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Transit Breakdown (Literally): BART’s Big Budget Trouble, Anemic Ridership...
Updated 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022 As far as we know, the coronavirus can’t get inside the machinery of a train or bus or ferry boat and actually shut them down. But it might as well be able to....
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BART Reverses Course, Says Lateefah Simon Remains on Board of Directors
BART has reversed course on its abrupt decision earlier this month to remove Director Lateefah Simon from her seat on the agency’s elected board. BART announced Wednesday that, after conferring with...
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No Masks Required on Bay Area Public Transit, Including BART and Muni
Stay up to date on the latest developments on mask mandates in the Bay Area with our daily newsletter. Sign up for the News Daily here. Updated 8:45 a.m. Thursday The federal travel mask mandate —...
View ArticleMasks Are Optional. But Not For the Medically Vulnerable.
A federal judge in Florida ruled on Monday that the federal mask mandate was unlawful. Hours later, the Transportation Security Administration lifted mask rules inside airports, airplanes and on public...
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Here’s Why You Might Still Want to Wear Masks on Public Transport
Just how likely are you to pick up a case of COVID-19 on that upcoming flight, bus commute or train ride? This is what many Americans are trying to gauge after a Florida judge’s ruling halted the...
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Re-Requiring Face Masks
BART reinstated a face mask mandate last week, making it the only transit agency in the Bay Area to require masking. This is just the latest example of our nation’s patchwork approach to handling a...
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‘My Roots Are at the Flea Market’: As La Pulga Closure Looms Over Vendors,...
Katrina Ramos White pulls open the gate of the stall that houses her family’s toy business. It’s 8 a.m. on a Saturday at San José’s Berryessa Flea Market and dozens of other businesses are already up...
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The Key to This BART Station’s Pigeon Problem? A Hawk Named Pac-Man
Updated July 21, 2022 at 5:05 AM PT An El Cerrito BART station has turned to an unlikely hero to try to solve its pigeon problem: Pac-Man. No, not the perpetually hungry video game character. This...
View ArticlePushing to Make BART Safer for Women and Girls
The Not One More Girl campaign launched in 2020 after a survey of Bay Area youth found that women and girls feared for their safety when using public transportation. Spearheaded by youth, the campaign...
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A Sweet Deal: This Oakland Beekeeper Rescues Bees From BART — Then Sells the...
You wouldn’t think BART assisted the plant life cycle in any way, yet the agency has found itself helping local honeybees — an insect that’s key to growing crops — through relocation instead of...
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Why Doesn’t BART Go More Places?
Read a transcript of this episode here. UC Berkeley doctoral candidate Ziad Shafi has lived in several parts of the U.S. and in Europe. In Washington, D.C., he was impressed with the metro system,...
View ArticleBART Board Censures Member for Racist Comment
Updated 1:45 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26: The BART Board of Directors voted to censure member John McPartland for using a racist expression during a meeting earlier this month. McPartland told three Black...
View ArticleBART to Pay $9.15 Million to Settle Case of Man Dragged by Train
BART has agreed to the costliest legal settlement in its half-century history in a case involving a passenger who was severely injured when he was shut in a train door and dragged along a platform in...
View ArticleBART is Staring Down a Fiscal Cliff
People just aren’t taking public transit like they used to. BART’s ridership is still less than 40% of what it was before March 2020. On top of that, the agency’s federal emergency funding is scheduled...
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Battle Over BART Oversight Will Continue After Watchdog’s Departure
Last week’s announcement that BART intends to nearly triple the budget for its inspector general is unlikely to end the long-running battle over how much power the office, set up several years ago to...
View ArticleDisplaced Residents From Coliseum-Area Complex Want BART to Hold Developer...
Scores of residents forced over New Year’s weekend to evacuate a flood-damaged East Oakland apartment complex built on BART property are still months away from being able to return home and are...
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Some Bay Area Public Transit Lines Could Be Cut This Summer as California...
As California grapples with a $31.5 billion budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom in his latest spending plan denied public transit agencies a lifeline. But transit officials and their supporters in the...
View ArticleAnnie Fryman on Public Transit in ‘Emergency Mode’
Marisa and Guy Marzorati discuss how the deal to raise the federal debt limit divided California House Democrats, with implications for the 2024 U.S. Senate race. Then, Annie Fryman, Director of...
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$1.1 Billion State Bailout Proposed for Transit Agencies Facing ‘Fiscal Cliff’
After months of pleas from transit agencies and public transportation advocates, California lawmakers have released an emergency funding plan to help commuter rail and bus operators deal with their...
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3 Big Takeaways from California’s $311 Billion Budget Deal
Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democrats who control the California Legislature agreed late Monday on how to spend $310.8 billion over the next year, endorsing a plan that covers a nearly $32 billion budget...
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BART’s Most Elaborate ‘Ugly’ Sweater Is Available for Presale Now
The race is on to secure one of the Bay Area’s hottest drops of the season: BART’s famous ugly sweater is available for presale today. According to BART communications officer Anna Duckworth, this...
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BART Board Votes to Oppose Bill That Would Decriminalize Fare Evasion
In a decision that centered on a longstanding subject of rider complaints, a divided BART Board of Directors voted Thursday to oppose a bill in the Legislature that would end criminal penalties for...
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Bill to Raise Bay Area Bridge Tolls to Help Transit Put on Hold Amid Local...
Update, Monday, Aug. 21: State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) announced early Monday he’s “pausing” SB 532, a proposal to impose a $1.50 bridge toll increase to support Bay Area transit agencies...
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Do You Love BART’s Nixon-Era Train Cars? Ride Now, Because They’re About to...
BART’s classic old train cars — maybe “classic” should be in quotes — have a storied history. When they began service in the previous century, a soon-to-be-disgraced president of the United States was...
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BART’s Big Schedule Changes: Which Lines Are Getting More (or Less) Service?
Big changes are coming to BART, with the launch of a “reimagined” service beginning Sept. 11, complete with significantly shorter trains (PDF) and a new timetable (PDF) that promises riders won’t wait...
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Will BART’s Program to Battle Sexual Harassment Make Riders Feel Safer?
After Phase 1 launched two years ago, BART is now expanding its effort to battle sexual harassment and gender-based violence on the transit system — or, at least, battle the perception of BART as...
View ArticleBART’s Plan to Win Us Back
View the full episode transcript. On Monday, BART rolled out a new schedule and changes to its system. They’re calling it a “reimagined” service plan. Combine that with increased police and...
View ArticleThe Bay’s November News Roundup: Transit Funding, Prison Wages, and Tupac...
View the full episode transcript. In this edition of The Bay’s monthly news roundup (our last one of the year!), Ericka, Maria and Alan talk about how public transit agencies have temporarily averted a...
View ArticleBART Restores Normal Service After Derailment and Fire Near Orinda
Update, 9 a.m. Tuesday: BART has restored service to its busiest corridor after successfully removing a pair of train cars that derailed near Orinda early Monday. The derailment was followed by a brief...
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BART Fraud Watchdog Uncovers Worker Time-Card Scams
BART’s independent fraud watchdog said it has uncovered several new cases in which employees clocked in for work shifts but then spent their time elsewhere. The agency’s inspector general’s office said...
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