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The latest numbers from the BART Police Department show through the end of August overall crime in the system is down 15% compared with the same period in 2023. The trend includes a 10% drop in violent crime. The decline in the crime rate comes as BART has been experiencing an increase in ridership. All of BART’s top 10 post-pandemic ridership days were in September, driven by special events including the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco and the final Oakland A’s homestand. Read the full Chief’s Report with all the latest safety numbers.

“The drop in criminal activity on BART is happening as we have been going all out to implement our Safe and Clean Plan,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “Our riders have been loud and clear that they want us to step our game up when it comes to their safety and the cleanliness of our system. We have more work to do on behalf of our riders, but these numbers indicate our commitment to maximizing our visible safety presence is paying off.”

“Since I became BART Police Chief one year ago, it has been my top priority to maximize the number of officers walking trains and patrolling our stations,” said BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin. “Our officers are more visible than ever. Their efforts are containing relatively small concerns before they grow into big problems that harm service.”

Additional safety highlights from the latest numbers:

*Only 12 electronic thefts and robberies were reported across the entire system in August. That’s the lowest total for any month since 2021 when ridership was much lower than today.

*BART PD reported 13,016 total enforcement contacts through August, up from 7,791 for the same period in 2023.

*BART PD’s response time for Priority 1 emergencies averaged 4 minutes and 25 seconds in August, among the fastest for any law enforcement agency in the Bay Area.

BART’s Safe and Clean Plan is a commitment to riders to maximize resources to boost their safety and provide clean service. BART’s stepped up safety efforts include sworn officers, non-sworn Crisis Intervention Specialists and Transit Ambassadors, as well as the implementation of Next Generation Fare Gates, which have now been installed successfully at seven stations. All 50 of BART’s stations will have Next Generation Fare Gates by the end of 2025.

BART PD patrols a system that spans five counties and includes 50 stations with 131 route miles of track. You can keep up with all BART’s safety trends in the monthly Chief’s Reports.

The latest progress of the Measure RR rebuilding program is making a difference for riders by enhancing the reliability of the system and reducing service delays. The number of trains delayed due to outdated rail fell by more than 400 instances thanks to work that in some cases replaced track that had been in place since the start of BART service in 1972.
 
The reduction in service delays is among the findings in the latest Measure RR Annual Report published by the Bond Oversight Committee (BOC). The BOC’s independent oversight of the rebuilding program emphasizes cost-effectiveness, quality, and timeliness of work completion. The new annual report will be presented to the BART Board of Directors at its meeting on Thursday, July 11.

“Measure RR is a crucial part of our ongoing efforts to ensure BART is truly the safest way to get around the Bay,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “This Measure RR Annual Report highlights how the rebuilding program is boosting safety, making our core infrastructure more resilient, and improving our on-time performance for our riders.”

Through March 2024, $1.81 billion of Measure RR funds have been invested in rebuilding projects. There are now 157 projects in planning, design, construction, or have been completed. A total of 61 projects are complete, including 13 projects that have been completed since the BOC issued its last annual report in 2023. Measure RR money spent, and work completed to this point, have exceeded initial expectations.
 
Much of this progress for riders has been accomplished during weekend track shutdowns, when crews temporarily close a portion of the trackway to expedite track work that’s too large to accomplish during the few overnight hours when BART is not running trains. An example of this work is the ongoing effort to rebuild the core of the system in Oakland. You can learn more about the project and upcoming work dates here.
 
Measure RR is a $3.5 billion bond measure to replace BART’s aging infrastructure. It was approved by voters in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties in 2016.

BOC members review projects and data presented by BART staff in quarterly briefings. Members of the committee can request additional documents, information, and presentations on an ad hoc basis. The BOC is comprised of volunteers who represent a diversity of expertise. The organizations represented on the committee include the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, the Project Management Institute, and the League of Women Voters of the Bay Area. You can learn more about the committee at bart.gov/bondoversight.

Starting September 11, 2023, BART will roll out a reimagined service plan that is responsive to post-pandemic commute patterns and ridership growth opportunities. This new schedule is designed to work for everyone, every day.  
Listen to our podcast to take a deep dive into the changes being made. 
And watch our explainer video. 

Highlights of the new schedule:

• Eliminates 30-minute wait times on nights and weekends. 
• No BART rider will wait more than 20 minutes for a scheduled train no matter what hour of the day or day of the week.
• 50% increase in evening service seven days a week.
• Service on BART’s busiest weekday line, the Yellow Line, increases from trains every 15 minutes to every 10 minutes from Pittsburg/Bay Point.
• Reduced wait times thanks to new scheduled transfers. 
• New schedule improves reliability and better serves SFO and OAK. All Red Line trains will stop at SFO before Millbrae, streamlining service for airport riders. 
• Only new Fleet of the Future trains will run for the base schedule
• Trains will run shorter to enhance safety and cleanliness and to increase police presence

Examples of what the new service means for riders:

• People that live near Pittsburg, Concord, Walnut Creek, Lafayette, and other areas along parts of Highways 4, 680, and 24, will have 10-minute BART service to San Francisco, Berkeley, and Richmond (a timed transfer is required for Berkeley and Richmond) until 9pm.
• People that live near Milpitas, Fremont, Union City, and other areas near Highway 880, will have 10-minute BART service to San Francisco until 9pm (a timed transfer may be required).
• There will now be nine trains per hour (instead of eight) to/from SFO until 9:00pm and three trains per hour until midnight (instead of two).
• On weekends, until 9pm, the Richmond Line will have trains every 10 minutes that will get you to San Francisco (a timed transfer may be required).
• On weekends, until 9pm, the Berryessa Line will have trains every 10 minutes that will get you to San Francisco (a timed transfer may be required).

View our new Safe & Clean Plan.

Train Schedule Timetable PDFs available

View the PDF timetables. 

The schedule change is cost-neutral and relies less on flattened levels of work commute trips and more on ridership growth opportunities.
 
To make this significant investment in service on nights and weekends, some weekday service will be slightly scaled back based on ridership trends and areas of the system where riders are served by multiple lines with the option to transfer. BART’s Blue Line to and from Dublin will have 20-minute frequencies at all hours, marking an increase on nights and weekends, but an added 5 minutes between trains during weekday daytime hours. BART’s Blue (Dublin-Daly City) and Orange (Richmond-Berryessa) lines serve the fewest riders in the system on weekdays. 

Riders coming from the Richmond and Berryessa/North San Jose direction will now have a train about every 10 minutes on weekdays during daytime hours instead of a train every 7.5 minutes. BART will increase communication on these lines about the option to take an Orange Line (Richmond-Berryessa) train and transfer if necessary to complete their trip. To make 10-minute service possible for Green and Orange line riders to the city, we had to move the Blue Line to better align with the Green Line, removing the Dublin to Richmond transfer opportunity at Bay Fair. It will now be a 17-minute wait at Bay Fair if you want to make that transfer. But we adjusted the Blue Line so instead of waiting 17 minutes at Bay Fair, Blue Line riders can now transfer to the Red Line/Richmond train at West Oakland, giving the rider a 15-minute advantage (requires changing platforms).

BART to Antioch service will now be every 20 minutes instead of every 15 minutes on weekdays so that every other BART train lines up for a timed transfer with an Antioch DMU train at the transfer platform. BART doesn't own enough DMU train cars to match the new 10 minute frequencies of the Yellow line. The BART train that doesn't line up with the Antioch DMU train, will turn around at Pittsburg/Bay Point. Antioch riders will benefit from more frequent service on nights and weekends (from 30 minutes to 20 minutes).

SFO and OAK Airports will be Better Served 

The new schedule improves service to and from San Francisco International and Oakland International airports. During the daytime, 9 trains per hour will serve SFO instead of 8, and on nights and weekends, trains will arrive and depart every 20 minutes instead of every 30 minutes.

All Red Line trains will now stop at SFO before heading to Millbrae, this will streamline the customer experience to and from the airport. Currently the Red Line passes through Millbrae before heading to the airport. This change allows us to increase service to SFO, is responsive to current travel patterns, and eliminates confusion at Millbrae for airport riders. For Millbrae riders, this move adds a few minutes to the trip. 

There will also be more trains on nights and weekends to OAK.

Improved Reliability

This new service plan will also improve on-time performance and improve reliability during the peak commute because there will be less train traffic and congestion through the core of our system. Trains won’t stack up as frequently as they will be better spaced apart, allowing us to recover from delays faster.
BART will still maintain a clock-face schedule seven days a week offering a consistent timetable for easy planning no matter what day of the week, but now it will be with 20-minute common headways.

Changes in Frequencies

The maps below display the changes to the number of trains per hour for each line for weekday daytime 5-line service, weekend 5-line service, and evening 3-line service.

(Weekday daytime 5-line service)

(Weekend daytime 5-line service)

(Evening 3-line service)

*This article was originally published on April 27, 2023.

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Click on the image to watch an explainer video on the upcoming BART schedule change on September 11th.

BART set a new post-pandemic ridership record Thursday with 224,721 exits, the highest number since March of 2020.

It was the third day in a row that BART ridership topped 200,000 exits. Ten of the top ten ridership days since the pandemic occurred in September, with weekday ridership remaining robust since Labor Day. 

"While our ridership numbers have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, these high ridership days are proof that our work to improve the rider experience with the Safe & Clean Plan and other efforts are paying off," said BART General Manager Bob Powers. 

This month, ridership was boosted by the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, the final A’s home games, and concerts and community events, including BARTable partner events like Oakland Pride and the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival. 

At the same time, the latest numbers from BART Police show that the number of trains impacted by unwanted behavior has declined since the department boosted the amount of visible safety staff on trains and in stations. Through July of this year, we have seen both violent and property crime down on the system year over year. Overall crime is down 13% even as we’ve experienced this uptick in ridership.