Bay Area Rapid Transit

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a fast train system that helps people travel around the San Francisco Bay Area in California. It has 50 stations and runs on six different routes covering 131 miles (211 kilometers) of tracks. This includes a smaller line called eBART that goes to Antioch, and a special train called the Oakland Airport Connector that takes passengers to the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport.

In 2025, BART was very busy, with about 186,000 people using it each weekday and more than 55 million people using it during the whole year. It is the seventh-busiest rapid transit system in the United States.

BART is run by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, which started in 1957. The first trains began running between 1972 and 1974. Since then, the system has grown larger. The most recent expansion happened in 2020 when two new stations, Milpitas and Berryessa/North San José, opened. These are part of a bigger project to extend BART into Silicon Valley, worked on with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).

Services

BART is a train system that serves many parts of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. It covers San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties, plus smaller parts of San Mateo County and Santa Clara counties. The system has 50 stations spread out over five main train lines and one special line that goes to Oakland Airport. Most of the trains go through Oakland and cross the bay to San Francisco using the Transbay Tube. Trains run every day until 9 pm, and some lines continue to run later in the evening.

Trains usually come every 20 minutes, but the very busy Yellow Line comes every 10 minutes on weekdays. During busy times, trains can come as often as every four minutes in some areas. There are also bus services that help people get to and from BART stations when the trains aren’t running, like late at night. These buses copy the routes of the BART trains to make it easier for travelers. BART also connects with many other types of transportation, like buses and other train systems, making it easy to reach places all around the Bay Area, including two big airports: San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport.

History

For broader coverage of this topic, see History of Bay Area Rapid Transit.

Origins, planning, and geographical coverage

Some areas now served by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system were once covered by old streetcars and train systems like the Key System and the Sacramento Northern Railway. These early systems crossed the Bay Bridge to connect towns around the San Francisco Bay. The Sacramento Northern Railway even reached towns as far north as Chico.

As traffic problems grew in the 1950s, leaders decided a new, fast transit system was needed. Planning for BART officially started in 1957 with the creation of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Originally, five counties joined together: Alameda County, Contra Costa County, the City and County of San Francisco, San Mateo County, and Marin County. Later, Santa Clara County joined, though it took many years.

Early years and train control problems

BART began passenger service on September 11, 1972, starting between MacArthur and Fremont. The whole system opened in 1974. Though it was seen as a big step forward, some early problems appeared. There were issues with the train control system that needed fixing.

Extensions

Even before BART started, leaders thought about adding more lines. The first big extensions came in the 1990s, reaching places like North Concord/Martinez and San Francisco International Airport. In 2018, a new line called eBART opened to Antioch. Today, BART is growing into Silicon Valley, with new stops like Berryessa/North San José already open.

System modernization

BART has worked to improve service over the years. Changes include better ticket machines and new ways to pay, like using credit cards or phones. BART has also made sure its tracks are safe for earthquakes, fixing important parts like the Transbay Tube.

Rolling stock

The mainline BART network uses electric powered, self-propelled railcars. Most trains have six cars, but the Yellow Line uses nine cars. Passengers can move freely between cars, and each car has three doors, bike racks, 54 seats, and interior and exterior displays with information. New cars, called the "Fleet of the Future," were shown in April 2016. The first cars were supposed to start in December 2016, but problems delayed them until January 19, 2018. BART ordered 775 cars from Bombardier, which later merged with Alstom. As of July 23, 2024^[update], all cars have arrived, and 769 are ready for service. BART needs 400 cars for busy times, with 384 in use and others kept as spares.

The old fleet of A, B, and C cars, built between 1968 and 1996, stopped regular service on September 11, 2023, with its last runs on April 20, 2024.

The Oakland Airport Connector uses a special fleet of cable car-based automated guideway transit vehicles. It has four trains made by DCC Doppelmayr Cable Car, set up as three-car groups, but can hold four cars later.

The eBART extension uses eight Stadler GTW diesel railcars. These vehicles run on standard gauge tracks, unlike BART's broad gauge.

Fares

Fare schedule

BART uses fares based on distance. For trips under 6 miles (9.7 km), the fare is $2.15. Extra fees apply for travel through the Transbay Tube ($1.40), to or from Oakland International Airport ($6.70) or San Francisco International Airport ($4.95), and to or from San Mateo County ($1.45, except $1.25 for Daly City). The highest fare, including all extra fees, is $17.60. The highest fare without extra fees (Antioch to Berryessa) is $10.30. On average, riders pay about $3.93 per trip.

If you don’t have enough money for your trip, you can add more at special machines inside the station. Before August 20, 2025, leaving and returning to the same station within 30 minutes cost a much higher "excursion fare" of $6.40. Now, Tap and Ride users have a 30-minute grace period to avoid this charge.

BART does not sell weekly or monthly passes for unlimited rides. Discounts are available for youth aged 5–18 (50% off) and seniors and people with disabilities (62.5% off). Children age 4 and under ride free. BART also offers a special pass for low-income adults.

In August 2022, BART started testing a new pass called Clipper BayPass. This pass works with all public transit agencies in the Bay Area and was first offered to about 50,000 college students and people living in affordable housing.

