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On December 28, 2023, BART opened the new fare gates at West Oakland station. 

Installation of the prototypes of BART’s next generation fare gates is scheduled to begin the week of December 11 at West Oakland Station. The installation process is expected to take approximately two weeks to complete and the new fare gates will be open for use before Jan 1, 2024. 

During those two weeks a construction barrier will be built around the existing station gate array. Riders will use two temporary accessible gates to enter and exit West Oakland Station.  During peak hours, riders should expect lines to form. We advise people to arrive a few minutes early.  

Both gates are located next to the Station Agent Booth, one on each side. When facing the booth from the non-paid area of the station, the fare gate to your right is used to enter the station and the fare gate to your left is used to exit. 

Additionally, a carpet has been installed immediately before the entrance to each fare gate, to make these two gates easier to locate for riders with visual impairments. The removal of the old gates and installation of the prototypes will not impact train service. 

The prototypes being installed at West Oakland will help us to test the new gates in a station environment with riders. These are not the final version of the fare gates that will be installed throughout the rest of the system. The development team is researching the latest door-braking technology and will add that enhanced capability to the fare gates in the coming months.

All BART stations will have new fare gates by the end of 2025. You can learn more about BART’s Next Generation Fare Gate project at bart.gov/about/projects/fare-gate. Riders can provide feedback about the new gates at bart.gov/comments.

BART General Manager Bob Powers released a statement on new fare gates: 

“As a transportation system, we take tremendous pride in saying our riders are what runs BART. Among the world’s transit agencies, BART relies the most on rider fares; they are directly responsible for funding our operations. These new, state-of-the-art fare gates will protect against fare evasion, expand access to transit-dependent riders, and reduce system downtime due to maintenance, which helps boost investment in BART’s long-term growth.”

BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin also applauded the unveiling in a statement: 

“We welcome the new fare gates starting at West Oakland and its future expansion to other stations. These stronger, higher gates will limit fare evasions through self-enforced fare payments, keep riders safe and engaged to return to BART, and have police officers focused on more serious situations that require emergency services.”

BART’s Safe and Clean Plan focuses on attracting riders to return to the system by introducing the transit system to the 21st century. BART is making dramatic improvements, from new payment method systems to infrastructure renovations, to guarantee customers a clean, safer ride.

Construction for the next phase of the Hayward Station Accessibility Improvements Project will begin on Monday, March 25, 2024 and last for approximately 3 weeks. 

 During this phase, five bus bays will be closed, and buses will move to new locations within the station area. 

Buses will be located in the bus bays shown in the list below. 

Bus bay numbers are shown in the map below and posted at each stop location. 

Aisle A is closest to the station, Aisle B is the bus island, Aisle C is in the Passenger Loading area. Bus bays are numbered sequentially starting from the bays closest to B Street. 

Construction for the next phase of the Hayward Station Accessibility Improvements Project will begin on Thursday, May 2, 2024 and last for approximately 3 weeks. 

During this phase, the following changes will occur: 

• About half of the passenger loading zone will close – the remaining portion will stay open with an accessible pedestrian path to the station entrance. 
• Most bus bays will change locations within the station area. 

Buses will be located in the bus bays shown in the list below. 

Bus bay numbers are shown in the map below and posted at each stop location. 

Aisle A is closest to the station, Aisle B is the bus island. Bus bays are numbered sequentially starting from the bays closest to B Street. 

More than 219,000 of you rode BART this long weekend – to barbecues, to hikes, to watering holes, and perhaps to check off some sites for the Transit Month BART Scavenger Hunt (hosted by YPT SF Bay). 

Speaking of Transit Month, the celebration of regional transportation is fast underway. Keep with Transit Month events -- and hit the ground running on the Ride Contest – to keep your calendar booked in the waning weeks of summer.  

Around BART, some exciting changes are afoot, including our new-and-improved schedule, launching next Monday, Sept. 11. To learn more, watch our explanatory (and entertaining) video and reference this article. We’re think you’re going to like the changes, which emphasize weekend and weeknight service.  

We're also proud to announce that last week BART, community partners, and local youth launched Phase II of our groundbreaking Not One More Girl initiative that addresses sexual harassment and gender-based violence on BART with new strategies to build a culture of supporting girls and gender-expansive youth when riding transit. The second phase of the award-winning initiative places emphasis on enabling people to have a greater sense of empowerment in a harassment situation and exhibits tools that fellow riders can use to provide support when harassment occurs. Read more about the initiative here and scroll to the bottom of this article to view the new art by local artist and muralist Safi Kolozsvari Regalado. 

