BART's top 24 accomplishments of 2024

2024 was a big year for BART as we continued to enhance the customer experience, improve safety and cleanliness, and invest in the future. 

These are 24 things we're proud of this year. 

1. Thousands joined us at MacArthur Station to mark the end of an era and say farewell to our 51-year-old legacy fleet at the Ride into History, a retirement ceremony and final ride event. Soon thereafter, three legacy cars were delivered to the Western Railway Museum for their forthcoming Rapid Transit History Center.  
2. The Fleet of the Future new train car project came in hundreds of millions of dollars under budget thanks to tight project management, and the final car of the original contract, car #775, was officially certified for passenger service. The project is now entering its second phase.

3. BART broke its post-pandemic ridership on September 26 with 224,721 exits, the highest ridership day since March of 2020! 
4. Customer satisfaction is now at 83% -- up nearly 10 percentage points compared to the 1st quarter (July to September) of 2023. Customers say train cars are cleaner and the visible safety presence on trains has increased since BART implemented its Safe and Clean Plan.  
5. BART installed Next Generation Fare Gates at 12 stations, with more stations on the way. 
6. The percentage of riders who reported seeing a visible increase in safety presence was between 18% and 20% in 2024 (up from 10% in 2023) as BART Police maintained focus on deploying every available officer to trains and stations. The department also hired more officers than any year since 2019, reducing the January 2024 vacancy total from 29 to 19 as of December 2024. 
7. BART’s limited-income fare discount, Clipper START, increased from 20% to 50% at the beginning of the year, and ridership in the program has more than doubled since 2023. 
8. Bikes are now allowed on nearly all of the escalators in the BART system to make it easier for riders to bring them on trains.  
9. BART completed construction on entrance canopies at Embarcadero, Montgomery St, and Civic Center stations and installed new state-of-the-art street and platform escalators at Embarcadero, Powell, Montgomery St, and Civic Center stations. There are now 14 completed canopies and 16 new escalators at San Francisco stations.  
10. BART replaced three additional miles of worn rail this year, bringing the total amount of replaced rail to 55 miles. Funds for rail replacement come from voter-approved Measure RR, which is being used to rebuild the backbone of the BART system. 
11. BART awarded over half of our contract award dollars to minority- and women-owned businesses this year, and our Office of Civil Rights hosted its first Small Business Summit, which brought over 175 participants to BART Headquarters to connect with opportunities.   

12. BART and Bay Area transit agencies unveiled a new, uniform look for regional transit maps and signage, including local transit and facility maps, diagrams, and bus stop signs. The new designs will make regional transit easier to navigate by delivering information that is clear, predictable, and familiar across service areas and county lines.  
13. Bay Area transit agencies joined forces to sync schedules in a whole new way with a focus on improving transfers between systems and making schedule changes at the same time. There has been a 250% increase in the number of transit agencies changing their schedule concurrently twice each year, and six of seven major transit providers are syncing their schedule changes at least once a year. 
14. Clipper BayPass, the prepaid unlimited-ride transit pass, entered its second phase, meaning employers are now able to purchase the passes for their workers. Total BayPass trips across all operators was 1.6 million (from Jan. 1 – Nov. 30, 2024). BayPass has already begun generating revenue for our agency by increasing ridership! 

15. The Governor signed into law a bill sponsored by BART to modernize its financial operations by merging all functions under a newly created Chief Financial Officer (CFO) position. BART’s first CFO began in December 2024 and has the authority to streamline BART’s financial forecasting, budgeting, and reporting of financial data. The new structure will create greater accountability to realize long-term cost savings and to better navigate the significant funding challenges ahead.  
16. BART leadership implemented recommendations made by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to improve operational efficiencies and enhance contract oversight, ensuring taxpayer money is used appropriately. The OIG also made progress in 2024 on audits aimed at identifying opportunities for BART to control or avoid costs. 
17. Several Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) projects in partnership with BART received major grants, including: 
    1. $25 million for North Berkeley TOD mobility enhancements from the Cycle 7 Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. 
    2. $35 million for North Berkeley TOD on BART property from the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program by the California Strategic Council.  
    3. $25 million for El Cerrito Plaza TOD on BART property from AHSC. 
    4. $25 million for an affordable housing near Walnut Creek Station from AHSC.  
18. BART celebrated the groundbreaking of 97 units of affordable TOD housing for seniors on the site of Lake Merritt Station’s old parking lot.  
19. BART secured a $14 million grant from the US Department of Transportation for new electric vehicle charging stations at all BART-managed parking facilities. The charging stations will be available for BART riders as well as community members who live nearby. 
20. BART’s decadeslong Earthquake Safety Program was officially completed following the completion of the internal retrofit of the Transbay Tube – just in time for the iconic bay crossing’s 50th birthday! 
21. BART released the Role in the Region Report, which aims to inform a regional conversation about the future of BART by describing its contributions to the Bay Area. The report was released in tandem with BART Connects, a rider storytelling series that illustrates the different ways BART affects real people’s lives.

22. In 2024, BART hosted a bunch of iconic events, including: 
    1. Project Doneway fashion show, featuring 35 garments constructed out of retired BART paper tickets by fashion students at Oakland School for the Arts, Academy of Art, San Francisco State University, and City College of San Francisco. 
    2. BARTmobile 20th Birthday Party that included face painting, music, carnival games, free cupcakes, and free rides in the BARTmobile (a rare opportunity for the public)! 
    3. BART Night at the Oakland Ballers, a special celebration of community, baseball, and the transit system that takes you to the games! BART partnered with the Ballers on their inaugural season, and the team’s jerseys currently feature our logo. 
    4. Sound Tracks free live music series was held at three different stations and featured three local bands/musicians. 
    5. Ride Into History, a retirement party for BART's legacy train cars that saw thousands celebrate at MacArthur Station and take a final ride on the historic trains.  
    6. BART x Yifang boba cuplseeves collab, which culminated in a popup event at Colma Yifang. 
23. Plus, we hosted some awesome engagement programs: 
    1. BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest, which resulted in 31 winning poems about BART and the Bay Area that you can read in our story dispensers at Balboa Park, Downtown Berkeley, Fruitvale, and Pleasant Hill stations.  
    2. The Autism Transit Project, a national program that invites youth on the spectrum to record station announcements for Autism Acceptance Month. Twenty local young people recorded announcements that played at 35 BART stations. 
    3. Bach in the Subways, a worldwide celebration of Johann Sebastian Bach. More than ten local musicians played Bach at various BART stations. 
24. Last but not least, we launched a Fun Stuff webpage that compiles all the fun stuff we’re doing at BART in one place, including upcoming events and a special section for Rider Guides, which describe how to take transit to local venues in a visual, easy-to-read format.