Bay Area Rapid Transit

Railway system in San Francisco Bay Area, USA

"BART" redirects here. For other uses, see BART (disambiguation).

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)

A BART train approaching Walnut Creek in October 2022

Overview
Locale| San Francisco Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties)
Transit type| Rapid transit, Light rail, Automated guideway transit (AGT)
Number of lines|

* 5 rapid transit lines (1 with diesel light rail extension)
* 1 AGT line

Number of stations| 50 (7 planned/proposed)
Daily ridership| 136,200 (weekdays, Q2 2022)[1]
Annual ridership| 26,026,800 (2021)[2]
Chief executive| Robert Powers[3]
Headquarters| 2150 Webster Street
Oakland, California
Website| bart.gov
Operation
Began operation| September 11, 1972 (1972-09-11)
Operator(s)| San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District
Character| Fully grade separated with at-grade, elevated and underground sections
Number of vehicles| 789 total, with 618 legacy cars and 171 new cars in service;[4] with 8 DMU vehicle sets (eBART);[5] and 4 AGT vehicle sets
Train length| 4–10 cars (710 feet (216 m) max)
2-car married pair (DMUs)
3 cars (AGT)
Headway| 15–30 mins (by line)[6]
Technical
System length| 131.4 mi (211.5 km)[5]
Track gauge| 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)[5]
eBART: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge[5]
Minimum radius of curvature| 120 m (394 ft)
Electrification| Third rail, 1 kV DC[5][7]
Average speed| 35 mph (56 km/h)[5]
Top speed| 80 mph (130 km/h) (maximum)
70 mph (110 km/h) (normal operations)[8][5]
| System map

Part of a series of articles on

* Overview
* History
* Stations
* Rolling stock
* Expansion
* District
* Police

* v
* t
* e

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on 131 miles (211 kilometers) of rapid transit lines, including a 10-mile (16 km) spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses diesel multiple-unit trains and a 3.2-mile (5.1 km) automated guideway transit line to the Oakland International Airport. With an average of 136,200 weekday passengers as of the second quarter of 2022 and 26,026,800 annual passengers in 2021, BART is the fifth-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the United States and is operated by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District which formed in 1957. The initial system opened in stages from 1972 to 1974. The system was extended most recently on June 13, 2020, when Milpitas and Berryessa/North San José stations opened as part of the Silicon Valley BART extension in partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).[9]

## Contents

* 1 Services
* 1.1 Hours and frequencies
* 1.2 Connecting services
* 2 History
* 2.1 Origins, planning, and geographical coverage
* 2.2 Early years and train control problems
* 2.3 Extensions
* 2.4 System modernization
* 3 Rolling stock
* 3.1 Car types
* 3.2 Next-generation railcars
* 3.3 Depots
* 4 Fares
* 4.1 Fare schedule
* 4.2 Fare media
* 5 Ridership levels
* 6 Infrastructure
* 6.1 Lines
* 6.2 Automation
* 6.3 Parking
* 6.4 Accessibility
* 6.4.1 Platform elevators
* 6.5 Cell phone and Wi-Fi
* 7 Organization and management
* 7.1 Governance
* 7.2 Budget
* 8 Incidents and controversies
* 8.1 BART Police shootings
* 8.1.1 Oscar Grant III
* 8.1.2 Charles Hill
* 8.2 Employee and firefighter fatalities
* 8.2.1 1979 fatal electrical fire
* 8.2.2 James Strickland
* 8.2.3 October 2013 incident
* 8.3 Crime
* 9 References
* 9.1 Notes
* 10 Further reading
* 11 External links

## Services[edit | edit source]

BART serves large portions of its three member counties – San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa – as well as smaller portions of San Mateo County and Santa Clara counties. The system has 50 stations: 22 in Alameda County, 12 in Contra Costa County, 8 in San Francisco, 6 in San Mateo County, and 2 in Santa Clara County. BART operates five named heavy rail services plus one separate automated guideway line. All of the heavy rail services run through Oakland, and all but the Richmond–Berryessa line run through the Transbay Tube to San Francisco. All five services run every day until 9 pm; only three services operate evenings after 9 pm, as well as on some Sundays due to maintenance work. All stations are served during all service hours.[10] The eastern segment of the Antioch–SFO+Millbrae line (between Antioch and the transfer platform east of Pittsburg/Bay Point) uses different rolling stock and is separated from the rest of the line.[11]

Unlike most other rapid transit systems, BART lines historically were not primarily referred by color names (although the colors used on maps have been constant since 1980) or other shorthand designations. The services are mainly identified on maps, schedules, and station signage by the names of their termini. However, the new fleet displays line colors more prominently, and BART has begun to use color names in press releases and GTFS data.[12][13]

Color  | Route name  | First service  | Lines used | Service times[14]

|
|
|
|

| Berryessa/​North San José–Richmond line | September 11, 1972  | R, K, A, S  | Operates during all service hours.
| Antioch–SFO+Millbrae line | May 21, 1973  | C, K, M, W, Y, E | Operates during all service hours.
Daytime service ends at SFO; evening (after 9 pm) service ends at Millbrae.
Uses DMU trains (eBART) between Antioch and Pittsburg/Bay Point.
| Berryessa/​North San José–Daly City line | September 16, 1974  | S, A, M  | No evening (after 9 pm) service.
| Richmond–Millbrae+SFO line | April 19, 1976  | R, K, M, W, Y  | No evening (after 9 pm) service.
| Dublin/​Pleasanton–Daly City line | May 10, 1997  | L, A, M  | Operates during all service hours.
| Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line | November 22, 2014  | H (AGT line)  | Operates during all service hours.

### Hours and frequencies[edit | edit source]

Map of evening (9pm–midnight) service

BART has elements of both traditional rapid transit (high-frequency urban service with close station spacing) and commuter rail/regional rail (lower-frequency suburban service with wider station spacing). Trains on each primary service, including the eBART section of the Antioch–SFO/Millbrae line, run every 15 minutes on weekdays, and every 30 minutes on evenings and weekends. (On Saturdays until 8 pm, Yellow Line service between Pittsburg/Bay Point and SFO runs every 15 minutes.) Segments served by multiple lines have higher frequencies, the busiest of which is the section between Daly City and West Oakland, which has around 16 trains per hour per direction at peak hours. The Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line runs "on demand", typically on headways of 10 minutes or less.[14]

The first inbound trains leave outer terminals around 5:00 am on weekdays, 6:00 am on Saturdays, and 8:00 am on Sundays and most holidays. (The previous 4:00 am weekday start time was changed to 5:00 am for a planned three years starting on February 11, 2019, to accommodate retrofitting of the Transbay Tube.)[13] The last inbound trains leave their terminals around midnight; the final Antioch–SFO + Millbrae line and Berryessa/North San José–Richmond line trains in both directions meet at MacArthur station, and the final Berryessa/North San José–Richmond line and Dublin/​Pleasanton–Daly City line trains in the southbound direction meet at Bay Fair station, for guaranteed transfers. Two of the five rapid transit services (Berryessa/North San José–Daly City line and Richmond–Millbrae + SFO line) do not operate after 9 pm, though all stations are served at all service hours. During some Sundays with single-tracking work in San Francisco, three-line service will operate all day.[10]

Two different bus networks operated by regional transit agencies run during the overnight hours when BART is not operating. The All Nighter network provides basic overnight service to much of the Bay Area. Most BART stations are served (directly or within several blocks) by the All Nighter system except for the Antioch–Rockridge and Bay Fair–Dublin/Pleasanton segments plus Warm Springs/South Fremont station.[15] The Early Bird Express network provides service major BART stations between 3:50 am and 5:30 am to replace early-morning weekday service during the Transbay Tube retrofit project. Two San Francisco/Peninsula routes and seven Transbay routes run between a limited number of major BART stations, with the San Francisco/Peninsula and Transbay routes meeting at the Transbay Transit Center. The original Early Bird Express network introduced on February 11, 2019, had fifteen routes, but some were eliminated later that year due to low ridership.[16][17][18]

### Connecting services[edit | edit source]

AC Transit buses at San Leandro station

Intermodal connections to local, regional, and intercity transit – including bus, light rail, commuter rail, and intercity rail – are available across the BART system. Three Amtrak intercity rail services – the California Zephyr, Capitol Corridor, and San Joaquin – stop at Richmond station; the Capitol Corridor also stops at Oakland Coliseum station. (The Oakland – Jack London Square station and Emeryville station hubs, which are served by those three routes plus the Coast Starlight, are not located near BART stations.)[11] Amtrak Thruway service also stops at Dublin/Pleasanton station.[19] Transfer between BART and Caltrain commuter rail service is available at Millbrae station.[11]

BART and all lines of the Muni Metro light rail system share four stations (Embarcadero, Montgomery Street, Powell Street, and Civic Center/UN Plaza) in the Market Street Subway; connections are also available to three lines at Balboa Park station and one line at Glen Park station. Milpitas station provides a connection to the Orange Line of VTA Light Rail.[11]

BART is served by bus connections from regional and local transit agencies at all stations, most of which have dedicated off-street bus transfer areas. Many connecting routes (particularly in suburban areas) serve primarily as feeder routes to BART. Larger bus systems connecting to BART include Muni in San Francisco, AC Transit in the East Bay, SamTrans in San Mateo County, County Connection and Tri Delta Transit in eastern Contra Costa County, WestCAT in western Contra Costa County, WHEELS in the Tri-Valley, VTA in the Santa Clara Valley, and Golden Gate Transit. Smaller systems include Emery Go-Round in Emeryville, Alliance on the Peninsula, San Leandro LINKS, Dumbarton Express, and Union City Transit. The Transbay Transit Center regional bus hub is located one block from Embarcadero and Montgomery stations.[19]

Several transit agencies offer limited commuter-oriented bus service from more distant cities to outlying BART stations; these include VINE from Napa County, Solano Express from Solano County, Rio Vista Delta Breeze, Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority from Stanislaus County, and San Joaquin RTD from Stockton. Many BART stations are also served by privately run employer and hospital shuttles, and privately run intercity buses stop at several stations.[19]

BART also runs directly to two of the three major Bay Area airports (San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport) with service to San Jose International Airport provided by a VTA bus route available at Milpitas station.[19][11]

## History[edit | edit source]

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

### Origins, planning, and geographical coverage[edit | edit source]

Some of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system's current coverage area was once served by an electrified streetcar and suburban train system called the Key System. This early 20th-century system once had regular transbay traffic across the lower deck of the Bay Bridge, but the system was dismantled in the 1950s, with its last transbay crossing in 1958, and was superseded by highway travel. A 1950s study of traffic problems in the Bay Area concluded the most cost-effective solution for the Bay Area's traffic woes would be to form a transit district charged with the construction and operation of a new, high-speed rapid transit system linking the cities and suburbs.[20] Marvin E. Lewis, a San Francisco trial attorney and member of the city's board of supervisors spearheaded a grassroots movement to advance the idea of an alternative bay crossing and the possibility of regional transit network.[21]

Formal planning for BART began with the setting up in 1957 of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, a county-based special-purpose district body that governs the BART system. The district initially began with five members, all of which were projected to receive BART lines: Alameda County, Contra Costa County, the City and County of San Francisco, San Mateo County, and Marin County. Although invited to participate, Santa Clara County supervisors elected not to join BART due to their dissatisfaction that the peninsula line only stopped at Palo Alto initially, and that it interfered with suburban development in San Jose, preferring instead to concentrate on constructing freeways and expressways. Though the system expanded into Santa Clara County in 2020, it is still not a district member.