Fare media

The main way to pay for BART is with a Clipper card. This is a special contactless card used by many transit agencies in the Bay Area. You can tap it at the fare gates to enter and exit. You can also use Clipper cards through Apple Pay or Google Wallet, or pay with contactless credit or debit cards and mobile payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

BART used to use paper tickets with magnetic stripes, sold from machines in stations. These tickets were replaced by Clipper cards in December 2020. Due to shortages of Clipper cards, paper tickets were sold again at the SFO station from October 2022 to September 30, 2023, but are no longer accepted.

Ridership levels

BART's ridership has changed over time, much like the U.S. economy. During good economic times, more people use BART, but ridership drops when the economy is bad. One big change happened in 1989 after the Loma Prieta earthquake. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge was damaged and closed for a month, so many people started using BART instead. After the bridge reopened, ridership stayed high until the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.

Between 2010 and 2015, BART became very popular as the Bay Area grew and gas prices rose. But after 2016, ridership started to slow down. Some people chose ride-hailing services like ride-hailing instead of BART, especially to airports.

During special events, like parades and games, BART sees a lot of passengers. For example, on Halloween 2012, over 500,000 people rode BART for a baseball parade. After the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership dropped a lot. By May 2024, weekday ridership was still only 41% of what it was before the pandemic.

Infrastructure

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system runs on special tracks set aside just for it. It covers about 131 miles with 50 stations. Some parts are underground, while others are above ground. Trains get power from a special third rail and run automatically most of the time.

BART was one of the first big transit systems in the U.S. to use automation. Computers and people work together to control the trains. Trains move on their own between stations, with operators making announcements and watching for any problems.

Many BART stations have parking, but there is often not enough space. BART offers parking at 36 stations and has special parking for airport travelers. All trains and stations are designed to be accessible for everyone, including those who use wheelchairs. There are special paving and signs to help people who are visually impaired.

The routes are known by letters inside the system but not commonly used.

BART was among the first in the U.S. to let passengers use cell phones on its trains underground. It first offered this service in 2004 for major carriers between Civic Center and Embarcadero stations in San Francisco. By 2009, the service reached the Transbay Tube, linking West Oakland to Balboa Park. Wi-Fi testing began in 2007 at four downtown San Francisco stations and later expanded, though BART ended its contract with WiFi Rail in 2014 due to unmet plans.

Organization and management

Governance

The Bay Area Rapid Transit District is a special area made up of Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and the City and County of San Francisco. San Mateo County, which has six BART stops, and Santa Clara County, which has two, are not part of the BART District. A group of nine elected leaders makes decisions for nine different areas. BART also has its own police team.

Some cities in the area pay BART taxes but don’t have BART stops nearby. This can cause problems for people who need to travel far to use BART. For example, people in Livermore must leave their city to reach a BART station. In places like Fremont, many people travel to San Jose, but BART doesn’t go that way yet. This issue might be fixed when the Silicon Valley BART extension is finished. The first part of this extension opened on June 13, 2020, and gave San Jose its first BART stop, called the Berryessa/North San José station.

BART Board of Directors

BART General Managers

• B. R. Stokes (1963–1974)
• Larry Dahms (Acting)
• Frank Herringer
• Keith Bernard
• Frank Wilson (1989–1994)
• Richard A. White (1994–1996)
• Thomas Margro (1996–2007)
• Dorothy Dugger (2007–2011)
• Grace Crunican (2011–2019)
• Bob Powers (2019–present)

Budget

In 2005, BART needed almost $300 million after collecting fares. About 37% of this money went to keeping things running, 29% to running the trains, 24% to general work, 8% to police services, and 4% to building and planning. In 2005, about 53% of BART’s money came from fares, 32% from taxes, and 15% from other places like ads, renting out space in stations, and parking fees.

Incidents and controversies

See also: History of BART § Incidents and accidents

BART Police shootings

Oscar Grant III

Main article: Shooting of Oscar Grant

On January 1, 2009, a BART Police officer shot and injured Oscar Grant III. Many people recorded the event on video, and these videos were shared widely. There were many different reactions and feelings about what happened.

BART held meetings to discuss the event and improve how things were handled. Some leaders asked for changes in how the police worked.

Charles Hill

On July 3, 2011, a BART Police officer shot and injured Charles Hill at Civic Center Station in San Francisco. Hill had acted in a way that made officers feel unsafe, and during the event, he threw things toward the officers.

BART turned off cellphone service for a short time to help keep things calm. This caused some discussion and questions about when such actions are appropriate.

Worker fatalities

1979 electrical fire

Further information: Transbay Tube § January 1979 fire

In January 1979, a fire happened on a train going through the Transbay Tube. One firefighter was hurt while helping to put out the fire. Safety rules were changed after this to help prevent similar problems.

James Strickland

On October 14, 2008, a track inspector was hurt by a train while walking between stations. This led to reviews of safety rules and how BART made sure its workers were safe.

Crime

Fare evasion

In 2019, BART thought that about 5% of people did not pay their fare, which cost money each year. In 2023, BART started putting in new gates to help stop this, and the work was finished in 2025.

Violent crime

In 2017, there were some problems with groups of young people causing trouble on trains. BART faced questions about how they shared information about these events.

In 2018, BART shared video from one of these events, showing young people entering a train without paying and causing trouble. Some people were arrested for what happened.

In July 2018, a very sad event happened when a young person was hurt at a BART station. There were also reports of more thefts and serious arguments on BART during this time.