For an in-depth listing of local events, visit the BARTable website. We publish a weekly event roundup, BARTable This Weekend, that highlights happenings around the region as well as cool contests and sweepstakes from our partners.      

Sunday, Sept. 10: Oakland Pride and Pridefest Oakland 

Oakland Pride and Pridefest Oakland have joined forces for a joyous celebration of the LGBTQ+ community on Sunday, Sept. 10 from 12pm to 6pm in Uptown Oakland. The festivities commence with a parade celebrating LGBTQ+ lives and resilience from 11am to 12pm. Keep an eye out for the BARTmobile during the parade in its special Pride hat.  

September through October 16: Explore the Bay Area on BART, Win Prizes with Agents of Discovery 

From September through October 16, BART has partnered with Bay Area Explorer 4.0. a campaign that uses AR gaming to help kids engage in free outdoor learning experiences using their phones or their parents’ phones. Think Pokémon Go, but for parks and education.  

Anyone can join by downloading the free Agents of Discovery mobile app and completing “missions” made up of educational “challenges” that teaches children about local history, culture, ecosystems, and safety.  

BART launched four missions for riders that will take them on a fun and educational journey from Warm Springs to San Leandro, Millbrae to Daly City, North Concord to Rockridge and Richmond to Ashby.  

Players, or “agents,” who complete missions will receive rewards as they play and earn the chance for big prizes like a $250 Clipper Card. 

Learn more on BARTable.  

Share Your BART Story at bart.gov/YourStory

This week, we launched a call for riders' BART stories. We want to hear what BART means to you and gain insight into how we can continue to improve.

Do you have a favorite BART memory? Have you met a dear friend or life partner aboard a train? Did you take BART to a seminal life event? Have you been sitting on a unique idea to improve the system? We’d like to hear it.

To answer our questions, visit bart.gov/YourStory. Once you've completed the questions, you can enter to win one of three $100 e-gift cards. Respondents have the option to remain anonymous.

Weekend Listen: All About the Schedule Change with BART’s Manager of Scheduling and Planning 

In lieu of our typical Weekend Read we’ve got a Weekend Listen for you. BART’s podcast series, "Hidden Tracks: Stories from BART,” recently released a new episode all about the reimagined new schedule, featuring an interview with BART’s charismatic Manager of Scheduling and Planning, John FitzGibbon. Listen and/or read the transcript here.   

Nosh on Ice Cream at BARTable Creameries 

Summer officially ends Friday, Sept. 22, so you might want to seize the high temps while they're here and get yourself some ice cream from the Bay Area’s BARTable creameries. From Italian-style gelato to Japanese green tea soft serve, head to a BARTable ice cream shop this weekend and reference our curated roundup here.  

Sweepstakes Spotlight: Win Glasses and Tickets to the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival  

Enter to win two glasses and drink tickets to the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival that will take over the streets of downtown Lafayette on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 23 and 24.  

Enter to win by Sunday, Sept. 10 on the BARTable Contests and Deals page.  

Read BART’s Safe & Clean Plan 

Happy Riding this Weekend!   

We hope you enjoy your weekend adventures aboard our trains.      
 
Stay in touch by signing up for the BARTable This Weekend newsletter on the BARTable website – your one-stop shop for all things accessible by BART. You can also keep up with BARTable on Facebook and  Instagram. 

Some of the leaders of Not One More Girl Phase II pose with the project’s new art posters (Art by Safi Kolozvari Regalado). From left to right: Malkia Chionesu, development and purpose alignment consulting with M.CHIO; Gaby Guzman, Latinx Mentoring and Achievement Coordinator of Youth Services with The Unity Council; and Franchesca Rodriguez, Betti Ono Transit Justice Community Engagement Facilitator and graduate student at UC Berkeley’s Department of City & Regional Planning. 

Bystander intervention cards that were launched as part of Not One More Girl Phase II. The two distinct wallet-size cards are now available to riders to discreetly hand to people to signal they need help or support, or to notify someone being harassed that you are there to help and support them. They are available for pickup at Station Agent booths.  

Ni Lee, PE, PMP, Group Manager and Deputy Project Director for VTA’s BART Silicon Valley Phase II Project, pictured outside BART Headquarters in Oakland. 

In 16 years at BART, Ni Lee, PE, PMP, has been promoted six times. At this rate, she’s averaging a promotion every 2.67 years.  

The secret to her success? 

“Much of what I know,” she said, “I learned as a food server.” 

Ni started working in food service when she was in middle school, serving donuts at a local shop. In the years that followed, she worked at a smattering of restaurants in both Taiwan, where she was born, and California. The list includes McDonald’s, Applebee’s, Chili’s, and Dennys, to name a few. Her last job in the industry was working as a server at California Pizza Kitchen in Emeryville.  

Lee’s current work environment is quite different than those she grew up in. Now a top engineering manager, Lee says much of what she knows about working and managing others crystallized while she was waiting tables and daydreaming about what her future might hold. Writing a book about her restaurant days is on her “secret bucket list.”  

Lee is the Group Manager and Deputy Project Director for VTA’s BART Silicon Valley Phase II Project. It’s a big job with an admittedly long title. In the role, she manages a team of seven who are responsible for collaborating with the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) throughout the phases of design, construction, testing, and commissioning of the Silicon Valley Phase II Project, emphasizing a strong commitment on safety and reliability. 

Lee wants her staff to feel supported and empowered. As a leader, her goal is to foster a work environment founded on trust, one in which her employees have the right tools and guidance to be successful. Mentoring and supporting their growth is central to her management philosophy, and in her time at BART, she’s finetuned countless resumes and mapped out many a career plan.  

But the teaching goes both ways, she said. In her conversation with BART Communications, Lee referenced a Chinese proverb: “三人行, 必有我師.” In English, the phrase translates roughly to: “When you’re in a company of three, you will find a teacher.”  

“I believe that everyone’s my teacher – my supervisor, my peers, my teams,” she said. “I can learn something from anyone.” 

Lee was raised between Taiwan and Southern California. Regularly switching between continents was hard. She had to constantly make new friends, and out of necessity, she admits she got pretty good at it.  

“This was before the internet and cell phones,” she said. Long-distance calls were expensive, so Ni and her overseas friends sent each other notes in the post.  

Lee's congeniality proved especially useful years later as an engineering student at UC Berkeley. She studied electrical engineering and computer sciences, and in one of her classes, there was an option to enter her team’s final project into a robotics competition. Their project was building a robot “to help socially awkward engineers make friends.”  

“It would come out, do a little dance, and then say pickup lines in three different languages,” Lee said. Her favorite line was, “Hey baby, what’s your major? Is it looking good?”  

Said Lee with a laugh: “We didn’t win.” 

The project sparked a passion for robotics in Lee, especially the realm of autonomous vehicles (this was years before Waymos were cruising San Francisco streets). In her senior year, Lee founded and served as the first president of Cal Robotics, a student organization that fostered a community of robotics enthusiasts. The club doesn’t appear to be operating anymore, but Lee and her Cal Robotics colleagues undoubtedly paved the way for the many robotics clubs currently active on the UC Berkeley campus (the university even has a robotics lab now!).  

While a student at UC Berkeley, Lee also had her first exposure to BART. She didn’t own a car, so “BART and AC Transit were always there for me.” Though she never did finish the autonomous vehicle she designed as an undergrad, “BART’s fully automatic,” she pointed out, and that satisfies the “geekiness in me." 

Lee came to BART from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). She worked closely with BART in her role and quickly realized that the BART staff she worked with “all radiated the same passion.” She wanted to be a part of it.  

In 2008, Lee joined BART as a Safety Specialist in Operations Safety. Things snowballed from there. Since that first job, Lee has served as Senior Operations Safety Specialist, Manager of Operations Safety, Project Manager (this was a “pivot moment” for her career, she said), Manager of Engineering Programs, Senior Manager of Engineering Programs, and now Group Manager. 

And who knows where Lee will soar from here? She's not totally sure either.  

“I should know this because I do career plans,” she said. “Where’s my career plan, ha.” 

Lee can say with certainty that she wants to continue mentoring people. 

“I was afforded that by many, many people throughout my career,” she said. And she wants to repay the favor.  

This story ends where it began. May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, and Lee always celebrates the month with delicious meals shared with family, friends, and colleagues. 

“I’m very honored and humbled that there’s an entire month dedicated to celebrating my heritage,” she said. “I’m grateful to the trailblazers who paved the way, and I do feel like I have an obligation to promote cultural awareness.” 

Her favorite way to do so is through food, she said.  

“The month encompasses so many diverse, rich cultures and histories,” she continued, and with that, many different cuisines and dishes and flavors.  

“Who doesn’t love a variety of delicious and diverse food?” she said in closing.  

BART wishes you a wonderful Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. More than 24% of BART employees are members of the AAPI community (as of May 1, 2024), and we want to honor and recognize the ways their heritages and cultures have contributed to BART and our region.  

In celebration of the month, BART Communications interviewed Ni Lee, Group Manager and Deputy Project Director for VTA’s BART Silicon Valley Phase II Project. Lee discusses growing up between Taiwan and Southern California, the many lessons she learned working in food service, and shares her favorite recipe for hot pot dipping sauce. 

BART celebrates heritage and diversity months throughout the year, and with stories such as Lee’s, we want to recognize some of the exceptional employees in our organization.   

Read about another amazing AAPI BART employee, Crisis Intervention Specialist Caryl Blount on bart.gov/news.  

And check out BARTable’s suggestions for celebrating AAPI Heritage Month near BART stations.  

Today, September 1, 2023, marks the official start of the Bay Area’s eighth-annual Transit Month. Hosted by San Francisco Transit Riders and Seamless Bay Area with support from local transit agencies, including BART, Transit Month toasts the many trains, buses, and ferries that connect the region and uplift its communities, economies, and cultures.  

During Transit Month, riders are encouraged to explore the region by taking local transportation. The month is hallmarked by a multitude of free events, a Ride Contest, ride-a-longs with transit leaders, a Rider First Awards ceremony, and more. 

Some of the BART-centric events to look forward to this year include: 

• Manny Yekutiel in Conversation with BART Officials on a Moving BART Train on Sept. 8 
• Meet the BART Anime Mascots on Sept. 16  
• Beat the Ridership Record All Aboard Bay Area Transit Day on Sept. 16 
• Transit CEO Ride-Along and Happy Hour on Sept. 29 
• Mokelumne Trail Bridge Bike Ride from Antioch BART Station Plaza on Sept. 30, organized by Bike East Bay 
• BART Scavenger Hunt from Sept. 1 through 21, organized by Young Professionals in Transportation 

Read about the upcoming events and RSVP here.   

Last year, riders logged more than 3,000 regional transit trips during the monthlong celebration, and we’re hoping to see even more rides logged this year! 

“It’s no secret that the past few years have been hard on our transit, and though we scraped by a budget win recently, it’s not enough. That’s why we need to uplift transit all September long and highlight how necessary it is to keep our city equitable, equal, and fun,” said Thea Selby, Board Co-Chair of San Francisco Transit Riders, which created Transit Month. “It is more important than ever before that we show our elected leaders how important transit is to our city, and that we need to continue funding it. Let’s prove that to them this Transit Month by getting out and taking transit!” 

Transit Month prizes are awarded to riders who log the most trips during the Ride Contest. But logging the most rides isn’t the only way to get a prize; this year, when a rider logs a trip, their name will be entered into a raffle.  

“We’re expecting Transit Month to be bigger than ever before with more events, more participating agencies, and more community group involvement,” said Ian Griffiths, the co-founder and policy director of Seamless Bay Area, which co-hosts the monthlong celebration. “One of the things we’re most excited about is our community grant program, where we’re distributing 11 small community grants to get more groups involved.” 

Transit Month prizes this year include lots of transit agency swag, as well as behind-the-scenes tours of sites not typically accessible to the public, like the Salesforce Transit Center.  

The rider who logs the most BART trips this Transit Month will win an HO scale BART A car made by Rapido Trains (the model trains are currently available for preorder on railgoods.com). This museum-quality model will arrive inside a custom-made display case, allowing the rider to proudly show off their best-in-the-Bay Transit Month performance (Delivery is estimated Summer 2024). Other BART prizes up include a BARTable swag bag with promotional prizes, a poster-size BART map, and a BART anime mascot swag bag. Hear from last year’s BART Ride Contest winner below.

Hear from Jaime Espitia, winner of the 2022 BART Ride Contest, who logged more than 400 BART rides last September

Jaime Espitia (left), who logged the most BART trips during Transit Month 2022, won a ride in a Train Operator’s cab. He claimed his prize in August, riding with Train Operator Dewayne Deams (far right). 

Last year, the big BART prize went to lifelong Bay Area transit fan Jaime Espitia, who rode BART an incredible 422 times in September 2022 alone – that averages out to 14 unique BART rides a day! Espitia’s prize was a ride in a BART cab with a Train Operator.  

He claimed his prize on a Saturday in August, where he met up with Train Operator Dewayne Deams and Transportation Supervisor Dana Mims for a ride from SFO to West Oakland.  

“I boarded with Jaime, gave him a thorough tour of the cab, and demonstrated our pre-dispatch routine, including what all the buttons do. Then, we took off together toward the East Bay,” said Deams, who eagerly volunteered to host Espitia in his cab because he is a “fellow transit nerd.” 

The trip was not without excitement, Deams and Espitia reported. As the train neared Balboa Park, Deams was forced to hold the train briefly due to a grass fire near the station.  

“Jaime listened as I talked with the Operations Control Center and made continuous announcements to update passengers,” Deams said.  

Later, as the train pulled into a Market Street station, Espitia listened as Deams said, “Stand behind the yellow strip!” to a rider standing too close to the trackway.  

As the train wound through San Francisco and under the bay, the pair settled into natural conversation, swapping stories about riding transit as kids who grew up in the Bay Area. Espitia asked a series of pointed questions: What types of critters do you see along the tracks? What’s the third platform at Colma for? Why do you blow the horn when coming into stations?  

One of the most exciting aspects of the trip for Espitia was rolling through the Transbay Tube in the cab – a vantage point very few people ever get to experience in their lives. He was surprised by the grades in the tube – the way the tracks go uphill and downhill – which you don’t notice as a regular passenger.  

“There are no words for the experience,” Espitia said. He was especially mesmerized by a tiny light in the tube that signaled the train had passed from San Francisco into Alameda County.  

After reaching West Oakland, Espitia disembarked from the cab only to re-board moments later as a passenger in the first car. He rode the train all the way to Pittsburg/Bay Point and back to his home station, Colma.  

Mims, the Transportation Supervisor, recounted the enchantment of the ride in an internal newsletter: “Thanks to Dewayne’s guidance and the magical ride through the world of trains, Jaime’s passion was not only understood but celebrated. As the day came to a close, Jaime knew that he had experienced something truly extraordinary – a day filled with camaraderie, knowledge sharing, and an unwavering passion for trains that would stay with him forever.”  

Espitia has been riding BART since he was a toddler obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine. It was his grandfather who first got him on BART. 

“Every weekend I’d ride BART with him just to hang out,” Espitia said.  

His grandfather died earlier this year. Riding BART does not feel the same now, Espitia said, but he can still feel his grandpa’s presence on the trains, especially in the “wailing" of the wheels on rail. 

“The Transbay Tube is my favorite section because the legacy trains howl in it,” Espitia said – he's one of the rare birds who loves the sound of the train wheels on track. “It brings back memories of my childhood and my grandfather, standing on the platform side-by-side as the train rushed in.” 

Espitia said it was a lifelong dream to ride in the Train Operator’s cab.  

“I grew up watching the train from the passenger side – watching the lights flicker in the tunnels and the signs rush past,” he said. “I always wondered how the tube looked from the operator’s perspective.”  

He was also inspired by his role model Mark Ambus, who operated BART trains for more than two decades.  

“Mark always told me it wasn’t an easy job because you have so much responsibility, but he loved doing it,” Espitia said. “He’s my role model and very good friend who always pushes me to do better and progress. Being in the cab that day, I felt like I got to experience a day in his life during those 25 years, when he’d take people like me home.” 

When he’s not riding BART to snag a prize, Espitia typically takes the train once a week to work in Daly City. Mostly, though, he rides BART for fun.  

“I ride it a lot to relax my brain and clear my head after a stressful day,” he said of his regular “joy rides.” He prefers legacy trains to Fleet of the Future vehicles because he loves the loud sounds they make and the way their fifty-year-old bodies congeal decades of regional history.  

During his prizewinning run last September, Espitia would take the train back and forth after work, riding station to station, line to line. He said he sometimes forgot to take breaks to eat and drink water, which he does not recommend to those looking to win the prize this year.  

“The best advice I can give people trying to beat my record is just to have fun and don't push or overdo yourself," he said. “And just enjoy it because, well, transit is life.”