In 1962, San Mateo County supervisors voted to leave BART, saying their voters would be paying taxes to carry mainly Santa Clara County residents (presumably along I-280, SR 92, and SR 85).[22] The district-wide tax base was weakened by San Mateo's departure, forcing Marin County to withdraw a month later. Despite the fact that Marin had originally voted in favor of BART participation at the 88% level, its marginal tax base could not adequately absorb its share of BART's projected cost. Another important factor in Marin's withdrawal was an engineering controversy over the feasibility of running trains on the lower deck of the Golden Gate Bridge, an extension forecast as late as three decades after the rest of the BART system.[23][24][25] The withdrawals of Marin and San Mateo resulted in a downsizing of the original system plans, which would have had lines as far south as Palo Alto and northward past San Rafael. Voters in the three remaining participating counties approved the truncated system, with termini in Fremont, Richmond, Concord, and Daly City, in 1962.[26]

Construction of the system began in 1964, and included a number of major engineering challenges, including excavating subway tunnels in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley; constructing aerial structures throughout the Bay Area, particularly in Alameda and Contra Costa counties; tunneling through the  Berkeley Hills on the Concord line; and lowering the system's centerpiece, the Transbay Tube connecting Oakland and San Francisco, into a trench dredged onto the floor of San Francisco Bay.[27] Like other transit systems of the same era, BART endeavored to connect outlying suburbs with job centers in Oakland and San Francisco by building lines that paralleled established commuting routes of the region's freeway system.[28] BART envisioned frequent local service, with headways as short as two minutes between trains through the Transbay Tube and six minutes on each individual line.[29]

### Early years and train control problems[edit | edit source]

Passenger service began on September 11, 1972, initially just between MacArthur and Fremont. The rest of the system opened in stages, with the entire system opening in 1974 when the transbay service through the Transbay Tube began.[30] The new BART system was hailed as a major step forward in subway technology,[31] although questions were asked concerning the safety of the system[32] and the huge expenditures necessary for the construction of the network.[33] Ridership remained well below projected levels throughout the 1970s, and direct service from Daly City to Richmond and Fremont was not phased in until several years after the system opened.

Some of the early safety concerns appeared to be well founded when the system experienced a number of train-control failures in its first few years of operation. As early as 1969, before revenue service began, several BART engineers identified safety problems with the Automatic Train Control (ATC) system. The BART Board of Directors was dismissive of their concerns and retaliated by firing them.[34] Less than a month after the system's opening, on October 2, 1972, an ATC failure caused a train to run off the end of the elevated track at the terminal Fremont station and crash to the ground, injuring four people.[35][36] The "Fremont Flyer" led to a comprehensive redesign of the train controls and also resulted in multiple investigations being opened by the California State Senate, California Public Utilities Commission, and National Transportation Safety Board.[37] Hearings by the state legislature in 1974 into financial mismanagement at BART forced the General Manager to resign in May 1974, and the entire Board of Directors was replaced the same year when the legislature passed legislation leading to the election of a new Board and the end of appointed members.[38][39][40][41][42][43]

### Extensions[edit | edit source]

Main article: Bay Area Rapid Transit expansion

Even before the BART system opened, planners projected several possible extensions. Although Marin County was left out of the original system, the 1970 Golden Gate Transportation Facilities Plan considered a tunnel under the Golden Gate or second deck on the bridge, but neither of these plans was pursued.[44] Over twenty years would pass before the first extensions to the BART system were completed to Colma and Pittsburg/Bay Point in 1996. An extension to Dublin/Pleasanton in 1997 added a fifth line to the system for the first time in BART's history. The system was expanded to San Francisco International Airport in 2003 and to Oakland International Airport via an automated guideway transit spur line in 2014.[45][46] eBART, an extension using diesel multiple units along conventional railroad infrastructure between Pittsburg and Antioch, opened on May 26, 2018. BART's most significant current extension project is the Silicon Valley BART extension. The first phase extended the Fremont line to Warm Springs/South Fremont in early 2017, and the second phase to Berryessa/North San José began service on June 13, 2020. The third phase to Santa Clara is contingent upon the allocation of funding as of May 2020[update], but is planned to be completed by 2030.

Plans had long been floated for an extension from Dublin to Livermore, but the most recent proposal was rejected by the BART board in 2018.[47] Other plans have included an extension to Hercules, a line along the Interstate Highway 680 corridor, and a fourth set of rail tracks through Oakland.[needs update][48] At least four infill stations such as Irvington and Calaveras on existing lines have been proposed.[49] With the Transbay Tube nearing capacity, long-range plans included a new four-bore Transbay Tube beneath San Francisco Bay that would run parallel and south of the existing tunnel and emerge at the Transbay Transit Terminal to connect to Caltrain and the future California High-Speed Rail system. The four-bore tunnel would provide two tunnels for BART and two tunnels for conventional/high-speed rail. The BART system and conventional U.S. rail use different and incompatible rail gauges and different loading gauges.[5] In 2018, BART announced that a feasibility study for installing a second transbay crossing would commence the following year.[50] By 2019, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority had joined with BART to study a multi-modal crossing, which could also allow Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin routes to serve San Francisco directly.[51]

### System modernization[edit | edit source]

In 2007, BART stated its intention to improve non-peak (night and weekend) headways for each line to 15 minutes. The 20-minute headways at these times is a barrier to ridership.[52] In mid-2007, BART temporarily reversed its position, stating that the shortened wait times would likely not happen due to a $900,000 state revenue budget shortfall. Nevertheless, BART eventually confirmed the implementation of the plan by January 2008.[53] Continued budgetary problems halted the expanded non-peak service and returned off-peak headways to 20 minutes in 2009.[54]

In 2008, BART announced that it would install solar panels at two yards, maintenance facilities, and Orinda station[55] (the only station that receives enough amount of sunlight to justify installation cost).[55]

In 2012, The California Transportation Commission announced that they would provide funding for expanding BART facilities, through the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, in anticipation of the opening of the Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension. $50 million would go in part to improvements to the Hayward Maintenance Complex.[56]

In March 2019, BART announced that they would begin updating ticket add-fare machines inside the paid area to accept debit and credit cards for payment (for Clipper cards only).[57] In December 2020, BART completed the changeover to Clipper and stopped issuing magstripe paper tickets. Existing paper tickets remain valid.[58] In April 2021, BART began accepting Clipper cards on Apple Pay, Google Pay, and the Clipper app at all BART stations.[59]

During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the BART equipment was mostly undamaged. A 2010 study[60] concluded that along with some Bay Area freeways, some of BART's overhead structures could collapse in a major earthquake, which has a significant probability of occurring within three decades.[61] Seismic retrofitting has been carried out in recent years to address these deficiencies, especially in the Transbay Tube.

## Rolling stock[edit | edit source]

Main article: Bay Area Rapid Transit rolling stock

### Car types[edit | edit source]

Side view of nine-car BART train made up of four C1 cars and five B2 cars.

The mainline BART network operates six types of electrically operated, self-propelled railcars, built from four separate orders. The first four types, built from 1968 until 1996, total 669 cars (although 662 are currently[when?] available for revenue service), and have two sets of passenger doors on each side of the car.[62] The newer two types, which are technologically incompatible with the older types, are in the process of manufacturing, delivery, and commissioning, and are due to replace all older types by 2022 while simultaneously expanding the fleet for future extensions. They will all feature three sets of passenger doors on each side of the car to speed up passenger boarding.[63]

BART trains usually have proper gangway connections, and passengers are permitted to move freely between cars.[64]

To run a typical peak morning commute, BART requires 579 cars. Of those, 535 are scheduled to be in active service; the others are used to build up four spare trains (essential for maintaining on-time service).[62][65] At any one time, the remaining 90 cars are in for repair, maintenance, or some type of planned modification work.[66]

The Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line uses a completely separate and independently operated fleet as it uses cable car-based automated guideway transit technology. It uses four Cable Liner trains built by DCC Doppelmayr Cable Car, arranged as three-car sets, but the system can accommodate four-car trains in the future.

The vehicle procurement for eBART included eight Stadler GTW diesel railcars, with two options to purchase six more. The first of these trains were delivered in June 2016.[67] The Stadler GTW trains are diesel multiple units with 2/6 articulated power units, and are based on models previously used in Austin, Texas; Denton, Texas (greater Dallas) and New Jersey.[68][69]

Interior of a typical mainline BART car, here a C2 car

Current fleet  Lines  | Manufacturer  | Class  | Image  | Number  | Car numbers  | Built  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

BART main lines  | Rohr | A  |  | 59  | 1164–1276  | 1968–1975  | To be replaced by the "D" and "E" cars.
B  |  | 380  | 1501–1913  | 1971–1975
Alstom | C1  |  | 150  | 301–450  | 1987–1989
Bombardier | D  |  | 310  | 3001–3310  | 2012–  | Order being filled/testing, entered service on January 19, 2018.
Marketed by Bombardier as part of the Movia family of trains
E  |  | 465  | 4001–4465
Oakland Airport Connector | Doppelmayr Cable Car | Cable Liner |  | 4 trains, 12 cars  | 1.3–4.3  | 2014  | Automated guideway transit trainsets
eBART | Stadler | GTW |  | 8  | 101–108  | 2016  | Diesel multiple unit trainsets

### Next-generation railcars[edit | edit source]

Interior of a new BART car

BART has ordered 775 new cars from manufacturer Bombardier Transportation:[70][71] 310 cab cars (D-cars, which must be the end cars, and can be at any position in a train, although unlike both types of C-cars will not permit passengers to move freely between cars past the operator cab) and 465 non-cab cars (E-cars, which cannot be "end cars").[72][12] The new cars have three doors on each side (increased from the current two, to speed station stops), bike racks, 54 seats per car, and interior displays giving next-stop information.[12] The new cars' couplers are incompatible with all prior cars and must run in separate trains. The first test car was unveiled in April 2016;[68] upon approval, the first 10 cars were expected to be in service in December 2016, however, glitches delayed entry into service for one year. In early November 2017, a test train failed a CPUC regulatory inspection due to door issues, leaving the planned revenue service date in doubt.[73] The first ten-car train received CPUC certification on January 17, 2018,[74] with revenue service beginning two days later.[75] Delivery of all 775 cars is expected to be completed by Fall 2022.[76]

### Depots[edit | edit source]

The first maintenance yards built for the core BART system were in Richmond, Concord, and Hayward. An additional yard was added at Colma in the 1980s. A yard will be added near the planned Santa Clara station in 2029, upon completion of Phase II of the Silicon Valley BART extension.

The Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line uses the Doolittle Maintenance and Storage Facility as a car barn for the line's guideway trains. eBART trains use a facility in Antioch for maintenance and service.

## Fares[edit | edit source]

Two BART ticket machines at Embarcadero station in San Francisco. Both have been converted to Clipper card usage only. The machine on the left dispenses new Clipper cards and adds value to existing cards, while the machine on the right only adds value to existing cards.

