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Friday, August 9, was a thrilling and long-awaited day for the Western Railway Museum (WRM) as the railroad history museum received the first of three decommissioned legacy BART cars for its forthcoming Rapid Transit History Center.  

The museum was awarded the three retired cars – an A, B, and C car – following a call for proposals in 2021 that selected eight recipients to receive decommissioned cars (two recipients later declined). BART officially retired its legacy fleet, which carried passengers for more than 50 years since the opening of the system, at a ceremony and final ride in April 2024. All 55 trains in service are now made up of new cars. 

BART’s legacy cars have a tremendous sentimental value with passengers in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and we wanted to ensure the historic vehicles would have a second life, or more accurately, second lives. The chosen six groups will reuse their cars for a multitude of purposes, including a short-term rental in the Sierras, a bike shop and clubhouse for Oakland youth, a dining car with retro arcade games, and more. The Hayward Fire Department picked up their car earlier this year for its new Regional Fire Training Center.  

There was one major catch the recipients had to agree to: BART would give the cars to the groups for free, but they had to transport the cars from their temporary home at BART’s Hayward shops to their final destinations.  

As you can imagine, moving a 64,000-pound BART car is not something that can be accomplished with your average trailer hitch. It requires a flatbed truck with a yellow “OVERSIZE” banner as well as a crane for getting the car off the bed. Moving just one car costs thousands of dollars.  

The Western Railway Museum raised money to make sure they could get the cars to their new temporary home in Car House 3 until their proposed Rapid Transit History Center is completed. The history center will educate the public about BART and its history of innovation. In addition to the three cars, which the public will be able to enter and explore, the center will include displays, videos, a set of wheels from the front of a cab car, third rail equipment, and the antennas that enable the train to pick up power and communicate with train control. In all, the history center will celebrate the "amazing technology of the 'world's first' automated rapid transit system," said Bob Simon, a retired BART Engineering and Operations Manager who sits on the Western Railway Museum's board of directors.

"The creation and implementation of cutting-edge technologies began with BART's visionaires understanding the great challenge to design a new transit concept. They were not unlike the visionaries who went on to build Silicon Valley," he continued, offering his thanks for the support and enthusiasm of BART General Manager Bob Powers, the BART Board of Directors, and the museum's dedicated volunteers and staff.

So what does it take to move a BART car? Western Railway Museum staff found out firsthand on August 9 when they showed up to the Hayward shops with a flatbed truck and helping hands. BART employees prepared for their visit by transferring the car  – #1164 – from its holding track (where the soon-to-be-decommissioned legacy cars are held) to the shop bay with a crane.  

When the truck arrived from Salazar Heavy Haul – the same company that delivered BART’s Fleet of the Future cars – BART staff hooked the car up to the crane and attempted to load it on the bed. There was an unforeseen problem: The undercar equipment was just a few inches too big for the truck bed, so BART staff had to improvise by removing the battery box and HVAC underneath it. Most decommissioned cars won’t have this problem as they’ll be picked up with the wheels and mounts removed. That wouldn’t do for Western Railway Museum, however.  

“They want everything on the cars so they are as authentic as possible,” explained Brian Tsukamoto, BART Manager of Special Projects – Decommissioning. “They’ll be coming back to pick up the battery box and HVAC.”  

Once the temporarily modified car was loaded and secured by the highly skilled driver, it was on its way from Hayward to Suisun City up north. A sign in its front window read: “I’m going to the Western Railway Museum.” 

At the museum, the team unloaded the car from the truck using a rented crane and used conversion dollies to allow the car, built for BART’s wide gauge, to be maneuvered on their standard-gauge track. Then, using a former Muni work train locomotive, they zig-zagged the car to Car House 3 and unloaded it onto the BART gauge track they built for it. To save on cutting concrete and rebar, a steel rail strap bridge was fabricated to get the car over the car house door foundation and the public walkway to its platform. 

The process will soon be repeated with the B and C cars, which the museum is working to schedule with BART staff and Salazar Heavy Haul. We’ll be sharing updates.  

Learn more about the Western History Museum here and the Legacy Fleet Decommissioning project  here. 

BART will be accepting applications for membership on the BART Police Citizen Review Board (BPCRB) from Monday, July 8, 2024 - Thursday, August 8, 2024. This appointment will be made by BART Director Melissa Hernandez, District 5.

As a volunteer of the BPCRB, members work to increase the public's confidence in BART's policing services by:

• Reviewing, recommending, and monitoring the implementation of changes to police policies, procedures, and practices
• Receiving citizen allegations of on-duty police misconduct
• Advising Board of Directors, General Manager, Independent Police Auditor, and Police Chief
• Participating in recommending appropriate disciplinary action
• Meeting periodically with representatives of the BART Police associations
• Participating in community outreach

Member Qualifications 

Members must:

• Reside within Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, or San Mateo counties
• Be fair-minded and objective
• Have demonstrated commitment to community service
• Not be currently employed in a law enforcement capacity, either sworn or non-sworn 
• Not be a relative of current or former BART Police Department personnel
• Have no felony convictions

Duration of Service

All appointments to the BPCRB are for a term of two years. There are no term limits. 

How to Apply

To learn more about the BPCRB and/or how to apply for appointment, visit our website at bart.gov/about/bod/advisory/crb. Access the digital application here and the print application below. 

Please send an email to [email protected] or call (510) 464-6083 with any questions.

Application period closes on Thursday, August 8, 2024

Documents

BPCRB Recruitment Flyer (.doc)

Application for BPCRB - District 5 (.doc)

BPCRB General Information (.doc)

BART Police is participating in National Night Out, a community-building event held on the first Tuesday in August every year. This year, BART Police will host two events, and BART employees and their families are invited to join in. The events will be held at Bay Fair and Millbrae stations and will feature games, music, food, and opportunities to interact with BART Police officers and staff.  

First introduced in 1984, National Night Out aims to enhance the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement. BART Police has participated in the campaign for over a decade.

Both events are from 4-7pm on Tuesday, August 6.

Bay Fair Station

15242 Hesperian Blvd, San Leandro

Hosted by Community Service Officer Susie Johnston 

Millbrae Station

200 North Rollins Rd, Millbrae

Hosted by Crisis Intervention Specialist Remberto Calero 

BART invites the public to join us to mark and celebrate the end of an era: the last run of BART’s legacy trains composed of rail cars that have been serving the Bay Area for more than half a century. We’re calling the event “Riding into History: Final Run of the First Fleet.”

The retirement ceremony will begin at 1pm on Saturday, April 20, 2024 at Oakland’s MacArthur Station with the and final dispatch of legacy trains happening after the speeches. 

We recommend arriving around noon to enjoy the food trucks and activities we have planned. 

The ceremony will take place in the plaza (free area) of the MacArthur station and will include food trucks (bayareamunchiez.com and noodle-cone.com), activity tables, a raffle for legacy car number plates, a pop-up merch store, and a stamp rally. Bring your stamp rally passport if you have one. Many of the groups who are repurposing old BART cars for new uses will be in attendance to share information about their projects. 

Following the ceremony, the public will line up in the plaza and then board a legacy train and ride from MacArthur to Fremont Station, mirroring the initial service BART provided when it opened September 11, 1972. It’s a 45-minute trip that travels along approximately 24 miles of the original section of tracks. There will be more than one legacy train for the event. The trains will make all station stops and may turn around at Bay Fair depending on the number of attendees waiting to ride.

Every rider will need to pay for the ride with their Clipper card. The fare depends on where each rider is going after the ride. 

“These train cars are part of the history of the Bay Area,” said Bob Powers, BART General Manager. “While we are excited to modernize the system, we recognize the profound cultural importance of these cars, and we want to celebrate their rich history and give them a proper send off.”

BART is able to completely retire the legacy fleet thanks to the success of the Fleet of the Future project. Seven hundred six new Fleet of the Future train cars are now certified for service – that’s 30 more cars than the legacy fleet inventory. A total of 720 new cars are on BART property as of April 1, 2024, and twenty cars a month are now being delivered to BART – twice as many as when the new cars first began to be delivered to the Hayward test track in 2016. 

While the April 20 trip will be the final time the public will be able to ride the legacy fleet cars, it won’t be the last opportunity to spend time with the historic vehicles.

Three legacy cars will be headed to the Western Railway Museum in Suisun City for preservation and to provide a space for transit enthusiasts, researchers, and museum guests to enjoy and study for years to come. The three cars, including an iconic sloped-front A car, will be the only cars from the legacy fleet to be displayed at a museum.

A handful of other legacy cars will be transferred to those who successfully submitted proposals to repurpose the cars for short-term rentals, entertainment venues, and training facilities. 

Most of the legacy cars, however, have been recycled, so April 20 is the last chance to ride these historic cars. 

BART is launching an early morning service blitz to help Cal fans get to the first ever appearance of ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show in Berkeley this Saturday, October 5. BART will offer five trains with limited stops before our regular Saturday service begins at 6am. The special early service will get fans to Downtown Berkeley Station around 5am, before the start of the pregame show. 

The special early morning event trains will only serve the following stations:  Daly City, 16th Street Mission, Powell, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Orinda, Fremont, Dublin/Pleasanton, Bay Fair, Fruitvale, El Cerrito del Norte, and MacArthur. These 12 stations in addition to Downtown Berkeley will be the only ones opened for the special early service. Full details on our added early morning service are available in the Trip Planner at BART.gov and on the official BART app.

The added early morning trains will go out of service once they complete their trips. Riders cannot board a train at Downtown Berkeley before regular Saturday service begins at 6am. 

The game against Miami kicks off at 7:30pm. BART will run longer 8-car trains on the Red and Orange lines as well as add several event trains to its normal service that night to accommodate the anticipated crowds.

Special Service Details

*A northbound Red Line train will leave Daly City at 4:19am and will make stops at 16th Street Mission, Powell, and MacArthur before arriving at Downtown Berkeley Station at 4:55am. 

