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BART to Antioch reaches one-millionth rider milestone

The BART to Antioch extension carried its one-millionth rider this week, just five months after the debut of the new service in East Contra Costa County. The milestone was reached on Halloween. By the end of service on Wednesday, October 31, 2018, the BART to Antioch extension had logged 1,001,429 riders

New BART Chief of Police has been selected

According to BART Chief Communications Officer Linton Johnson, this afternoon General Manager Dorothy Dugger confirmed that she has selected former Fairfield Police Chief Kenton Rainey as BART's new Chief of Police. Chief Rainey will come to the BART with a long and distinguished career in law enforcement

BART again selected as managing agency for Capitol Corridor

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) has been selected once again to manage the Capitol Corridor intercity rail service for a five-year term. The 16 member Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority Board represents eight counties along the 170-mile rail corridor serving Placer, Sacramento

BART’s “Role in the Region” detailed in new report that describes the benefits of BART and the devastating impacts of a Bay Area without it

A black banner with white text reading "BART's Role in the Region" with text underneath reading "BART is integral to the San Francisco Bay Area's travel, economy, climate, housing, equity, culture, health, sustainability and affordability.

A new report released today paints a bleak picture of a Bay Area without BART while highlighting the benefits of the transit system to the region with a wide range of metrics.

Click here to view a pdf of the report and visit the project webpage at bart.gov/roleintheregion.  

BART's Role in the Region Report aims to inform a regional conversation about the future of BART by describing its contributions to the Bay Area. It also provides predictions for how the Bay Area – its economic viability, traffic-choked roadways, cultural institutions, and more – will look without BART.  

“The Bay Area and our regional transportation network have undergone significant changes since BART last conducted a Role in the Region study in 2016," said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “The 2024 Role in the Region Report arrives at a crucial crossroads for BART and the region, and the data, analyses, and stories within will serve as an important educational resource for the pivotal years ahead.”  

In the report, you will find insights into key topics, including changes in travel patterns and funding; BART’s holistic benefits to the Bay Area; and BART’s future.  

Below is a snapshot of some of the report’s findings: 

This graph compares the full roundtrip BART and driving costs for four common trip types with example origin and destination pairs: long distance commute (between West Dublin/Pleasanton and Embarcadero), local trips (Richmond and Downtown Berkeley), visiting tourist (San Francisco International Airport and Powell Street), and resident to airport (Walnut Creek and San Francisco International Airport). The comparison shows that full roundtrip BART costs range between $5 and $25.
Figure 1: BART is significantly more affordable than driving. Example: Taking BART from West Dublin/Pleasanton Station to Embarcadero Station costs $14. Driving the same route costs $95, including gas, tolls, parking, insurance, and maintenance.
This graphic compares hours per week drivers lost sitting in traffic under current conditions, and if 50 percent and 100 percent of April 2023 average weekday BART riders shift to driving. The comparison focuses on three example driving trips: Antioch to SFO, El Cerrito del Norte to Civic Center, and Fremont to Powell Street. The graphic shows that if 5ree example trips would experience between three to six additi0 percent of weekday BART riders shift to driving.
Figure 2: Without BART, regional traffic congestion would worsen. Example: Drivers could experience up to an additional 19 hours lost to congestion weekly.
Infographic with two sections. On the left, a pink icon of a car above text that reads "1.6M. Miles driven, or 4,000 cars driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles daily." On the right, a pink gas pump icon above text that says "70,000. Gallons of gasoline burned daily." Both sections have a purple background.
Figure 3: The regional transit network would fail to function if BART ceased to exist.
This graph compares office occupancy rate and BART ridership as a percentage of 2019 ridership from 2020 to 2023. Generally, the two data points trend closely, increasing from around 10% to 40%.
Figure 4: BART ridership is closely linked to regional office occupancy rates; both have recovered to ~43% of pre-pandemic levels.

  • BART’s benefits: 

    • BART is significantly more affordable than driving (Fig. 1 in slideshow). Example: Taking BART from West Dublin/Pleasanton Station to Embarcadero Station roundtrip costs $14. Driving the same route costs $95 when accounting for gas, tolls, parking, insurance, and maintenance. 
    • BART is integral to a connected regional transit network. Within a 15-minute walk of BART and one transfer to a connecting agency transit stop, you can reach 67% of the 9-county Bay Area region’s jobs, 61% of the region’s residents, and 60% of schools, parks, and libraries.
    • In 2023, BART contributed $1.2 billion to the economy through more than 5,000 jobs when accounting for BART’s direct payroll expenditures, local vendor spending, and employee expenditures. Between 2019 and 2023, BART infused the local economy with more than $3.7 billion in construction spending and $1.7 billion in construction labor income.

  • If BART did not exist: 

    • Regional traffic congestion would worsen. Example: Drivers could experience up to an additional 19 hours lost to congestion weekly (Fig. 2). 
    • Traffic could increase by 73% on the Bay Bridge and 22% in the Caldecott Tunnel during morning peak commute hours.  
    • The regional transit network would fail to function, and there would be cascading effects across the 300 bus, light rail, ferry, private shuttle, and inter-regional routes that connect to BART (Fig. 3). 

  • Changing regional travel trends: 

    • BART ridership is closely linked to regional office occupancy rates; both have recovered to ~43% of pre-pandemic levels (Fig. 4).
    • Because of BART’s decreased farebox recovery, BART expects a budget deficit beginning in 2026 when state and federal emergency assistance runs out.  

View the full Role in the Region Report. 

This image is the front cover of the BART’s Role in the Region Study report. The report cover shows a group of riders in a BART train on the top half and the Study’s title on the bottom half with a subtitle – BART is Integral to the San Francisco Bay Area’s: Travel, Economy, Climate, Housing, Equity, Culture, Health, Sustainability, and Accountability.

Portraits of women rail workers at BART, in their own words

[[nid:35376]] Story By MELISSA JORDAN | Photos by MARIA J. AVILABART Communications A small but growing number of women are entering the ranks of track and structure workers at BART, where they do the same strenuous physical labor as their male counterparts: swinging sledgehammers, welding rail and driving

BART expands distribution sites for Senior Clipper cards

BART is expanding the number of locations throughout the Bay Area that can accept applications and issue discounted Clipper cards In an effort to make the all-in-one transit cards more accessible to senior citizens,. Senior citizens can now visit one of the eight MyTransitPlus kiosks located in the downtown

BART has a plan for expected surge in bike usage

Several exciting initiatives are underway to make BART even more accessible for bicyclists. In the latest edition of “Hidden Tracks: Stories from BART,” we’ll hear from BART Bicycle Program Manager Steve Beroldo. From a big expansion in the Ford GoBike bike share program to new high-tech ways to secure your

Minor BART schedule changes on Monday, September 13

BART is making some minor schedule changes on Monday, September 13, 2010. The new schedule will reduce some transfer times at McArthur Station, move a transfer location in Downtown Oakland and shorten two evening runs on the Pittsburg/Bay Point line. Cutting 17 minutes from your wait at MacArthur If you're

BART budget sets groundwork for system investments and expansion

The BART Board of Directors has approved a $1.92 billion Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) budget that prudently controls expenses in the face of a 3% decline in ridership. The budget allows BART to integrate new rail cars into service starting before the end of this calendar year, gear up for the opening of two

BART entry-level engineer program accepting applicants

BART's innovative entry-level engineer program, described in more detail in the story here, is accepting applications through Sept. 19 for the next round of positions. There is a special need for applicants in the following two areas: Fare Collection Engineering FCE at BART is made up of a small group of