team had golfcart-sized Chevron cars on display, as well as miniature cars to give to children.  A switch flipped in Bartlett’s mind: “I said, ‘We should do this with a BARTmobile.’”

From that day forward, Bartlett set out to make the most fantastical, most adorable, most kid friendly BARTmobile possible.

“The justification was, my god, the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade is seen by more than one million people, just for starters,” Bartlett said. “In one year, a BARTmobile could be seen by more than five million people. It could obviously be justified from a marketing perspective.”

The wheels truly began turning on Halloween 2001, when the Commuter Check Service Corporation, a pre-tax commuter benefit solutions provider, agreed to donate $75,000 to cover the cost needed to construct the entirely electric BARTmobile, as well as a trailer and storage container for it to call home.  

Initial concept sketches for the face of the BARTmobile by David Yee.

With funding secured, the design process began. First, playwright and carpenter Tony Pelligrino sculpted a model. Then, designer David Yee created initial sketches and concept art, trying to determine the right face for the roving mascot.

“Some of these drawings were the coolest I’d ever seen in my life -- think ‘Star Wars’ meets Tesla,” Bartlett remembered. “It was nuts! But at the same time, we had to dial it in to make it really look like a BARTmobile.”

Bartlett said the design team went “more for the character, the softness, the cuteness.”

“I wanted future BART riders to look at this as if BART has a personality,” Bartlett said. “We went through many iterations trying to get that face to look happy, but not strange. Some of the drawings were absolutely demonic – like Chucky leading the BARTmobile.”

Bartlett eventually connected with Charlie Bailey of Industrial Light and Magic, the Marin-based visual effects company founded by George Lucas in the 1970s.

“At the time [Bailey] was building the BARTmobile, his crew was building a massive ship for the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie. It was like 40 feet long!” Bartlett remembered.

Bailey and his colleague Mark Anderson, of the freelance Bailey Design Services team, built the BARTmobile on nights and weekends out of Anderson’s garage. First, they sculpted the face and the rear of the train out of foam and built the middle section from plywood and polyurethanes. They then painted the model and made a mold of the train, which was used to create the fiberglass body. Inspiration for the shape and style of the BARTmobile came from 1958 VW buses and Corvette concept cars.

At some point, Anderson and Bailey – who could not be reached for comment – purchased an eight-seater golf cart from Bay Area Golf Carts, which they reinforced with steel. Finally, they built a steel chassis and secured the fiberglass body atop the cart. The last step: painting the BARTmobile with blue bumper strips and Chrysler silver.

Then came the electrical wiring. According to Bartlett, the same Industrial Light and Magic team that worked on “Star Wars” designed and installed the BARTmobile’s electronics. They even converted an actual BART train horn to run on 12-volt battery for the friendly faced vehicle.

“Generally speaking, we had all these incredible guys who oddly loved this project,” Bartlett said. “It was something so different. It was a challenge. And unlike a lot of their projects, it would be around for years to come.”

Bartlett is a musician – he said his current music project is making tunes for robots and aliens – so he was “obsessed” with equipping the BARTmobile with “giant speakers and a monster amp.” Today, he is proud to say that the BARTmobile’s sound system “will rattle your bones” at full throttle, thanks in part to a subwoofer that’s the size of an entire bench – a “must have” for Bartlett.

If you’ve ever witnessed the BARTmobile in a local parade, you will certainly have noticed its “outfits.” The mascot has a variety of specially constructed hats that it wears depending on the occasion: a top hat with rotating “skins” for St. Patrick’s Day, July Fourth, Pride, and the holiday season; a Lunar New Year hat; a Carmen Miranda hat (complete with giant fruit); and a baseball cap for sporting events.

A foam sculpture of the BARTmobile face.

The hats, like all things BARTmobile, have a story of their own. They were made by a team of crafty, creative individuals at Scientific Art Studio, a design and fabrication studio in Richmond that creates everything from museum exhibits to playgrounds and sculptures.

“The BARTmobile was one of those things,” said Ron Holthuysen, the Creative Director and Owner of Scientific Art Studio. “We had a hard time saying no [to the project]. When somebody comes to us, we typically say, ‘Oh yeah, we can do that.’”

To create the hats, Holthuysen began by drawing some concepts. Then, it was a matter of finding the right materials that were “lightweight but also durable,” said Gordon Glasgow, Shop Manager at Scientific Art Studio.