### Fare schedule[edit | edit source]

BART has distance-based fares, which requires riders to use faregates to both enter and exit, with a flat fare of $2.15 for trips under 6 miles (9.7 km). A surcharge is added for trips traveling through the Transbay Tube ($1.40), to/from Oakland International Airport ($6.70) or San Francisco International Airport ($4.95), and to/from San Mateo County ($1.45, except $1.25 for Daly City).[77][78]: 2–9 Paying with an older paper ticket (see § Fare media) adds a $0.50 surcharge.[79] The maximum fare, including both airport surcharges and the Transbay surcharge, is $17.60; the maximum without surcharges (Antioch–Berryessa/​North San José) is $10.30.[77] The average fare paid is $3.93.[80]

Because of the varied fares, it is possible to enter the system with enough stored value for a shorter trip, but not a longer trip. Passengers without sufficient fare to complete their journey must use an add-fare machine to add value in order to exit the station.[79] Entering and exiting at the same station incurs an "excursion fare" of $6.20 – significantly higher than many station-to-station fares.[79][81] This was originally introduced to allow railfans and tourists to tour the then-futuristic system; it was kept to discourage undesired behaviors such as tech bus riders using BART parking lots. The excursion fare has been criticized for negatively impacting riders who leave stations during service disruptions; in 2022, several BART directors indicated plans to eliminate the fare.[81]

Unlike many other rapid transit systems, BART does not have weekly or monthly passes with unlimited rides.[82] The only discount provided to the general public is a 6.25% reduction when "high value tickets" (only available on Clipper cards with autoload) are purchased with fare values of $48 and $64. 50% discount is available to youth aged 5–18 (children age 4 and under ride free), and a 62.5% discount is provided to seniors and disabled people. The Clipper START program for low-income adults provides a 20% discount.[82] The San Francisco Muni and BART offer a combined monthly "A" Fast Pass, which allows unlimited rides on Muni services plus BART service within San Francisco.[82]

In August 2022, BART launched Clipper BayPass, a two year pilot program to examine the viability of a transit pass that is compatible with all the public transit agencies in the Bay Area. The program was initially made available to around 50,000 college students and affordable housing Bay Area residents.[83][84]

### Fare media[edit | edit source]

The primary fare media for BART is the Clipper card, which is used by most Bay Area transit agencies. Clipper is a contactless smart card; passengers tap in and out using small targets on faregates. Clipper cards in Apple Pay and Google Wallet electronic wallets can also be used. Older paper tickets stopped being sold in December 2020[85] but can still be used.[79][86] However, due to supply chain shortages resulting in a lack of plastic Clipper cards, BART started issuing paper tickets again at the SFO station in October 2022.[87] These tickets cannot be refilled at any station in the BART system as no other vending machines are capable of accepting them.

A legacy BART ticket. The initial purchased fare is printed parallel to the magnetic strip, and the card's balance is printed on the left, updated at each exit.

BART's original fare system used paper-plastic-composite tickets with a magnetic stripe.[88] The tickets were sold by automatic fare vending machines. When exiting, faregates read the magnetically-stored value on the card, encoded the new value with the fare subtracted, and printed the new value on the card. Tickets with no remaining value were retained by the machine rather than being returned.[89] The entire fare system was designed and built by IBM under a $7 million contract (equivalent to $33 million in 2020).[90] It was the third system with encoded-value magnetic stripe tickets in the US, following the Illinois Central Gulf commuter line in 1964 and PATCO in 1968.[91] Although tickets could be refilled at fare machines, riders often discarded tickets with small values remaining. BART formerly relied on unused ticket values on such discarded cards for additional revenue – as much as $9.9 million annually in 1999.[92]

In 2006, BART began piloting a smart card for fare payment called EZ Rider; this program was abandoned in 2010 in favor of the regional Clipper card.[93][94] In 2009, BART became one of the first five transit agencies to accept TransLink (later renamed Clipper) cards for fare payment[95] and began phasing out paper tickets, beginning with high-value discount tickets. As of December 2020, all BART ticket machines, except for add-fare machines inside of paid areas, have been converted to Clipper use only. New paper tickets are no longer issued, though existing paper tickets continue to be accepted at faregates.[58] A 50-cent surcharge per trip (25 cents for discounted fares) is applied to all journeys made on paper tickets.[96]

## Ridership levels[edit | edit source]

For most of its history, BART's ridership has reflected the U.S. economy, growing modestly during periods of economic expansion and dropping slightly during recessions.[97] A major exception occurred in 1989 in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake, which severely damaged the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, causing its closure for a month. BART became the only direct route between the East Bay and San Francisco, resulting in a nearly 17% ridership jump for the 1990 fiscal year.[97] Ridership would not drop back to previous levels after the repair of the bridge until the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect the Bay Area in March 2020.

Between 2010 and 2015, BART ridership grew rapidly, mirroring strong economic growth in the Bay Area. In 2015, the system was carrying approximately 100,000 more passengers each day than it had five years earlier.[98] High gasoline prices also contributed to growth, pushing ridership to record levels during 2012, with the system recording five record ridership days in September and October 2012.[99]

After six straight years of expansion, ridership growth began to slow in late 2016, dropping by 1.7% in October 2016 from the prior year.[100] Although the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, showed an average weekday ridership of 423,395, the second-highest in BART's history, this was a 2.3% drop from FY 2016.[97] Ridership continued to decline by approximately 3% per year between 2016 and 2019, mirroring a nationwide decline in mass transit ridership in the second half of the decade.[101] Some see this decline as linked to changes in commute patterns, the fall in gasoline prices since 2014, and competition from the private sector in the form of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft.[102][103] Ride-hailing has especially affected ridership on the lines to the San Francisco International Airport and the Oakland International Airport. At SFO, ride-hailing services grew by a factor of almost six or nearly 500% at the airport between 2014 and 2016.[104] BART planners believe that competition from Uber and Lyft is reducing overall ridership growth and BART's share of airport transit.[105][106]

Stations in the urban cores of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley have the highest ridership, while suburban stations record lower rider numbers. During fiscal year 2017, the busiest station was Embarcadero with 48,526 average weekday exits, followed by Montgomery Street with 45,386. The busiest station outside of San Francisco was 12th Street Oakland City Center with 13,965 riders, followed by 19th Street Oakland with 13,456. The least busy station was Oakland International Airport with 1,517 riders, while the least busy standard BART station was North Concord / Martinez with 2,702 weekday exits.[107]

BART's one-day ridership record was set on Halloween of 2012 with 568,061 passengers attending the San Francisco Giants' victory parade for their World Series championship.[108] This surpassed the record set two years earlier of 522,198 riders in 2010 for the Giants' 2010 World Series victory parade.[109] Before that, the record was 442,100 riders in October 2009, following an emergency closure of the Bay Bridge.[110] During a planned closure of the Bay Bridge, there were 475,015 daily riders on August 30, 2013, making that the third highest ridership.[111] On June 19, 2015, BART recorded 548,078 riders for the Golden State Warriors championship parade, placing second on the all-time ridership list.[112]

BART set a Saturday record of 419,162 riders on February 6, 2016, coinciding with Super Bowl 50 events and a Golden State Warriors game.[113][114] That easily surpassed the previous Saturday record of 319,484 riders, which occurred in October 2012, coinciding with several sporting events and Fleet Week.[115] BART set a Sunday ridership record of 292,957 riders in June 2013, in connection with the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade,[116] surpassing Sunday records set the previous two years when the Pride Parade was held.[116]

Ridership dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns beginning in March 2020, during which BART was forced to drastically cut service.[117] Ridership in the weeks immediately following the start of the Bay Area's lockdown (on March 17, 2020) fell by as much as 93%.[117] As of September 2022[update], weekday ridership is about 37% of pre-pandemic levels and weekend ridership is about 60% of pre-pandemic levels.[117]

A majority of riders report household income below $50,000, and do not own a vehicle. Compared to the region, BART riders are more likely to be Black or Latino, and less likely to be White or Asian.[118]

## Infrastructure[edit | edit source]

* v
* t
* e

Bay Area Rapid Transit system diagram

Legend

|  |  |

|  |

eBART Maintenance Yard

|
|
|
|

|  |

|  | Antioch
|  |

|  | Pittsburg Center
|  |

|  | Pittsburg/​Bay Point

|  |

|  |

Diablo Range

|  |

|  | North Concord/​Martinez |

|  |

|  | Concord |

Richmond Maintenance Yard

|  |

|  |  |

Concord

|  Richmond |  |

|  |  | Train Yard

| El Cerrito del Norte |  |

|  | Pleasant Hill/​Contra Costa Centre |

| El Cerrito Plaza |  |

|  | Walnut Creek |

| Contra Costa County

Alameda County

|  |

| North Berkeley |  |

|  | Lafayette |

Downtown Berkeley |  |

|  | Orinda |

| Ashby |  |

|  |

Berkeley Hills Tunnel | Contra Costa County

Alameda County

|  |

|  | Rockridge |

|  |

|  | MacArthur

⇋ southbound

|  |

|  |
|  |

|  | 19th Street Oakland

⇋ northbound

|  |

|  | 12th Street Oakland City Center
|  |

|  |

Oakland Wye

|  |

|  | Lake Merritt |

| West Oakland |  |

|  |
|  |

|  | Fruitvale |

| Alameda County

San Francisco
Transbay Tube

|  | Coliseum

|  |

|  |

San Leandro Creek

| Muni Metro

to 4th & King

|  |  | Doolittle maintenance

and storage facility

| Embarcadero |  |

|  | Oakland International Airport |

| Montgomery Street |  |

|  | San Leandro |

| Powell Street |  |

|  | Bay Fair

| Civic Center/​UN Plaza |  |

|  | Castro Valley |

| Muni Metro

to West Portal

|  |

San Leandro Hills

16th Street Mission |  |

|  | West Dublin/​Pleasanton |

24th Street Mission |  |

|  | Dublin/​Pleasanton |

| Glen Park |  |

|  |

San Lorenzo Creek

|  |

|  | Hayward |

Balboa Park |  |

|  | South Hayward |

|  |

|  |

| San Francisco

San Mateo County

|  |  |

Hayward

|  Daly City |  |

|  |  | Maintenance Complex

|  |

|  | Union City |

|  |

|  |

Alameda Creek

| Colma |  |

|  | Fremont |

Colma Maintenance Yard

|  |

|  |

Lake Elizabeth tunnel

|  |

|  | Irvington

proposed

| South San Francisco |  |

|  | Warm Springs/​South Fremont |

Colma Creek

|  |

|  |

| Alameda County

Santa Clara County

| San Bruno |  |

|  | Calaveras

proposed

|  |

|  | Milpitas |

(via )

|  SFO Airport |  |

|  |
|  |

|  | Berryessa/​North San José |

|  Millbrae |  |

|  |

San Jose extension

|  |

|  | 28th Street/Little Portugal

2029

|  |

|  | Downtown San José

2029

2029

Santa Clara |  |

|  | Diridon

2029

| Newhall Maintenance

Facility

|  |

* * *

|  |  |  |  |  |
|  | 5 ft 6 in gauge

third rail 1,000 V DC

|  |  | Standard gauge DMU

eBART
| Market Street Subway

upper level constructed for Muni Metro

|  |  | Cable Liner AGT

Coliseum – Oakland International Airport

⇋ transfer between BART lines

|  |  |  |  |  |

A typical concrete viaduct structure near Walnut Creek station

The entirety of the system runs in exclusive, grade-separated right-of-way. BART's rapid transit revenue routes cover about 120 miles (190 km) with 50 stations. On the main lines, approximately 28 miles (45 km) of lines run through underground sections with 32 miles (51 km) on elevated tracks.[5]

The main system uses an unusual 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge[5][119] (mostly seen in India and Pakistan) and mostly ballastless track. Originally using flat-edge rail and wheelsets with cylindrical treads, In 2016 BART started switching to conical treads[120] to reduce the noise caused by flange/rail contact and loss of adhesion of one of the wheels on curves.[121] DC electric current at 1,000 volts is delivered to the trains over a third rail.[7] An automated guideway transit line and an additional station were opened in 2014 and use off-the-shelf cable car technology developed by DCC Doppelmayr Cable Car: the Cable Liner. The section of the Antioch-SFO/Millbrae line east of the Pittsburg/Bay Point station runs on conventional unelectrified 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge rail.