*A southbound Orange Line train will leave El Cerrito del Norte at 4:47am and arrive at Downtown Berkeley Station at 4:55am. 

*A northbound Orange Line train will leave Fremont at 4:13am and will make stops at Bay Fair, Fruitvale, and MacArthur before arriving at Downtown Berkeley at 4:55am.

*A westbound Blue Line train will depart Dublin/Pleasanton at 4:08am and stop at Bay Fair at 4:25am where riders can then transfer to the northbound Orange Line train to Downtown Berkeley at 4:25am.

*A southbound Yellow Line train will depart Pleasant Hill at 4:25am and make stops at Walnut Creek and Orinda before arriving at MacArthur Station at 4:45am where riders can transfer to the northbound Orange Line train to Downtown Berkeley at 4:50am.

Tips

BART parking is free on Saturdays. People driving to BART to take the early trains should park at one of the stations being served. There is no BART parking available at 16th Street Mission and Powell stations.

Once on the platform, the added trains will be labelled as: “Limited Stops to Downtown Berkeley.”

Load your Clipper card in advance with enough funds for the round trip.

If you don’t have a Clipper card, add one for free ($3 savings) to your phone’s wallet in advance and use Google Pay or Apple Pay.

On the evening of Friday, July 19, 2024, BART will perform planned maintenance on the official BART app starting at around 3pm and lasting several hours. During the maintenance, the BART Trip Planner, real time train departures, service alerts, and the fare calculator will continue to be available on the app.  Parking payment features will not be available however parking is free after 3pm and on weekends and the maintenance will be complete in time for weekday riders. For those looking to reserve parking in advance during the maintenance window, they will get a prompt to try again on Saturday when the maintenance is complete. BART’s website for purchasing reserving parking will also be impacted during the same timeframe.

The profile and account setting features will also not be available on the app beginning at around 3pm on July 19, 2024, and lasting several hours.

Following the maintenance, app users will be prompted to update to the latest version of the app.

BART to OAK service will be undergoing planned maintenance on its trackway equipment beginning Wednesday, October 16 until Thursday, October 31. The work will begin at approximately 9pm each night and last until 7am each morning of the work period.  During the maintenance window of 9pm-7am, one track will remain in operation, and trains will arrive every 18 minutes, rather than every 9 minutes.  

This work is necessary preventative maintenance which will help ensure that the BART to OAK service remains safe and reliable. 

We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

In a first-of-its-kind in the United States partnership between a government transit system and a popular boba brand, BART is collaborating with Yifang Taiwan Fruit Tea Northern California by featuring BART’s anime mascots on drink menu items and limited-edition collector cupsleeves as well as in-store photo spots. Collaborations between beverage brands and hit anime series and movies are wildly popular and BART is jumping in on the trend to engage new riders and promote BART to new audiences. 

The collaboration and cupsleeve giveaway will launch on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at four Yifang locations in the Bay Area all located within one mile of a BART station. The collaboration will last through the month of October or while supplies last. 

The exclusive cupsleeves feature four of BART’s Anime Mascots­— Baylee and her goat fan, Nimbus, Mira, and Jasmine enjoying fruit tea drinks, the BART logo, as well as Yifang’s logo. Yifang locations have paired special menu combinations with BART's Anime Mascots by matching their color palettes or character personalities.

The four locations include:

• University of California, Berkeley Yifang:  2516 Bancroft Way, Berkeley (near Downtown Berkeley BART Station)
• Colma Yifang: 4923 Junipero Serra Blvd, Colma (near Colma BART Station)
• San Francisco Chinatown Yifang: 870 Washington Street, San Francisco (near Montgomery BART Station)
• Walnut Creek: 1349 Locust St, Walnut Creek (Near Walnut Creek BART Station)

Planned pop-up events:

Inspired by fan events celebrating anime, gaming, and K-pop, BART is planning pop-up events at two Yifang locations featuring the BART Anime standees and special giveaways. For these planned events, anyone who comes in a full-body BART themed costume or BART Anime Mascot cosplay will receive a BART Anime sticker sheet with their cupsleeve, while supplies last.

• Wednesday, October 16th at the Berkeley Yifang location 3pm-6pm.
• Wednesday, October 30th at the Colma Yifang location 5pm-7pm. 

“As BART works to strengthen relationships with youth and young adults to increase ridership, this collaboration is meant to surprise and delight potential riders and offer an immersive consumer experience that appeals to anime fans,” said BART’s Chief Communications Officer Alicia Trost who launched BART’s Anime Mascot Program to promote public transportation use, especially among youth riders, a growing and reliable ridership demographic. 

“This cross-promotional marketing opportunity is a way to celebrate our classic Taiwanese flavored drinks as well as BART’s anime mascots that were inspired not just by Bay Area culture but also transit systems in Taiwan which use anime mascots to connect with their communities,” said Alexus Lopez, Marketing Manager for Yifang NorCal. 

Yifang offers gourmet Taiwanese tea drinks at multiple locations across the Bay Area. Their most sought-out drink, Yifang Fruit Tea, uses home-made organic cane sugar, seasonal fresh fruits, and natural ingredients.