Once they found the materials – they range from heavy cotton to a “very fancy” silk brocade – Glasgow began crafting patterns as well as foam inner structures that would ensure the hats kept their shape and wouldn’t break. What couldn’t be found in stores, the designers made themselves.

“We do basically everything [at Scientific Art Studio],” Holthuysen said. “That’s how we ended up doing BARTmobile hats.”

Construction of the BARTmobile completed in February of 2004. The mascot was unveiled shortly thereafter with a “birthday party,” intended to attract “visibility for marketing programs to gain riders,” according to the run-of-show document for the day. A fife and drum corps kicked off the celebration, which also featured a birthday cake, train-themed CDs (it was the early 2000s after all), and toy train giveaways.  

Since then, the BARTmobile has appeared at a multitude of events, driven over 250 miles, and seen by millions of people. To use Bartlett’s phrasing, the mobile has indelibly “put a face on BART.”

Initial concept sketches for the BARTmobile.

But the BARTmobile would never be seen in public were it not for its army of “handlers” – the BART workers who prepare and transport it to its multitude of engagements.

“I started working at BART in 2018. Since then, every time there’s a parade, I’m trying to get on [BARTmobile duty],” said Tomasz Radzikowski, Buildings Worker. Radzikowski estimates he’s delivered the mobile from its home, in BART’s Oakland Shop Annex, to local events at least six times. 

“It’s a very exciting thing to do,” he said. “I like it – no, I love it.”

To prepare the BARTmobile for an event, one team of BART workers polish the chassis, charge the electronics, and soundcheck the stereo. This crew is also in charge of decorating, as well as dressing the BARTmobile in its event-specific hat.

From there, a second team loads and secures the BARTmobile on a special trailer. They’ll drive it from the Oakland Shop Annex to wherever it needs to appear that day and unload the 700-pound vehicle. At the end of the event, the process repeats itself in reverse.

“Whenever we drive from the Oakland shops to the city, people will wave at us and ask us to pull over to take pictures,” Radzikowski said. “Sometimes, people on the Bay Bridge will slow down because they’re so excited to see it.”

Radzikowski often hangs around the parade until it’s time to pack the BARTmobile back up. He said the joy and energy from the crowd when they see the mobile rolling down the street is palpable.

“You can see the good vibes and happiness,” he said. “It’s a beautiful feeling to experience.”

Sept 22 Update:

In celebration of Transit Month the Bay Area transit agencies and the MTC hosted All Aboard Transit Day last Saturday, September 16th. 

We challenged the region to break the Saturday September 2022 ridership record of 500,000+ trips across all modes of transit. 

We are thrilled to announce, riders came together across the Bay Area and took a stupendous 600,000+ trips across all local transit agencies! 

Thank you for taking transit and let's continue to momentum this weekend!

On Saturday, September 16, 2023, take as many transit trips your heart desires and help us beat the Saturday September 2022 ridership record!

All Aboard Transit Day is in celebration of Transit Month and to encourage the Bay Area to try transit.

We will add up the total ridership for the day and report out to the public and news media if we exceeded the Saturday, September 17, 2022 ridership, which was the highest ridership of a Saturday in September during Transit Month 2022.

On September 16, 2023, BART will also host "Meet the BART Anime Mascots" event at Powell Street Station from 2pm to 6pm. Take photos with the mascots, make buttons with staff, grab a prize from the BART capsule ball machine, and more! Come in cosplay and get a rare BART anime charm. The Link21 outreach team will also be there to talk about our project to build a second train crossing connecting Oakland and San Francisco. 

BART will also have special late-night service for the Ed Sheeran concert at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday, September 16, 2023. 

Effective September 1, 2023, parking fees at North Concord and South Hayward stations will be changing.  All transactions made on or after September 1 will reflect the new prices shown in the table below. Any reservations (Single/Multi-Day or Monthly Reserved) made before September 1, 2023, regardless of reservation dates, will reflect the price at time of purchase.  Current monthly parking holders’ reservations will be renewed on September 15 for October and will be charged the new lower price.

Parking prices are being updated to create a consistent price floor of $3/day (plus any applicable taxes) at all stations per recently approved policy by the BART Board of Directors. Prices may increase above this floor if lots begin to fill up.  For details on how rate adjustments are made, see BART’s Parking Pricing Policy.

BART offers discounted fares to qualifying low-income riders. Please visit clipperstartcard.com to learn more. Parking discounts/commuter benefits may also be available through your employer.

Pay for parking on the official BART app or at machines inside stations with debit, credit, or cash.

Questions? Visit BART’s Parking Overview Page or our FAQs.