Schedules call for trains to operate at up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h), but certain segments (in particular, the Transbay Tube) are designed for 80 mph (130 km/h) operation when making up delays.[5][122][8]

Rapid transit trains have 4–10 cars, the maximum length of 710 feet (216 m) being the longest of any metro system in the United States and extending slightly beyond the 700-foot (213 m) platforms.[123] Cars are 10.5 feet (3.2 m) wide, the maximum gradient is four percent, and the minimum curve radius is 394 feet (120 m).[124] The combination of unique loading gauges and unusual rail technologies has complicated maintenance and increased cost of the system, as rolling stock requires custom wheelsets, brake systems, and power systems.[119][125]

Many of the original 1970s-era stations, especially the aerial stations, feature simple Brutalist architecture, but newer stations are a mix of Neomodern and Postmodern architecture. The additional double tracked four mile long upper deck of the Market Street Subway and its four underground stations were built by BART for Muni Metro.

### Lines[edit | edit source]

The heavy rail routes run on nine named track segments ("lines"), which are internally but not commonly known by letters. In addition, the two light rail services are designated the E- and H-Lines.[5][126][127]

Line  | Endpoints  | Opened  | Right of way

|
|
|

Heavy rail
A-Line | Oakland Wye – Fremont | September 11, 1972  | Former Western Pacific Railroad right-of-way (UP Oakland Subdivision), tunnel near the Oakland Wye
C-Line | Rockridge – Pittsburg/Bay Point | May 21, 1973 (to Concord)
December 16, 1995 (to North Concord/Martinez)
December 7, 1996 (to Pittsburg/Bay Point)  | SR 24 median, Berkeley Hills Tunnel, former Sacramento Northern Railway right-of-way, SR 4 median
K-Line | Oakland Wye – Rockridge  | September 11, 1972 (to MacArthur)
May 21, 1973 (to Rockridge)  | Tunnel under Broadway, SR 24 median
L-Line | Bay Fair – Dublin/Pleasanton | May 10, 1997  | Median of I-238, median of I-580
M-Line | Oakland Wye – Daly City Yard (north of Colma)  | November 5, 1973 (Daly City – Montgomery Street)
September 16, 1974 (Montgomery Street – Oakland Wye)
December 9, 1988 (to Daly City Yard)  | Elevated above 5th and 7th streets, Transbay Tube, tunnel under Market Street and Mission Street, former Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way (SF&SJ)
R-Line | MacArthur – Richmond | January 29, 1973  | Elevated above Martin Luther King Jr. Way, tunnel under Adeline St and Shattuck Ave, former Santa Fe right-of-way
S-Line | Fremont – Berryessa/North San José | March 25, 2017 (to Warm Springs/South Fremont)
June 13, 2020 (to Berryessa/North San José)[9] | Tunnel under Fremont Central Park, former Western Pacific Railroad right-of-way (San Jose Branch)
W-Line | Daly City Yard – Millbrae | February 24, 1996 (to Colma)
June 22, 2003 (to Millbrae)  | Former Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way (SF&SJ), shared Caltrain right-of-way
Y-Line | W-Line – San Francisco International Airport | June 22, 2003  | Elevated wye into San Francisco International Airport
Light rail
E-Line | Pittsburg/Bay Point – Antioch | May 26, 2018  | SR 4 median
H-Line | Coliseum – Oakland International Airport | November 22, 2014  | Mostly elevated above Hegenberger Road, depressed section below Doolittle Drive

### Automation[edit | edit source]

BART was one of the first U.S. rail transit systems of any size to be substantially automated. Routing and dispatching of trains, and adjustments for schedule recovery are controlled by a combination of computer and human supervision at BART's Operations Control Center (OCC) and headquarters at the Kaiser Center in Downtown Oakland. Station-to-station train movement, including speed control and maintenance of separation between successive trains, is entirely automatic under normal operation, the operator's routine responsibilities being issuing announcements, closing the doors after station stops, and monitoring the track ahead for hazards. In unusual circumstances the operator controls the train manually at reduced speed.[128]

### Parking[edit | edit source]

Many BART stations offer parking; however, underpricing causes station parking lots to overflow in the morning.[129] Pervasive congestion and underpricing forces some to drive to distant stations in search of parking.[130]

BART hosts car sharing locations at many stations, a program pioneered by City CarShare. Riders can transfer from BART and complete their journeys by car. BART offers long-term airport parking through a third-party vendor[131] at most East Bay stations. Travelers must make an online reservation in advance and pay the daily fee of $5 before they can leave their cars at the BART parking lot.

Parking at stations in Santa Clara County (Milpitas and Berryessa/North San José) is managed by Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority rather than BART.

### Accessibility[edit | edit source]

All BART trains have dedicated spaces for wheelchair users and every station has accessible elevators.[132] Estimated train arrival times and service announcements are both displayed on platform-level screens and announced audibly over the public address system. Station platforms are equipped with tactile paving to aid those with visual impairments, and Braille/tactile signs are present throughout stations.[133]

#### Platform elevators[edit | edit source]

The elevator faregate on the Embarcadero station BART platform, installed in December 2021

At some stations, the elevator to the platform (which is inside the paid area) is accessed from an unpaid area of the station. To enter the BART system at one of these stations, passengers using the elevator must first pass through a faregate into the paid area and then exit back through the swing gate adjacent to the station agent booth before taking the elevator to the platform. To exit the system from one of these stations, passengers must do the reverse: take the elevator from the platform to the concourse level, enter the paid area through the swing gate, and then process their ticket at a faregate to exit the paid area once again. Station agents may be able to assist upon request.[132] The configuration of these stations enables fare evasion and causes confusion for passengers.[134]

As of 2020, eighteen stations[a] had a platform elevator outside of the paid area.[135] Of these, three stations[b] had ticket processing machines near the elevators that allowed elevator users to avoid having to enter, then exit, then re-enter the paid area; however, these did nothing to deter fare evasion.[132] BART has begun to correct this issue at stations either by expanding the paid area on the concourse level or by installing a single accessible faregate in front of the elevator doors.[134][135] By December 2021, the number of stations with elevators outside the paid area had been reduced to eight.[c][136] Seven of these stations are planned to have elevator faregates installed in 2022, while the paid area on the concourse level at 19th Street Oakland is being expanded to include the elevator as part of an ongoing renovation.[136][137][138]

### Cell phone and Wi-Fi[edit | edit source]

In 2004, BART became the first transit system in the United States to offer cellular telephone communication to passengers of all major wireless carriers on its trains underground.[139] Service was made available for customers of Verizon Wireless, Sprint/Nextel, AT&T Mobility, and T-Mobile in and between the four San Francisco Market Street stations from Civic Center to Embarcadero. In 2009, service was expanded to include the Transbay Tube, thus providing continuous cellular coverage between West Oakland and Balboa Park.[140] In 2010, service was expanded to all underground stations in Oakland (19th Street, 12th Street/Oakland City Center, and Lake Merritt).[141] Uninterrupted cellular coverage of the entire BART system is a goal. As of 2012[update] passengers in both the Berkeley Hills Tunnel and the Berkeley subway (Ashby, Downtown and North Berkeley) received cell service. The only sections still not covered by cell service are short tunnel that leads to Walnut Creek BART, and San Mateo County subway stations (including service to SFO and Millbrae).

In 2007, BART ran a beta test of Wi-Fi Internet access for travelers. It initially included the four San Francisco downtown stations: Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, and Civic Center. It included above ground testing to trains at BART's Hayward Test Track. The testing and deployment was extended into the underground interconnecting tubes between the four downtown stations and further. The successful demonstration provided for a ten-year contract with WiFi Rail, Inc. for the services throughout the BART right of way.[142] In 2008, the Wi-Fi service was expanded to include the Transbay Tube.[143] BART terminated the relationship with Wi-Fi Rail in December 2014, citing that WiFi Rail had not submitted an adequate financial or technical plan for completing the network throughout the BART system.[144]

In 2011, during the Charles Hill killing and aftermath BART disabled cell phone service to hamper demonstrators.[145] The ensuing controversy drew widespread coverage[146] that raised legal questions about free speech rights of protesters and the federal telecommunications laws that relate to passengers.[147] In response, BART released an official policy on cutting off cell phone service.[148]

## Organization and management[edit | edit source]

2012 statistics

Number of vehicles | 670
Initial system cost | $1.6 billion
Equivalent cost in 2004 dollars (replacement cost) | $15 billion
Hourly passenger capacity | 15,000
Maximum daily capacity | 360,000
Average weekday ridership | 365,510
Annual operating revenue | $379.10 million
Annual expenses | $619.10 million
Annual profits (losses) | ($240.00 million)
Rail cost/passenger mile (excluding capital costs) | $0.332

### Governance[edit | edit source]

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District is a special district consisting of Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and the City and County of San Francisco. San Mateo County, which hosts six BART stations, and Santa Clara County, which hosts two, are not part of the BART District. A nine-member elected Board of Directors represents nine districts. BART has its own police force.[149]

While the district includes all of the cities and communities in its jurisdiction, some of these cities do not have stations on the BART system. This has caused tensions among property owners in cities like Livermore who pay BART taxes but must travel outside the city to receive BART service.[150] In areas like Fremont, the majority of commuters do not commute in the direction that BART would take them (many Fremonters commute to San Jose)[citation needed]. This would be remedied with the completion of the Silicon Valley BART extension. Phase I of the extension opened on June 13, 2020, giving San Jose its first BART station, Berryessa/North San José station.

### Budget[edit | edit source]

In 2005, BART required nearly $300 million in funds after fares. About 37% of the costs went to maintenance, 29% to actual transportation operations, 24% to general administration, 8% to police services, and 4% to construction and engineering. In 2005, 53% of the budget was derived from fares, 32% from taxes, and 15% from other sources, including advertising, station retail space leasing, and parking fees.[151] BART reported a farebox recovery ratio of 75.67% in February 2016,[152] up from 2012's 68.2%.[153] BART train operators and station agents have a maximum salary of $62,000 per year with an average of $17,000 in overtime pay.[154] (BART management claimed that in 2013, union train operators and station agents averaged about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime, and pay a $92 monthly fee from that for health insurance.)[155]

## Incidents and controversies[edit | edit source]

### BART Police shootings[edit | edit source]

#### Oscar Grant III[edit | edit source]

Main article: Shooting of Oscar Grant

On January 1, 2009, a BART Police officer, Johannes Mehserle, fatally shot Oscar Grant III.[156][157] BART held multiple public meetings to ease tensions led by BART Director Carole Ward Allen[158] who called on the BART Board to hire two independent auditors to investigate the shooting, and to provide recommendations to the board regarding BART Police misconduct.[159] Director Ward Allen established BART's first Police Department Review Committee and worked with Assemblyman Sandre Swanson to pass AB 1586 in the California State Legislature, which enforced civilian oversight of the BART Police Department.[160] BART Director Lynette Sweet said that "BART has not handled this [situation] correctly,"[161] and called for the BART police chief and general manager to step down, but only one other BART Director, Tom Radulovich, has supported such action.[162]

Eyewitnesses gathered direct evidence of the shooting with video cameras, which were later submitted to and disseminated by media outlets and watched hundreds of thousands of times[163] in the days following the shooting. Both peaceful and violent demonstrations occurred protesting the shooting.[164]

Mehserle was arrested and charged with murder, to which he pleaded not guilty. Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris filed a US$25 million wrongful death claim against the district on behalf of Grant's daughter and girlfriend.[165] Oscar Grant III's father also filed a lawsuit claiming that the death of his son deprived him of his son's companionship.

Mehserle's trial was subsequently moved to Los Angeles following concerns that he would be unable to get a fair trial in Alameda County. On July 8, 2010, Mehserle was found guilty on a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.[166] He was released on June 13, 2011, and is now on parole.[167]

#### Charles Hill[edit | edit source]

On July 3, 2011, two officers of the BART Police shot and killed Charles Hill at Civic Center Station in San Francisco. Hill was allegedly carrying a knife.[168]

On August 12, 2011, BART shut down cellphone services on the network for three hours in an effort to hamper possible protests against the shooting[169][170] and to keep communications away from protesters at the Civic Center station in San Francisco.[171] The shutdown caught the attention of Leland Yee and international media, as well as drawing comparisons to the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in several articles and comments.[172] Antonette Bryant, the union president for BART, added that, "BART have lost our confidence and are putting rider and employee safety at risk."[173]

Members of Anonymous broke into BART's website and posted names, phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail information on the Anonymous website.[174][175]

On August 15, 2011, there was more disruption in service at BART stations in downtown San Francisco.[176][177][178] The San Francisco Examiner reported that the protests were a result of the shootings, including that of Oscar Grant.[179][180] Demonstrations were announced by several activists, which eventually resulted in disruptions to service. The protesters have stated that they did not want their protests to results in closures, and accused the BART police of using the protests as an excuse for disruption.[181] Protesters vowed to continue their protests every Monday until their demands were met.

On August 29, 2011, a coalition of nine public interest groups led by Public Knowledge filed an Emergency Petition asking the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to declare "that the actions taken by the Bay Area Rapid Transit District ("BART") on August 11, 2011, violated the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, when it deliberately interfered with access to Commercial Mobile Radio Service ("CMRS") by the public" and "that local law enforcement has no authority to suspend or deny CMRS, or to order CMRS providers to suspend or deny service, absent a properly obtained order from the Commission, a state commission of appropriate jurisdiction, or a court of law with appropriate jurisdiction".[182][183]

In December 2011 BART adopted a new "Cell Service Interruption Policy" that only allows shutdowns of cell phone services within BART facilities "in the most extraordinary circumstances that threaten the safety of District passengers, employees and other members of public, the destruction of District property, or the substantial disruption of public transit service".[184] According to a spokesperson for BART, under the new policy the wireless phone system would not be turned off under circumstances similar to those in August 2011. Instead police officers would arrest individuals who break the law.[185]

In February 2012, the San Francisco District Attorney concluded that the BART Police Officer that shot and killed Charles Hill at the Civic Center BART station the previous July "acted lawfully in self defense" and will not face charges for the incident. A federal lawsuit filed against BART in January by Charles Hill's brother was proceeding.[186]

In March 2012, the FCC requested public comment on the question of whether or when the police and other government officials can intentionally interrupt cellphone and Internet service to protect public safety.[185]

### Employee and firefighter fatalities[edit | edit source]

#### 1979 fatal electrical fire[edit | edit source]

Further information: Transbay Tube January 1979 fire

In January 1979, an electrical fire occurred on a train as it was passing through the Transbay Tube. One firefighter (Lt. William Elliott, 50, of the Oakland Fire Department) was killed in the effort to extinguish the blaze. Since then, safety regulations have been updated.[187]

#### James Strickland[edit | edit source]

On October 14, 2008, track inspector James Strickland was struck and killed by a train as he was walking along a section of track between the Concord and Pleasant Hill BART stations. Strickland's death started an investigation into BART's safety alert procedures.[188] At the time of the accident, BART had assigned trains headed in opposite directions to a shared track for routine maintenance. BART came under further fire in February 2009 for allegedly delaying payment of death benefits to Strickland's family.[189]

#### October 2013 incident[edit | edit source]

On the afternoon of October 19, 2013, a BART employee and a contractor, who were inspecting tracks, were struck and killed near Walnut Creek by a train being moved for routine maintenance. A labor strike by BART's two major unions was underway at the time, which caused BART to use an undertrained operator. Instead of the usual 14 weeks of the training, the operator only received four. The BART trainer was not in the cab with the operator at the time of impact but was instead in the passenger compartment. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the accident occurred because BART facilitated access to the railway line.[190] BART was fined $600,000 for the incident.[191]

### Crime[edit | edit source]

In mid-2017, BART came under severe criticism for suppression of video evidence of crimes committed at Oakland stations. That year, in at least three incidents, groups of people had boarded stopped trains and attacked and robbed train riders.[192] BART responded to criticism of the suppression of this evidence by saying that "to release these videos would create a high level of racially insensitive commentary toward the district [...] and in addition it would create a racial bias in the riders against minorities on the trains." According to a memo distributed to BART Directors, the agency did not issue a press release on the June 30 theft because it was a "petty crime" that would make BART look "crime ridden." Further, it would "unfairly affect and characterize riders of color, leading to sweeping generalizations in media reports."[192] In September 2017, six victims of the robberies/assaults filed suit against BART for gross negligence, claiming BART does not provide adequate security for its riders.[193]

On July 22, 2018, a man fatally stabbed 18-year-old Nia Wilson with a knife as she exited a train car at the MacArthur station.[194] This was the third homicide at a BART station within five days.[195] In June 2019, the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury released a report documenting a 128% increase in thefts on BART between 2014 and 2018, and an 83% increase in aggravated assault during the same time period.[196]

## References[edit | edit source]

1. ^ "Transit Ridership Report Second Quarter 2022" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association. August 29, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
2. ^ "Transit Ridership Report Fourth Quarter 2021" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association. March 10, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
3. ^ Fracassa, Dominic; McBride, Ashley (July 25, 2019). "BART selects Robert Powers as new general manager". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
4. ^ "New Train Car Project". San Francisco Bay Area. December 29, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "BART System Facts". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
6. ^ "BART returns to near-regular service starting 8/2/21". Bay Area Rapid Transit (Press release). August 2, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
7. ^ a b "BART – Car Types". Bay Area Rapid Transit. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
8. ^ a b "BART Sustainable Communities Operations Analysis" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. June 2013. p. 23. Retrieved February 5, 2014. "Certain sections of the BART system are designed for 80 mph operations, however the maximum operating speed BART currently uses today is 70 mph. It is unlikely that 80 mph operating speeds will be used again due to the increase in motor wear and propulsion failures at the higher rate. There are also higher impacts on track maintenance. In addition, the 80 mph segments tend to be short, and the higher speed benefits are limited as train speeds become inconsistent."
9. ^ a b Glover, Julian (May 19, 2020). "BART announces service start date for long-awaited Milpitas, San Jose Berryessa stations". ABC7 News. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
10. ^ a b "BART schedule change begins 2/14/22, extending service to midnight on Sundays" (Press release). Bay Area Rapid Transit District. January 10, 2022.
11. ^ a b c d e "Every day until 9pm: 5-Line Service" (PDF). Bay Area Rapid Transit District. 2022.
12. ^ a b c "New Train Car Project". Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
13. ^ a b "February 11 schedule change impacts weekdays and Sundays" (Press release). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. January 15, 2019.
14. ^ a b "BART Schedules (PDF)". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. February 14, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
15. ^ "Transit Information: Late Night Bus Services" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Commission. May 24, 2018.
16. ^ "Early Bird Express" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. 2019.
17. ^ "EBX June 2019 Service Improvements" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. June 4, 2019. p. 12.
18. ^ "Early Bird Express service changes coming 12/16" (Press release). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. December 10, 2019.
19. ^ a b c d "Transit Center Maps and Information". Alameda Contra Costa Transit District.
20. ^ "A History of BART: The Concept is Born". Bay Area Rapid Transit. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
21. ^ Healy, Michael C. (2016). BART : the dramatic history of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Berkeley, California. ISBN 978-1-59714-370-7. OCLC 948549791.
22. ^ "History of BART to the South Bay". San Jose Mercury News. March 12, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
23. ^ "A History of BART: The Concept is Born". Bart.gov. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
24. ^ "A History of BART: The Concept is Born". Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). Retrieved January 7, 2007.
25. ^ See BART Composite Report, prepared by Parsons Brinkerhof Tutor Bechtel, 1962
26. ^ "A History of BART: the Concept is Born". Retrieved December 1, 2018.
27. ^ "A History of BART: The Project Begins". Bay Area Rapid Transit. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
28. ^ W. S. Homburger. "The impact of a new rapid transit system on traffic on parallel highway facilities". Transportation Planning and Technology. 4 (3).
29. ^ "Automatic Train Control in Rail Rapid Transit" (PDF). United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment. May 1, 1976. p. 46. Retrieved March 15, 2017. "When BART reaches its full level of service, headways will be reduced to 2 minutes in San Francisco and 6 minutes elsewhere during peak periods..."
30. ^ "BART– Not a Moment Too Soon". Los Angeles Times. September 13, 1972. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
31. ^ "BART First in Operation: 2nd great subway boom under way in many cities". The Bulletin. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
32. ^ Gillam, Jerry (November 15, 1972). "Safe Automated BART Train Controls Doubted". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
33. ^ Lembke, Daryl (November 16, 1972). "BART Manager Denies System Was Overcharged by Designers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
34. ^ Stephen Unger (April 29, 2010). "The BART Case". The Online Ethics Center for engineering and science. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
35. ^ "Troubles Beset Transit System in San Francisco Bay Area". The New York Times. December 9, 1972. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
36. ^ Bill Northwood (November 29, 1972). "What is BART, and why are we saying such terrible things about it?". KPFA Pacifica Radio. p. 2 min : 00 sec. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
37. ^ "Automatic Train Control in Rail Rapid Transit" (PDF). United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment. May 1, 1976. pp. 45–49. Retrieved March 15, 2017. "Investigations of BART were undertaken by the California Senate, the California Legislative Analyst, the California Public Utilities Commission, and the National Transportation Safety Board. The cause of the accident was traced to a faulty crystal oscillator…"
38. ^ Peter Sheerin (October 1, 1990). "Bill Wattenburg's Background: BART—Bay Area Rapid Transit System". Retrieved March 15, 2017. "Wattenburg challenged the credentials of three successive chief engineers at BART. All of them left or were fired."
39. ^ "Bigger bugs in BART?" (PDF). IEEE Spectrum Magazine. March 1, 1973. p. 36. Retrieved March 15, 2017. "David Hammond, BARTD's assistant general manager submitted his resignation…"
40. ^ "Legislative Analyst's Office 75th anniversary". Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) of the State of California. May 25, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2017. "After the state legislature held a month-long series of hearings on the financial mismanagement at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Alan Post recommended the firing of BART's general manager."
41. ^ "B.R. Stokes, ex-BART general manager, dies". San Francisco Chronicle. May 25, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2017. "BART officials had to ask the Legislature for more money... but the price was high. Nearly all of the Bay Area's legislators said they would oppose giving BART money unless Mr. Stokes resigned. He quit May 24, 1974..."
42. ^ Bill Wattenburg (February 15, 1974). "BART: Countdown to San Francisco". Commonwealth Club of California. p. 28 min : 30 sec. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
43. ^ "BART historical timeline" (PDF). BART. Retrieved March 15, 2017. "November 5, 1974, Nine-member Board of Directors elected to replace 12-member appointed board."
44. ^ Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District 1970–71 Annual Report (PDF). Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
45. ^ "New BART service to Oakland International Airport now open". Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). November 21, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
46. ^ "Celebrating 40 Years of Service 1972 • 2012 Forty BART Achievements Over the Years" (PDF). Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
47. ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (May 24, 2018). "BART board votes down extension to Livermore". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
48. ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (June 22, 2007). "BART'S New Vision: More, Bigger, Faster". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 10, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2007.
49. ^ "BART Metro Vision Update" (PDF). Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). April 25, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 19, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
50. ^ Fortson, Jobina (November 15, 2018). "BART considering 2nd Transbay Tube, 24 hour service". ABC 7 KGO-TV. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
51. ^ Bizjak, Tony (February 20, 2019). "How trains under the bay – not high-speed rail – may connect Sacramento and San Francisco". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
52. ^ Cuff, Denis (May 29, 2007). "BART board wants to lessen waits". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved October 26, 2007.
53. ^ "Good move by BART". Contra Costa Times. October 1, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2007.
54. ^ Bay Area Rapid Transit. "Off-peak service reductions began Monday, September 14th". Retrieved May 30, 2013.
55. ^ a b Dennis, Cuff (July 10, 2008). "BART goes solar at Orinda station". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved July 13, 2008.
56. ^ "Santa Clara VTA receives state funding to expand BART facilities". RT&S. December 7, 2012.
57. ^ "BART add-fare machines inside fare zones will finally start accepting credit cards". San Francisco Examiner. March 15, 2019.
58. ^ a b "BART completes systemwide conversion to Clipper-only sales" (Press release). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. December 14, 2020.
59. ^ "Clipper card now supported on iPhone and Apple Watch". BART. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
60. ^ "Earthquake Safety Program Technical Information". Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
61. ^ "Earthquake Safety Program". Bay Area Rapid Transit District. February 11, 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
62. ^ a b Chinn, Jerold (January 29, 2015). "Long wait ahead for longer BART trains". San Francisco Bay Area. Retrieved September 29, 2015. "BART explains it has total of 662 trains, but about 535 are in service during peak commute times, about 86.5 percent of its fleet. BART said it runs more of its fleet than any other major transit agency despite having the oldest trains in the nation."
63. ^ McDermid, Riley (November 17, 2017). "No turkey for you: BART says new trains won't be running by Thanksgiving after all". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
64. ^ "U.S. Subway Car Design Behind the Curve". www.planetizen.com. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
65. ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (April 10, 2010). "BART can't keep pace with rising 'crush loads'". SFGate.
66. ^ ""Why can't the trains be longer?" Some background to explain". BART. September 25, 2008. Archived from the original on August 27, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
67. ^ "East Contra Costa BART Extension (eBART) Implementation". Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). May 19, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
68. ^ a b "Onsite testing begins for BART's first new train car". www.bart.gov. April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
69. ^ "Stadler Rail delivers trains to Oakland". Stadler Rail. April 26, 2014. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
70. ^ Richman, Josh (May 10, 2012). "BART board approves contract for 410 new train cars". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
71. ^ Bowen, Douglas John (May 11, 2012). "BART taps Bombardier; U.S. content at issue". Railway Age. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
72. ^ "Board Meeting Agenda" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. November 21, 2013. pp. 91–92. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
73. ^ Rodriguez, Joe Fitzgerald (November 7, 2017). "BART's new train cars fail regulatory test, possibly delaying rollout". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
74. ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (January 18, 2018). "New BART rail cars approved for service". San Francisco Chronicle.
75. ^ Brinklow, Adam (January 19, 2018). "New BART cars go into service today". Curbed SF. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
76. ^ "New Train Car Project Delivery Plan". Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
77. ^ a b "Clipper Fares" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. July 1, 2022.
78. ^ "FY19 Short Range Transit Plan and Capital Improvement Program" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. October 2018.
79. ^ a b c d "BART Basics Guide" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. August 2021.
80. ^ "BART Board approves two-year budget focused on rider experience" (Press release). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. June 9, 2022.
81. ^ a b Cabanatuan, Michael (August 5, 2022). "This little-known BART fare can cost you $6.70, even if you don't step foot on a train". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022.
82. ^ a b c "Discounts". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
83. ^ Walsh, Eli (August 19, 2022). "Pilot program launches for transit pass compatible with all Bay Area transit agencies". KTVU.
84. ^ "Clipper BayPass pilot program launched; transit pass to be used on all Bay Area public transit agencies". CBS News. August 17, 2022.
85. ^ https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2020/news20201214
86. ^ "Clipper and Pay by Phone". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
87. ^ https://www.masstransitmag.com/technology/fare-collection/mobile-applications/article/21284298/supply-chain-woes-mtc-bart-encourage-adding-clipper-card-on-mobile-phones
88. ^ Rodda, R. Scott (July 1993). Evolving Fare Technologies (PDF). Workshop on Transit Fare Policy and Management: Research Needs and Priorities. Woods Hole, Massachusetts: Transportation Research Board. p. 38.
89. ^ "Ticket Machines Treat You Farely". Oakland Tribune. September 10, 1972. p. 26 - via Newspapers.com.
90. ^ Healy, Michael C. (2016). BART: The Dramatic History of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. Heyday. pp. 222–225. ISBN 978-1-59714-370-7.
91. ^ Fleishman, Daniel; Shaw, Nicola; Joshi, Ashok; Freeze, Richard; Oram, Richard (1996). "Chapter 6: Electronic Fare Payment Options" (PDF). TCRP Report 10: Fare Policies, Structures, and Technologies. Transportation Research Board. p. 93.
92. ^ Carroll, Jon (December 6, 2000). "Tiny Tickets Ha Ha Ha Ha". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
93. ^ "BART enhances "EZ Rider" card with parking payment option | bart.gov". www.bart.gov. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
94. ^ "BART Phasing Out EZ Rider Passes in Switch to Clipper". Streetsblog San Francisco. November 10, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
95. ^ Gordon, Rachel (August 4, 2009). "BART starts accepting TransLink fare cards". SFGATE. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
96. ^ Baldassari, Erin (June 22, 2017). "BART: 50-cent surcharge for paper tickets, expanded discount for youth". The Mercury News. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
97. ^ a b c "Total Annual Exits FY1973 – FY2017" (xls). BART.gov. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. 2017.
98. ^ "BART can't keep pace with rising 'crush loads'". SFGate. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
99. ^ "October BART ridership soaring". BART. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
100. ^ "Uber and Lyft use at SFO increases six-fold in two years, BART loses ridership". December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016. "BART officials told the agency's Board of Directors...that increased Uber and Lyft ridership led to less passengers taking BART in 2016…BART's overall ridership rate of growth "rapidly slowed," according to a staff presentation. In October overall ridership was down to 438,000 trips for the average weekday, 1.7 percent less than the same time the year prior."
101. ^ "Nationwide Transit Ridership Falls 2.9% in June" (PDF). Retrieved November 21, 2019.
102. ^ "Ripple effect of Metro's troubles: plummeting bus ridership across the region". February 20, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016. "falling bus ridership in the Washington region mirrors a national trend that experts say is due to a variety of factors, including changing job markets, falling gas prices and the growing popularity of other transportation options such as biking and app-based services such as Uber and Lyft."
103. ^ "What Factors Are Causing Metro's Declining Ridership? What Next?". January 29, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
104. ^ "Uber and Lyft use at SFO increases six-fold in two years, BART loses ridership". December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016. "BART's train line to the San Francisco International Airport is losing riders and losing money. And that culprit is competition from the private sector, BART staff said. Uber and Lyft in particular have seen their ridership at SFO rise by almost six times over from 2014 to 2016, according to data provided by SFO to the San Francisco Examiner...BART's SFO ridership was discussed during a presentation at the Board of Directors meeting."
105. ^ "Uber and Lyft use at SFO increases six-fold in two years, BART loses ridership". December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016. "Uber and Lyft in particular have seen their ridership at SFO rise by almost six times over from 2014 to 2016, according to data provided by SFO to the San Francisco Examiner. BART officials told the agency's Board of Directors at its regular meeting Thursday that increased Uber and Lyft ridership led to less passengers taking BART in 2016. "We believe Uber and Lyft are impacting our ridership," Carter Mau, executive manager of BART's office of planning and budget, told the San Francisco Examiner outside the meeting."
106. ^ "Ride-hailing companies fly off with BART's airport riders". SFChronicle.com. December 17, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
107. ^ "Average Weekday Exits by Station" (xls). BART. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
108. ^ "BART marks all-time highest ridership day in 40 years of service". BART. October 31, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
109. ^ "World Series parade boosts BART ridership to highest day ever – past half-million". BART. November 4, 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
110. ^ "11.01.2009 BART customers continue to set ridership records". Bart.gov. Archived from the original on November 20, 2010. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
111. ^ "BART ridership soars during Bay Bridge closure". KTVU. August 30, 2013. Archived from the original on September 6, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
112. ^ "Warriors parade BART's second highest ridership day". BART. June 20, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
113. ^ Alexander, Kurtis (February 7, 2016). "Super Bowl helps BART crush weekend-day ridership record". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
114. ^ "BART ends milestone week with a record; next challenge: playing catch-up". BART. February 8, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
115. ^ "BART shatters Saturday ridership record, adds capacity for Sunday". BART. October 7, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
116. ^ a b "Pride Parade Service Breaks Sunday Ridership Record". BART. June 30, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
117. ^ a b c "Ridership Watch: daily updates related to regaining riders and COVID-19 response | bart.gov". www.bart.gov. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
118. ^ https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/CS2020_Report_Issued032221.pdf[bare URL PDF]
119. ^ a b "Why does BART use wider, non-standard gauge rails? – BayRail Alliance". BayRail Alliance. March 24, 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
120. ^ Shivy, Gregory (May 2016). "BART Wheel Profile Change" (PDF).
121. ^ "The Four-Year Fight to Make San Francisco's Subway Stop Screaming". Wired. September 2, 2016.
122. ^ "BART reduces trains speeds, station lighting, to help PG&E and state power grid". July 24, 2006. Retrieved September 26, 2015. "BART doesn't typically run trains at their maximum speed of 80 mph except to help a train make up time."
123. ^ "BART Train length". Google Groups: ba.transportation. July 3, 2000. Retrieved January 7, 2007.
124. ^ Paul Garbutt (1997). "Facts and Figures". World Metro Systems. Capital Transport. pp. 130–131. ISBN 1-85414-191-0.
125. ^ Gafni, Matthias (March 25, 2016). "Has BART's cutting-edge 1972 technology design come back to haunt it?". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
126. ^ "Rail Capacity Improvement Study for Heavy Rail Transit Operations" (PDF). Federal Transit Administration. October 2012. p. 52.
127. ^ Bay Area Rapid Transit. "Geospatial Data". Retrieved April 21, 2022.
128. ^ Orenstein, Natalie (March 19, 2019). "'Troubleshooting on the fly': Riding in the cab with a BART operator". Berkeleyside. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
129. ^ "BART parking overview". BART. Archived from the original on September 22, 2006. Retrieved January 7, 2007.
130. ^ Richards, Gary (October 7, 2015). "Opening of BART Warm Springs station pushed back to next year". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved October 9, 2015. "parking after 10 a.m. at any BART station is difficult. Here are the southern Alameda County stations where you might get lucky and find parking in this order: South Hayward, Hayward, Union City, West Dublin/Pleasanton and Castro Valley.... BART is testing the feasibility of posting real-time information that would let a driver check whether spots are available at a particular station. Right now, the best it can do is to provide estimates on its website for when parking lots will be full."
131. ^ "Long-Term Parking for Travelers". BART. Archived from the original on September 22, 2006. Retrieved January 7, 2007.
132. ^ a b c "Wheelchair or Limited Mobility". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021.
133. ^ "Low Vision or Blind | bart.gov". www.bart.gov. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
134. ^ a b Moench, Mallory (December 7, 2020). "BART's new gate stopped some fare cheats this year. How will the agency pay for more?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
135. ^ a b "Next Generation Fare Gates Update" (PDF). BART. December 3, 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
136. ^ a b "New Embarcadero platform fare gate speeds up transfer to Muni, improves accessibility, reduces fare evasion" (Press release). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. February 9, 2022.
137. ^ "GO Uptown Gateway to Oakland Uptown: 2016 TIGER Grant Project Summary" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. 2016.
138. ^ "Next Generation Fare Gates Update". March 24, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
139. ^ Michael Cabanatuan (November 19, 2005). "Underground, but not unconnected – BART offers wireless service to riders". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
140. ^ BART expands wireless access to Transbay Tube, BART, December 21, 2009. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
141. ^ BART expands wireless network to underground stations in downtown Oakland, BART, August 27, 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
142. ^ "WiFi Rail Inc. to provide wifi access on BART system" (Press release). BART. February 2009. Retrieved February 2, 2009.
143. ^ "WiFi Rail Tube Access" (Press release). KRON 4. June 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
144. ^ "BART scraps Wi-Fi contract, prompting threats of legal action". December 30, 2014. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
145. ^ Elinson, Zusha (August 11, 2011). "BART Cuts Cell Service to Foil Protest". The Bay Citizen. Archived from the original on August 17, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
146. ^ "US regulators seek input on cell phone interruptions". March 2, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
147. ^ Rachel Lackert (May 1, 2012). "BART Cell Phone Service Shutdown: Time for a Virtual Forum?". Retrieved January 2, 2016. "this unilateral action raised significant legal questions as to whether this was authorized under federal telecommunications law relating to the right of the passengers to access the telephone network and the legality of a shutdown by a quasi-governmental authority such as BART. Additionally, BART's actions raised issues concerning the First Amendment rights of the passengers and protesters to freedom of speech and assembly."
148. ^ "BART's Cell Phone Shutdown, One Year Later". August 12, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
149. ^ "BART Police". BART. Archived from the original on August 26, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
150. ^ "BART's Livermore role reviewed". Contra Costa Times. July 17, 2003. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
151. ^ BART 2005 Annual Report (PDF) (Report). 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 22, 2006. Retrieved August 28, 2006.BART 2005 Annual Report (PDF) (Report). 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 22, 2006. Retrieved August 28, 2006.
152. ^ "BART 2016 Factsheet" (PDF). BART.gov. Bay Area Rapid Transit. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
153. ^ "Sustainable BART". The Registry SF. December 6, 2012.
154. ^ Griffin, Melissa (June 13, 2013). "BART labor seeking more money for not laboring". The San Francisco Examiner.
155. ^ "San Francisco rail strike continues as commuters face third day of chaos". The Guardian. London. AP. July 3, 2013.
156. ^ Jill Tucker; Kelly Zito; Heather Knight (January 2, 2009). "Deadly BART brawl – officer shoots rider, 22". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 4, 2009. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
157. ^ Eliott C. McLaughlin; Augie Martin; Dan Simon (2009). "Spokesman: Officer in subway shooting has resigned". CNN. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
158. ^ Terry Collins (January 11, 2009). "Transit board gets another earful on Oakland death". Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 12, 2009.
159. ^ Maria L. La Ganga (January 13, 2009). "BART board creates commission to oversee transit police". Los Angeles Times.
160. ^ "Governor signs bill into law authorizing citizen oversight of BART Police". bart.gov. July 16, 2020.
161. ^ Rachel Gordon; Steve Rubenstein (January 9, 2009). "BART directors apologize to slain man's family". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
162. ^ Cuff, Denis (January 27, 2009). "Second BART director wants new general manager". Contra Costa Times. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
163. ^ Elinor Mills (2009). "Web videos of Oakland shooting fuel emotions, protests". CNET Networks. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
164. ^ Demian Bulwa; Charles Burress; Matthew B. Stannard; Matthai Kuruvilaurl (January 8, 2009). "Protests over BART shooting turn violent". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
165. ^ "BART Shooting: Family Suing BART For $25 Million". KTVU. 2009. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
166. ^ "Jury Finds Mehserle Guilty Of Involuntary Manslaughter". KTVU. July 8, 2010. Archived from the original on July 14, 2010. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
167. ^ Bulwa, Demian (June 14, 2011). "Johannes Mehserle, ex-BART officer, leaves jail". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
168. ^ Upton, John (July 25, 2011). "BART Police Release Video of Shooting – Pulse of the Bay". The Bay Citizen. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
169. ^ Murphy, David (August 13, 2011). "To Prevent Protests, San Francisco Subway Turns Off Cell Signals, August 13, 2011". PC Magazine. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
170. ^ "S.F. subway muzzles cell service during protest". CNET.
171. ^ "Questions, Complaints Arise Over BART Cutting Cell Phone Service". KTVU. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011.
172. ^ "Leland Yee scolds BART over cell phone blackout". KGO-TV. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011.
173. ^ "BART Under Fire From Hackers, Critics, Employees". KTVU. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011.
174. ^ "Hackers Escalate Attack On BART; User IDs Stolen". KTVU. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011.
175. ^ "Shadowy Internet group Anonymous attacks BART website". San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on June 17, 2012.
176. ^ "BART runs without problems despite protest threats". KGO-TV. Archived from the original on November 11, 2011.
177. ^ "BART Warns Commuters Of Potential Protest Disruptions". KTVU. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
178. ^ "BART Warns Commuters Of Potential Protest Disruptions". NBC Bay Area.
179. ^ "Protesters storm BART, slow commute out of San Francisco". San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on December 16, 2011.
180. ^ "BART warns passengers of possible protests at San Francisco stations Thursday". San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012.
181. ^ Protest plan for OpBART-3 Archived March 31, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Plan for further protests by OpBART.
182. ^ "In the Matter of the Petition of Public Knowledge et al. for Declaratory Ruling that Disconnection of Telecommunications Services Violates the Communications Act", Harold Feld, Legal Director, and Sherwin Siy, Deputy Legal Director, of Public Knowledge before the Federal Communications Commission, August 29, 2011
183. ^ Crawford, Susan (September 25, 2011). "Phone, Web Clampdowns in Crises Are Intolerable". Bloomberg News.
184. ^ "Cell Service Interruption Policy" (PDF). Bay Area Rapid Transit District. December 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 18, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
185. ^ a b Wyatt, Edward (March 2, 2012). "F.C.C. Asks for Guidance on Whether, and When, to Cut Off Cellphone Service". The New York Times.
186. ^ Crowell, James (February 22, 2012). "BART Officer Who Shot Charles Hill, 'Acted Lawfully' According To District Attorney". Huffington Post.
187. ^ Geoffrey Hunter (2005). Oakland Fire Department. Arcadia Publishing. p. 95\. ISBN 978-0-7385-2968-4.
188. ^ Gordon, Rachel; Bulwa, Demian; Jones, Carolyn (October 15, 2008). "BART train kills worker on tracks in Concord". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
189. ^ Eskenazi, Joe (February 2, 2009). "BART Accused of Being Late – in Paying Out to Survivors of Track Inspector Killed by Train". San Francisco News – The Snitch. Blogs.sfweekly.com. Archived from the original on January 5, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
190. ^ "Railroad Accident Brief: Bay Area Rapid Transit Train 963 Struck Roadway Workers". ntsb.gov. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
191. ^ "Video of 2013 Fatal BART Accident Reveals Safety Lapses: Regulators". NBC Bay Area. April 13, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
192. ^ a b Caen, Melissa (July 9, 2017). "BART Withholding Surveillance Videos of Crime to Avoid 'Stereotypes'". CBS San Francisco.
193. ^ Ruggiero, Angela (September 14, 2017). "BART mob robbery: Six victims sue transit agency over brazen attacks". The East Bay Times.
194. ^ "BART Investigating 3 Homicides in Less Than a Week". CBS San Francisco. July 23, 2018.
195. ^ Sweeney, Don (July 23, 2018). "3 killed in 5 days at BART stations. Official calls it an 'anomaly'". The Sacramento Bee.
196. ^ Swan, Rachel (June 25, 2019). "Violent crime on BART more than doubles in four years". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 8, 2019.

### Notes[edit | edit source]

1. ^ 12th Street Oakland City Center, 19th Street Oakland, Balboa Park, Bay Fair, Civic Center, Coliseum, Concord, Downtown Berkeley, El Cerrito del Norte, El Cerrito Plaza, Embarcadero, Montgomery, North Berkeley, Orinda, Powell, Rockridge, South Hayward, and Walnut Creek
2. ^ Coliseum, North Berkeley, and Walnut Creek
3. ^ 19th Street Oakland, Civic Center, El Cerrito Plaza, North Berkeley, Orinda, Powell, Rockridge, and Walnut Creek

## Further reading[edit | edit source]

* BART: a study of problems of rail transit. California. Legislature. Assembly. Committee on Transportation. 1973.
* Richard Grefe (1976). A history of the key decisions in the development of Bay Area Rapid Transit. National Technical Information Service.
* E. Gareth Hoachlander (1976). Bay Area Rapid Transit: who pays and who benefits?. University of California.
* Engineering Geology of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) System, 1964–75

## External links[edit | edit source]

Route map:

KML file (edit • help)

Template:Attached KML/Bay Area Rapid Transit

KML is not from Wikidata

Media related to Bay Area Rapid Transit at Wikimedia Commons

* Bay Area Rapid Transit

* v
* t
* e

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)

Current lines|

| Rapid transit|

* Berryessa/​North San José–Richmond line
* Antioch–SFO+Millbrae line
* Berryessa/​North San José–Daly City line
* Richmond–Millbrae+SFO line
* Dublin/​Pleasanton–Daly City line

|

Light rail|

* Antioch–SFO+Millbrae Line (eBART)

Automated guideway transit|

* Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line

Stations|

| Alameda County|

| Oakland|

* 12th Street Oakland City Center
* 19th Street Oakland
* Coliseum
* Fruitvale
* Lake Merritt
* MacArthur
* Oakland International Airport
* Rockridge
* West Oakland

|

* Ashby
* Bay Fair
* Castro Valley
* Downtown Berkeley
* Dublin/​Pleasanton
* Fremont
* Hayward
* North Berkeley
* San Leandro
* South Hayward
* Union City
* Warm Springs/​South Fremont
* West Dublin/​Pleasanton

Planned (2026)|

* Irvington

Contra Costa County|

* Antioch
* Concord
* El Cerrito del Norte
* El Cerrito Plaza
* Lafayette
* North Concord/​Martinez
* Orinda
* Pittsburg/​Bay Point
* Pittsburg Center
* Pleasant Hill/​Contra Costa Centre
* Richmond
* Walnut Creek

San Francisco|

* 16th Street Mission
* 24th Street Mission
* Balboa Park
* Civic Center/​UN Plaza
* Embarcadero
* Glen Park
* Montgomery Street
* Powell Street

San Mateo County|

* Colma
* Daly City
* Millbrae
* San Bruno
* San Francisco International Airport
* South San Francisco

Santa Clara County|

* Berryessa/​North San José
* Milpitas

Planned (2029–30)|

* 28th Street/​Little Portugal
* Diridon
* Downtown San José
* Santa Clara

Infrastructure|

* Berkeley Hills Tunnel
* Doolittle Car Barn
* Market Street subway
* Oakland Wye
* Ohlone Greenway
* Transbay Tube

History|

* Planned expansion
* Silicon Valley extension
* SFO–Millbrae line

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)

Other|

* Rolling stock
* BART Police
* Killing of Oscar Grant
* Bay Area Rapid Transit District
* Clipper
* Library-A-Go-Go
* Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority
* Category for related articles

Links to related articles

* v
* t
* e

Public transit in the San Francisco Bay Area

Rail|

* ACE
* AirTrain
* Amtrak
* California Zephyr
* Capitol Corridor
* Coast Starlight
* San Joaquins
* BART
* Caltrain
* Muni
* Muni Metro
* E Embarcadero
* F Market & Wharves
* cable cars
* SMART
* VTA light rail
* Valley Link (planned)

Ferry|

* Alcatraz Cruises
* Angel Island–Tiburon Ferry
* Blue & Gold Fleet
* Golden Gate Ferry
* San Francisco Bay Ferry
* Red & White Fleet
* Ryer Island Ferry

Major bus|

* AC Transit
* County Connection
* FAST
* Golden Gate Transit
* Muni
* SamTrans
* Santa Rosa CityBus
* SolTrans
* Sonoma County Transit
* Tri Delta Transit
* VINE Transit
* VTA
* WestCAT
* Wheels

Minor bus|

* Bear Transit
* Commute.org
* Dumbarton Express
* Emery Go-Round
* Healdsburg Transit
* Kaiser Shuttle
* Stanford Marguerite Shuttle
* Marin Transit
* Petaluma Transit
* Presidio Go Shuttle
* Rio Vista Delta Breeze
* San Leandro LINKS
* Union City Transit
* Vacaville City Coach

Regional bus|

* Amtrak Thruway
* Highway 17 Express
* FlixBus
* Greyhound
* Lake Transit
* Megabus
* Mendocino Transit
* San Benito Transit
* San Joaquin RTD
* SolanoExpress
* StanRTA
* Yolobus

Entities|

* All Nighter
* Bay Area Rapid Transit District
* Bay Area Toll Authority
* Clipper card
* Commute.org
* Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District
* Market Street Railway
* MTC
* SFCTA
* SFMTA
* SolanoExpress
* Spare the Air

Major
stations|

| San Francisco|

* 4th & King
* Balboa Park
* Embarcadero
* Civic Center
* Ferry Building
* Montgomery
* Pier 41
* Powell
* SF State
* Transbay Transit Center
* West Portal

|

Oakland|

* 12th Street Oakland
* 19th Street Oakland
* Coliseum
* Eastmont TC
* Jack London Square
* MacArthur
* OAK

San Jose|

* Berryessa
* Diridon
* Eastridge TC
* Metro/SJC
* Milpitas
* Tamien
* Tasman

* Antioch
* Bay Fair
* Berkeley
* Downtown Berkeley
* Cloverdale
* Curtola Park & Ride
* Concord
* Daly City
* Dublin/Pleasanton
* El Cerrito del Norte
* Emeryville
* Fairfield TC
* Fremont
* Fremont-Centerville
* Gilroy
* Great America
* Hayward
* Hercules TC
* Hillsdale
* Larkspur Landing
* Martinez
* Millbrae
* Mountain View
* Novato Downtown
* Petaluma
* Palo Alto
* Pittsburg/Bay Point
* Richmond
* Richmond Ferry
* Richmond Parkway TC
* San Rafael TC
* Santa Clara
* VTA Santa Clara
* Santa Rosa
* Santa Rosa Downtown
* Sausalito
* SFO
* Tiburon
* Union City
* Vacaville TC
* Vallejo Station
* Walnut Creek
* Windsor

Major historical
services|

* East Bay Electric Lines
* East Shore and Suburban Railway
* Golden Gate Ferry Company
* Key System
* Market Street Railway
* Northwestern Pacific interurban lines
* Oakland Railroad Company
* Ocean Shore Railroad
* Richmond–San Rafael Ferry Company
* San Mateo interurban

* v
* t
* e

Currently operating heavy rail rapid transit systems in the United States

| California|

* Bay Area Rapid Transit
* Los Angeles Metro Rail
* B and D lines

|

DC–MD–VA|

* Washington Metro

Florida|

* Miami Metrorail

Georgia|

* Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority

Illinois|

* Chicago "L"

Maryland|

* Baltimore Metro SubwayLink

Massachusetts|

* MBTA subway
* Blue, Orange, and Red lines

| New York|

* New York City Subway
* Staten Island Railway

|

New York/New Jersey|

* PATH

Ohio|

* Cleveland RTA Rapid Transit Red Line

Pennsylvania|

* SEPTA
* Broad Street, Market–Frankford, and Norristown High Speed lines

Pennsylvania/New Jersey|

* PATCO Speedline

Puerto Rico|

* San Juan Tren Urbano

Other transit in the United States:

* Light rail/Streetcar
* People mover & monorail
* Trolleybus
* Commuter rail

* v
* t
* e

Railroads of California

Common carriers|

* Arizona & California Railroad
* Baja California Railroad
* BNSF
* Central California Traction Company
* California Northern Railroad
* Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad
* Goose Lake Railway
* Los Angeles Junction Railway
* Merced County Central Valley Railroad
* Modesto & Empire Traction Company
* Napa Valley Wine Train
* Northwestern Pacific Railroad
* Pacific Harbor Line
* Quincy Railroad
* Richmond Pacific Railroad
* Sacramento Southern Railroad
* Sacramento Valley Railroad
* San Francisco Bay Railroad
* Santa Cruz, Big Trees & Pacific Railway
* Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Railroad
* San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad
* Sierra Northern Railway
* San Joaquin Valley Railroad
* Santa Maria Valley Railroad
* Stockton Terminal & Eastern Railroad
* Trona Railway
* Union Pacific
* Ventura County Railroad
* West Oakland Pacific Railroad
* Yreka Western Railroad

Passenger carriers|

* Altamont Corridor Express
* Amtrak
* Amtrak California
* California High-Speed Rail (future)
* Caltrain
* Coaster
* Metrolink
* Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit

Private carriers|

* Edwards Air Force Base
* Southern California Railroad
* USG Corporation
* West Isle Line, Inc.

Heritage railroads|

* Calico and Odessa Railroad
* California Trolley and Railroad Corporation
* California Western Railroad
* Disneyland Monorail System
* Disneyland Railroad
* Ghost Town & Calico Railroad
* Niles Canyon Railway
* Napa Valley Wine Train
* Pacific Southwest Railway Museum
* Poway–Midland Railroad
* Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad
* Sacramento Southern Railroad
* Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific Railway
* Sierra Railroad
* Sacramento RiverTrain
* Western Pacific Railroad Museum
* Western Railway Museum
* Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad

See also: Former carriers in California * List of United States railroads by political division

* v
* t
* e

Oakland, California

Economy|

* Port of Oakland
* List of companies

Education|

| Higher|

* California College of the Arts
* Holy Names University
* Laney College
* Lincoln University
* Merritt College
* Mills College
* Samuel Merritt University
* Patten University

|

Primary and
secondary|

* Oakland USD
* Castlemont High
* Coliseum College Prep Academy
* Fremont High
* McClymonds High
* MetWest High
* Oakland High
* Oakland Technical High
* Skyline High
* American Indian Model Schools
* High School
* The Crucible
* Bishop O'Dowd High School
* The College Preparatory School
* Head-Royce School
* Oakland School for the Arts
* St. Elizabeth High School

Government|

* Mayors
* City Hall
* City Council
* Fire Department
* Police Department

History
(Timeline)|

* Oakland Railroad Company
* Oakland Army Base
* Key System
* Naval Supply Depot
* Black Panther Party
* 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
* Firestorm of 1991
* Oscar Grant shooting
* Shootings of police officers
* Riders scandal
* Your Black Muslim Bakery
* Occupy Oakland
* Oakland Tribune
* Oikos University shooting
* Ghost Ship warehouse fire

Sports|

* Oakland Athletics
* Oakland Roots SC

Transportation|

* San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
* SR 24
* Caldecott Tunnel
* Posey and Webster Street Tubes
* MacArthur Maze
* Interstate 580
* Interstate 880
* Cypress Street Viaduct
* Warren Freeway
* International Boulevard
* Oakland – Jack London Square station
* Oakland International Airport
* AC Transit
* Eastmont Transit Center

| BART stations|

* 12th Street Oakland City Center
* 19th Street Oakland (Uptown Transit Center)
* Coliseum
* Lake Merritt
* MacArthur
* OAK
* Rockridge
* West Oakland

|

Other|

* Designated Landmarks
* Neighborhoods
* Notable people
* Tallest buildings
* Children's Hospital
* Mountain View Cemetery
* Lake Merritt
* Temescal Creek
* Sausal Creek
* Crime

Related|

* Alameda County
* San Francisco Bay Area
* California
* United States

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Community of Metros benchmarking organization members

Asia|

* Bangalore Metro
* Beijing Subway
* Delhi Metro
* Dubai Metro
* Guangzhou Metro
* Bangkok MRT
* Hong Kong MTR
* MRT Jakarta
* Nanjing Metro
* Rapid Kuala Lumpur
* Seoul Metro
* Shanghai Metro
* Shenzhen Metro
* Singapore MRT
* Taipei Metro
* Tokyo Metro

Europe|

* Barcelona Metro
* Berlin U-Bahn
* Brussels Metro
* Istanbul Metro
* Lisbon Metro
* London DLR
* London Underground
* Madrid Metro
* Oslo Metro
* Paris Métro
* Paris RER
* Tyne and Wear Metro

Americas|

* Bay Area Rapid Transit
* Buenos Aires Underground
* Honolulu Rail Transit
* Mexico City Metro
* Montreal Metro
* New York City Subway
* Ottawa O-Train
* New Jersey / New York PATH
* Rio de Janeiro Metro
* Santiago Metro
* São Paulo Metro
* Toronto subway
* Vancouver SkyTrain
* Washington Metro

Oceania|

* Sydney Metro
* Sydney Trains

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template