San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District

BART Protests: When Will They Stop?

That's one way to stop the protests​While protesters plan to gather again tonight and attempt to disrupt the evening commute (there's word they will be riding on the trains) -- BART is hoping new legislation wending its way through Sacramento will criminalize some protesters' actions. Tonight will ... More >>

BART Protest Planned Tonight, But Don't Expect a Free Ride Home

This is what your commute will look like tonight ​BART protesters are prepping for another night of commuter grief, with plans to block the fare gates at the Powell Street station starting at 4:30 p.m.The goal is to get the transit agency to open the swing gates, which means commuters would be abl ... More >>

BART Protest Rescheduled for Thursday; How Will it Benefit You?

Commuting for free​Don't think that a holiday on Monday meant a holiday from BART protests. The active mob of demonstrators informed the media that they will be in full swing on Thursday, promising to block the fare gates. But this protest, as strange as it sounds, might actually translate into a ... More >>

Anonymous Can't Agree on BART Protests and Hacking Tactics

An Anonymous protesting Anonymous.​This is the week of all Anonymous all the time in San Francisco. With one protest that shut down four BART stations, and two major hacking incidents of BART websites, the irascible online collective has shown that it can compel a very real-life response: Cops in ... More >>

Anonymous Hacks BART Police Website, Releases Personal Information of 100 Officers

Anonymous​Update (2:50 p.m.): BART removed the police website that was hacked this morning, and issued the following statement:"We condemn this latest attack on the working men and women of BART. We are deeply concerned about the safety and security of our employees and their families. We stand be ... More >>

Reroute Your Commute, More BART Protests to Come

Michael ShortAll Anonymous all the time​Protesters are planning yet another BART demonstration next week that will undoubtedly ruin your commute home -- again. The group claiming responsibility for the organized protests, Anonymous, is using Twitter to spread the word of the upcoming protest on Mo ... More >>

Anonymous Hackers Use Social Media to Mobilize for Tonight's BART Protest

Anonymous​When BART blacked out cellphone service last Thursday night in an attempt to foil protesters, hacker group Anonymous has swung into action, organizing a rally for this evening that has commuters steeling themselves for service disruptions. Whether or not you think the rallies are an ef ... More >>

Protesters Storm Civic Center BART, Trains Halt, Stations Closed

Lauren SmileyJust your avergae BART police protester​Update 6:30 p.m.: Protesters have lost steam. The chants are dying down and the crowd has thinned out to about 20 people. Allison reports that Embarcadero was closed for five minutes but has since reopened. Montgomery Street station has also ope ... More >>

BART Jams Cell Phone Service to Shut Down Protests

No-speech zone?​This might just be a first in the annals of Bay Area transit agencies' political suppression (such as those annals are). BART has fessed up to jamming cell-phone signals yesterday at downtown stations in San Francisco in order to disrupt protests over the death of Charles Hill, who ... More >>

BART Warns of More Protests and Transit Nightmares This Month

Caroline ChenCommuter crush times 10​After last month's commute from hell, where protesters literally closed down stations and stopped BART trains, the transit agency was kind enough to give its riders a heads up about possible service disruption again this month. BART officials sent out an e-mail ... More >>

Graffiti Attacks Cops for BART Shootings

Ouch.​Graffiti on public transit is usually lame, giving riders no aesthetic reward for the mechanics who have to clean it off on the taxpayers' dime. But as I zoomed under the streets of the FiDi this morning on BART, I was caught offguard by the salty wit of this particular statement. Forgive my ... More >>

BART Passenger Sues Police for Alleged Beating Over Ringtone

Bart in trouble again!​A BART passenger is suing the transit agency and several of its officers, accusing them of beating and arresting him after he said he complied with a police order to stop listening to a musical ringtone on his phone. You have to wonder -- how annoying was that ringtone? ... More >>

SF Weekly's Evening at the BART Rally

Riot police at Civic Center BART station​At 4:30 p.m. on Monday, a BART train pulls up to the Civic Center platform. The doors slide open and passengers disembark, looking around curiously once they realize each set of doors is flanked by two BART security guards in fluorescent yellow vests. In ... More >>

BART Shooting: Rally Planned Today Will Disrupt Transit Service

​Activists are planning  to slow BART service at the Civic Center Station this evening in response to the fatal July 3 BART police shooting. The protest, organized by a group called No Justice, No Bart, is scheduled to take place from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m and could draw as many as 300 people. N ... More >>

Protests Over BART Shooting Shut Down Civic Center Station During Evening Commute

Eric C./twitpicRiot police at the cable car turnaround.​ Update 8:03 p.m. Seems like protestors are leaving the cable car turnaround area. Powell St. station remains closed, but -- knock on wood! -- things seem to be finally winding down. We'll sign off for the evening. Hope everyone gets home ... More >>

BART Musician Adam Young Shares Tips on Busking for a Living

​Adam Young was playing in the Powell BART station yesterday. But it wasn't the Owl City lead singer Adam Young. The Bay Area's own Adam Young is a cellist who has just started his first year at the S.F. Conservatory of Music. During the summer months, he busks in BART stations to earn his liv ... More >>

BART Chief "Comfortable" With Officer-Involved Shooting

Shooting in San Fran​BART is still reeling from the effects of the Oscar Grant shooting, with emotions resurfacing a few weeks ago when former BART cop Johannes Mehserle was released early from prison. Now the transit agency is finding itself again in an uneasy position after another officer shot ... More >>

BART Reopens After Woman Run Over by Train in Possible Suicide Attempt

UPDATE: Officials say a woman got onto the tracks early this morning and lay down between the rails before a train ran her over. The operator of the train, which was entering the station at 35 mph, saw the woman on the tracks and hit the "stop" button, but the train didn't halt in time, according to ... More >>

Oscar Grant Supporters Petition Department of Justice to Investigate BART

The fight continues​More than 500 people have signed a petition urging the United States Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to speed up its investigation of Oscar Grant's death at the Fruitvale BART station in 2009. Last year, before ex-BART cop Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involu ... More >>

Suicide Halts BART Trains

Suicide at BART ​The evening commute will be sad and slow. A woman apparently committed suicide this afternoon at the Ashby BART station in Berkeley, bringing trains to a screeching halt. Jim Allison, spokesman for BART, told SF Weekly that the northbound train was coming into the station at about ... More >>

BART to Get Its Gay on for Pride

Does it get any gayer than this?​Remember when The Daily Show made fun of San Francisco for getting, ahem, topped by Minneapolis as the gayest city in the nation? Well, perhaps BART is helping us try to make a comeback, just in time for Gay Pride. It seems that BART is now hopping aboard the gay t ... More >>

Google Maps Now Tracks BART in Real-Time

GoogleBART riders, kneel before Google​No need to rush out the door to catch that next BART train. We all know it will probably be late anyway. But to temper your anger over this often frustrating transit system, Google has rolled out its real-time tracking system for public transportation that's ... More >>

Local Idiot Kicked Off BART for Talking about Weapons of Mass Destruction

No more talk of WMD​After this week's killing of Osama bin Laden, we knew it wouldn't take long before that one comment about bombs and terrorism brought Bay Area transit to a screeching halt. This morning, during commute hour, BART booted a man off the train after he was reportedly scaring other ... More >>

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead, Bay Area on "High Alert"

Aaaaand Scene!​Yes, we finally achieved the seemingly impossible -- we killed Osama bin Laden!But what does that really mean for us?While Bay Area leaders issue statement after statement celebrating the death of the No. 1 terrorist, it also seems during this time of triumph that we have to worry a ... More >>

BART to Offer Late-Night Service

BART still won't let you stick around for last call ​Earlier this month, we had posited this question: What could General Manager Dorothy Dugger's $1 million payout buy us? Well, BART just gave us the answer -- late-night service for six months!The Examiner reports that BART is considering the muc ... More >>

BART GM Dorothy Dugger's $1M Payout: What Could That Buy?

BART's lost $958,000 isn't in the lost and found​Nothing is more awkward than a breakup taking place on public transportation. Except, of course, a public transportation breakup. Earlier this year, BART's board voted, behind closed doors, to dump high-priced general manager Dorothy Dugger. It turn ... More >>

BART Delays ... Again

Late for dinner​Update 6 p.m.: BART trains are running on time. Go home before there is another mechanical breakdown.Original Story 2:39 p.m.:BART trains are running late, and they are expected to be even later by the time you leave work. The transit agency is reporting 10-to-15-minute delays on a ... More >>

BART Back on Track for Morning Commute ... Just in Time to Cause More Delays

Just in time​A few hours after fixing a massive derailment that shut down BART service in parts of the East Bay yesterday, separate mechanical issues set off new delays this morning. Officials are now reporting 15 minute delays on the trains after mechanical problems between the Embarcadero and Mo ... More >>

Most BART Riders Escape Tickets for Eating and Drinking

BART Puts More Police On Trains

You want it, you got it ​Two years ago you more likely to see a BART cop on YouTube than you were to find them on a train. Even after scuffles between BART cops and passengers were caught on video and the emotionally-charged trial of Oscar Grant, riders still said they wanted to see more police on ... More >>

BART Needs $2 Billion Worth of Repairs

BART maintenance is a trainwreck. ​More than one-fifth of the equipment BART uses is in poor or shoddy condition -- and fixing it would cost taxpayers at least $2 billion, according to a January report by rthe U.S. Government Accountability Office.America's public transit facilities have -- for ye ... More >>

BART Oakland Airport Connector Gets More Expensive

Pretty -- and pretty costly​A controller's memo sent to BART officials yesterday warned that constructing the controversial $484 million Oakland Airport Connector will drain millions more away from the system's general fund than previously believed. BART's failure to secure a $105 million Transpor ... More >>

What Music Fans Would Avoid If BART Ran Later

Yeah, we'd probably see some more of this.​Hey, club- and concert-goers: someday you may not have to leave weekend events early to get back to the side of the bay on which you live!By which we mean that BART is considering the possibility of running trains later on the weekends, partially for ... More >>

Bizarre, Baffling BART Ad Explained

Uh-huh...​The other day, we noticed a striking ad at Civic Center BART. One one side was a turnstile meeting between an anthropomorphized duck holding a girl dolly and a girl holding a duck dolly. And on the right was the text "The brainchild of meeting haters." Taken together it was baffling. Tak ... More >>

BART Cops Hardly Ever on BART

No police in this picture. No coincidence. ​In December of last year, SF Weekly wrote an article querying how much time BART police actually spend on trains. While studies -- and riders -- have been clamoring for more officers on trains for more than 15 years, until this year BART did not even mak ... More >>

BART Train Disabled In Tunnel Will Ruin Your Morning Commute

​If you're reading this as you walk out the door in the East Bay en route to San Francisco, you might consider having a second cup of coffee. No one's gonna notice. A BART train that broke down in the Transbay Tunnel at around 6:45 a.m. was just moved to West Oakland Station after a glorious half- ... More >>

Will BART Spend Big Bucks To Change Station's Name?

Take us to the 'Centre'! Tally-ho!​BART's board of directors is scheduled today to vote on whether the name of one of its stations should be made longer, more complicated -- and more expensive. At the behest of both municipal and corporate interests, BART may today opt to change the name of Pleasa ... More >>

'Lucky Dog' Races Through BART Tunnels

Black poodle 1, BART 0​A black, 10-pound poodle managed to bring BART to its knees this morning, as it ran wild through the tunnels, snarled rush hour service, and, so far as anyone can tell, got away clean. The animal exited the train at Lake Merritt Station around 7:30 a.m., then decided to take ... More >>

BART Delays for City-Bound Riders

​It's going to be one of those Mondays for BART riders heading toward the city from San Francisco Airport and Millbrae. A "trackside problem" or "equipment problem" at SFO has led to delays of 20 to 30 minutes for trains headed toward the city. BART is still experiencing residual delays following ... More >>

Oakland Airport Connector Project Wins Funding

BARTHere it comes, whether you like it or not...​The Oakland Airport Connector project is not unlike a zombie -- it's terrible and it stinks, but you just can't kill it. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission today approved applying $20 million in state funds toward the projected $484 million ... More >>

Man on Tracks at Glen Park BART

​BART is experiencing delays due to an apparently unstable man running onto the tracks at Glen Park Station. "The situation is, one of our community service officers observed someone getting onto the tracks at Glen Park Station and run into the tunnel toward Balboa Park," said BART spokesman Jim A ... More >>

BART Approves Oakland Airport Connector, Punts on Unpopular Fare Rollback

The project that just won't die ... won't die​BART's board today tabled the vote on the fare rollback no one wants and approved the Oakland Airport Connector no one needs. By an 8-1 vote, the board approved the revamped $483 million connector project, which was dealt a staggering blow when ... More >>

BART Riders Not Thrilled With Bogus Fare Reduction

BART riders: Cleanliness is next to Godliness​Those embittered with the state of society invariably mutter that, in a democracy, the people always get the government they deserve. But if that's the case -- and it is -- then BART riders deserve both credit, and excellent transportation. We've writt ... More >>

Busy Day on BART Tracks: Parolee Chase, Passenger Trapped Beneath Train

​Passengers in BART trains spent an ungodly amount of time stuck going nowhere today, but it could always be worse. You could be stuck beneath the train, which was the case at Embarcadero not long ago. Major delays are in effect, and the condition of the rider is not currently known.

How Does BART Manage to Spend $15,000 Per Car on 'Deep Cleaning'?

​This morning, the Chronicle ran an eye-catching little story about BART. Its synopsis: Half of the $4.5 million allotted for temporary fare rollbacks has been siphoned off into BART directors' "pet projects" -- including an astounding $750,000 to "deep clean" 50 train cars. That's $15,000 a car, ... More >>

Baylinks: Chocolate, