48 Facts About BART

1.

BART serves 50 stations along six routes on 131 miles of rapid transit lines, including a 10-mile spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses diesel multiple-unit trains and a 3.

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2.

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.

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3.

BART operates five named heavy rail services plus one separate automated guideway line.

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4.

However, the new fleet displays line colors more prominently, and BART has begun to use color names in press releases and GTFS data.

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5.

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.

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6.

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.

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7.

Many BART stations are served by privately run employer and hospital shuttles, and privately run intercity buses stop at several stations.

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8.

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.

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9.

In 1962, San Mateo County supervisors voted to leave BART, saying their voters would be paying taxes to carry mainly Santa Clara County residents.

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10.

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.

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11.

The new BART system was hailed as a major step forward in subway technology, although questions were asked concerning the safety of the system and the huge expenditures necessary for the construction of the network.

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12.

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.

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13.

In 2018, BART announced that a feasibility study for installing a second transbay crossing would commence the following year.

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14.

In 2007, BART stated its intention to improve non-peak headways for each line to 15 minutes.

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15.

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.

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16.

Nevertheless, BART eventually confirmed the implementation of the plan by January 2008.

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17.

In 2008, BART announced that it would install solar panels at two yards, maintenance facilities, and Orinda station.

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18.

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.

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19.

In December 2020, BART completed the changeover to Clipper and stopped issuing magstripe paper tickets.

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20.

Mainline BART network operates six types of electrically operated, self-propelled railcars, built from four separate orders.

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21.

Vehicle procurement for eBART included eight Stadler GTW diesel railcars, with two options to purchase six more.

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22.

BART has ordered 775 new cars from manufacturer Bombardier Transportation: 310 cab cars and 465 non-cab cars.

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23.

BART has distance-based fares, which requires riders to use faregates to both enter and exit, with a flat fare of $2.

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24.

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.

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25.

Primary fare media for BART is the Clipper card, which is used by most Bay Area transit agencies.

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26.

BART formerly relied on unused ticket values on such discarded cards for additional revenue – as much as $9.

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27.

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.

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28.

In 2009, BART became one of the first five transit agencies to accept TransLink cards for fare payment and began phasing out paper tickets, beginning with high-value discount tickets.

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29.

Between 2010 and 2015, BART ridership grew rapidly, mirroring strong economic growth in the Bay Area.

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30.

BART planners believe that competition from Uber and Lyft is reducing overall ridership growth and BART's share of airport transit.

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31.

On June 19,2015, BART recorded 548,078 riders for the Golden State Warriors championship parade, placing second on the all-time ridership list.

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32.

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.

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33.

BART set a Sunday ridership record of 292,957 riders in June 2013, in connection with the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, surpassing Sunday records set the previous two years when the Pride Parade was held.

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34.

BART was one of the first US rail transit systems of any size to be substantially automated.

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35.

Many BART stations offer parking; however, underpricing causes station parking lots to overflow in the morning.

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36.

BART offers long-term airport parking through a third-party vendor at most East Bay stations.

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37.

All BART trains have dedicated spaces for wheelchair users and every station has accessible elevators.

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38.

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.

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39.

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.

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40.

Uninterrupted cellular coverage of the entire BART system is a goal.

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41.

In 2007, BART ran a beta test of Wi-Fi Internet access for travelers.

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42.

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.

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43.

On July 3,2011, two officers of the BART Police shot and killed Charles Hill at Civic Center Station in San Francisco.

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44.

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".

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45.

At the time of the accident, BART had assigned trains headed in opposite directions to a shared track for routine maintenance.

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46.

BART came under further fire in February 2009 for allegedly delaying payment of death benefits to Strickland's family.

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47.

The BART trainer was not in the cab with the operator at the time of impact but was instead in the passenger compartment.

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48.

In mid-2017, BART came under severe criticism for suppression of video evidence of crimes committed at Oakland stations.

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