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Heading to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass at Golden Gate Park this weekend? Public transit is your best bet.

BART riders heading to Hardly Strictly from the East Bay can take a train to Powell Station. Transfer to a Muni 5 Fulton bus or 5R Fulton Rapid on Market Street and ride to Golden Park. 

BART riders coming up from San Mateo County or San Francisco can take a train to Civic Center Station and transfer to a Muni N Judah train on the upper level of the station. The N Judah train will run near Golden Gate Park on Irving and Judah Streets.

Rider Tips

Parking is free at all BART stations except Milpitas and Berryessa/North San Jose (which are operated by VTA) on Saturday, Oct. 5, and Sunday, Oct. 6. Pay for parking easily on the BART app.

Before you leave home, put Clipper card on your cellphone through either Apple Pay or Google Pay. Please ensure you have sufficient funds for a round trip. Plan at the cost of your trip in advance.

Real-time departures and train alerts can be found at bart.gov/eta or on the BART app. 

Discover more fun events happening this weekend on BARTable. 

The BART Board of Directors unanimously elected Mark Foley to serve as its president for the 2025 term during its meeting today, December 19, 2024. Foley served as vice president for the 2024 board term. 

Foley made a point to welcome the four new board members who took office for their first meeting. “Your fresh ideas, new perspectives, and diverse experiences are exactly what we need as we navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead,” Foley said. “I am confident that your contributions will be invaluable as we work together to shape the future of BART and public transit in our region.”

Foley will lead the BART Board during a time of unprecedented financial uncertainty. The Board of Directors and BART staff are seeking a reliable long-term funding source to replace federal and state emergency funds that are projected to run out in 2026. If unsuccessful, BART faces devastating cuts that will have serious impacts on the quality of life in the Bay Area. 

“The work ahead requires deep collaboration, and I look forward to working closely with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and our partners to develop a regional funding measure,” Foley said.

In his speech, Foley noted some exciting improvements expected in 2025, including the completion of the Next Generation Fare Gate Project, more reliable power for train service thanks to new electrical substations under construction, and progress on a new train control system to increase train frequency and reliability. 

Foley was first elected to the BART Board on November 6, 2018, and was re-elected in 2022. Foley represents District 2, which is in Contra Costa County, and includes the City of Pittsburg, the City of Antioch, the City of Brentwood, the City of Oakley, the northeastern part of the City of Concord and the northern part of the City of Martinez, as well as the unincorporated communities of Mountain View and Vine Hill. District 2 BART stations include: Antioch, Concord (shared with District 1), North Concord/Martinez, Pittsburg/Bay Point, and Pittsburg Center.

Foley previously served as Board President in 2021 and as Board Vice President in 2020 and 2023.

Director Melissa Hernandez elected as BART Board Vice President

The Board of Directors also unanimously elected District 5 Director Melissa Hernandez as Board Vice President. She is the first Latina to serve on the BART Board of Directors.

First appointed to the Board on May 23, 2024, to fill the vacancy for District 5, Hernandez was elected in November. 

District 5 is in Alameda and Contra Costa counties and includes a portion of the City of Hayward, ranging from Castro Valley Station in the north to Hayward Station in the south. It also includes the City of Pleasanton (except for a portion near Kilkare Woods), the City of Livermore, the City of Dublin, the southeastern part of San Ramon, and rural areas in east Alameda County.

Previously, Hernandez served as a City of Dublin councilmember for eight years and also served as the city’s mayor for four years until June 2024. She has chaired three regional transit boards: the Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA), Tri Valley/San Joaquin Valley Regional Transportation Authority (Valley Link), and the Finance Committee of the Alameda County Transportation Commission. 

BART's Transit Security Advisory Committee (TSAC) is currently looking to fill several open positions and is accepting applications until May 10, 2024. 

TSAC is the citizen and community oversight committee that works to ensure Assembly Bill 716 (Dickinson) -- which allows BART Police Officers the authority to issue prohibition orders to offenders who are cited or arrested for certain offenses -- is implemented as the Legislature intended. The oversight group, comprised of at least five citizens, serves as a volunteer review body for the implementation of BART’s prohibition policy.

Board-appointed members of TSAC are professionals in the areas of mental health, homelessness, public safety and youth advocacy and cultural awareness. Drawing from their private and public sector experiences, the committee brings a diverse set of skills to the review and execution of the prohibition policy. The advisory committee reports directly to the BART Board of Directors.

BART Transit Security Advisory Committee is currently looking for the following Open Seats:

• Two (2) Alternate Committee Member Seats (for any category, no more than one alternate per category) 
  • Law Enforcement Representative
  • Mental Health Representative
  • Public-at-Large Representative
  • Youth Advocate Representative
• One (1) Law Enforcement Representative Seat
• Two (2) Public-at-Large Representative Seats

Final Filing Date – Applications are due by Friday, May 10, 2024, at 5:00 P.M. (PST)

Please download the application here and return the application form and relevant attachments to the BART Office of the District Secretary at:

2150 Webster Street, 10th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612

Applications may also be emailed to [email protected] 

You may also submit your application using DocuSign by clicking on the following link: E-Application

Please feel free to call the Office of the District Secretary at (510) 464-6083 with any questions.

The legacy car is pictured on the back of a flatbed truck driving on the freeway beside a Fleet of the Future train running on the track.

There is now a BART car you can snooze in for hours without fear of missing your stop.  

After a busy career shuttling millions of passengers around the Bay, this BART car has retired to the idyllic Sierra foothills, nestled among the streams where plucky prospectors once panned for gold. And soon, you’ll be able to rent it for a peaceful, transit-forward vacation.  

Michael Lin is the mastermind of the Sierra Train House, a short-term rental featuring a decommissioned legacy BART car that will start taking reservations in 2026.  

The project, which Lin describes as “a metaphoric train station that blends the space age, modern aesthetics of BART with a cozy cabin,” is now one big step closer to completion. In mid-March, the historic A car traveled more than one hundred miles on the back of a flatbed truck from BART’s Hayward Yard to its new home in Jamestown, an old gold mining town outside of Sonora. The BART car’s journey to Jamestown was not a short ride in both miles and time. Lin first responded to BART’s call for proposals to repurpose legacy cars back in 2021. Twenty individuals and organizations submitted proposals, and Lin was one of eight selected to receive a car.  

The remaining legacy cars, which served the Bay Area for more than fifty years, were retired in 2024, then dismantled and recycled. BART is unable to keep a heritage train on property due to limited funds, storage space, and equipment needs, but is supporting the Western Railway Museum in its efforts to create a Rapid Transit History Center. The museum received its first of three legacy BART cars in August 2024.  

Michael Lin smiles in front of his legacy car at Hayward Yard on transport day. 

Once his proposal was accepted, Lin started searching for suitable homes for the car. Jamestown had the qualities he was looking for: access to outdoor activities, reservoirs, great hiking, and history. Old mining towns abound in these foothills. Though the gold is mostly gone, you still have a chance to strike it rich – a casino was recently constructed two miles down the road from Lin's property. Yosemite National Park is about 45 minutes by car.  

The Sierra Train House property backs up to railway tracks still traversed by 19th-century steam trains that carry tourists from the depot at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. “The Movie Railroad” has appeared in more than 200 films, tv shows, and commercials, beginning with the 1919 silent serial The Red Glove. The park that houses the railroad is home to an authentic roundhouse with an operating turntable, functional blacksmithing area, and a belt-driven machine shop.  

“It felt right to be near a rail town,” said Lin.  

After he purchased the property, the permitting process began, followed by some significant sprucing up of the land.  

Before the car could be delivered, Lin said the property needed a lot of tree work, and the driveway required repaving so a flatbed could drive down it. Next, foundation was laid for the car and the tiny home that will connect to it. Lin laid a couple of 39-foot-long train tracks purchased from a railway supply company onto the concrete, which the train car now rests upon.  

The less-than-1,000-square-foot tiny home has two bedrooms and one-and-a-half baths. The BART car itself will have a fine balance of “retaining its integrity but making it more intelligible,” Lin said.  

Left: A crane lowers the legacy car onto the tracks at Lin's Jamestown property. Right: The car is soldered to the tracks. 

When you enter the car from the back door, a small bedroom will be to your right. The middle of the car will include a bathroom and a room with bunkbeds. Then the front third will be an open space for hanging out, complete with a coffee table arcade game. A few days before the car delivery, Lin bought a Pong-themed table from a guy on Craigslist. Incidentally, Pong came out in 1972, the same year BART opened.  

The car’s cab will remain more or less intact. Lin wants to rig it so people can push the control panel buttons and hear BART sounds, like the horn and station announcements – “The doors are closing. Stand clear of the doors.” 

All told, the property will accommodate eight people comfortably. Lin pictures this the sort of place you stay with a group of friends or families, which will also help keep the cost down. This is a unique rental, Lin stressed, and it will be pricier than a run-off-the-mill accommodation, though he wants to make sure it’s still accessibly priced. He’s not sure exactly how much he’ll charge for a stay.  

But it will be worth the price, Lin said. H has even more plans for the property, including activities like a bocce ball court and foot bridges constructed from rail.  

A financial advisor by day, Lin studied architecture as an undergrad at UC Berkeley and is a serious tinkerer, especially with Lego. Residents will see some of Lin’s Lego art inside the Sierra Train House. 

The Sierra Train House is the definition of a labor of love, and Lin intends to build the property so that it lasts for a hundred years and beyond, just like the Railtown nearby. History, he said, is not something he takes lightly.  

“I have a sense of responsibility to preserve this train car,” Lin said. “It’s neat to save a train.”  

Keep up with the progress of the Sierra Train House on Instagram and Facebook. 

 

 

 

 

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BART will exclusively run Fleet of the Future trains for the base schedule as part of its reimagined schedule launch on September 11th. This change represents a big improvement in the rider experience as well as on-time performance. Without this change, BART would be running legacy cars in service well into 2024. Legacy trains may still be spotted here and there, but only as event trains or for contingencies.

The new trains are much more reliable than legacy trains, as evidenced by the most recent Quarterly Performance Report (QPR). The QPR for April through June, shows the Mean Time Between Service delays for the new cars are more than double the length for that of the legacy cars; in other words, the new trains operate for more than twice as long before service delays.

Using exclusively new trains for the base schedule is possible because BART is kicking off a new plan to size trains for safety and efficiency. 

“Our new cars are cleaner, require less maintenance, have better quality surveillance cameras, and offer a better customer experience with automated next stop displays and announcements," said BART Chief Communications Officer Alicia Trost. “Feedback from our riders on the Fleet of the Future cars has been profusely positive so offering more new car rides is a great accomplishment in customer service.”

BART will hold a proper public retirement ceremony for the legacy fleet to mark their final run in service at a later date (likely in 2024).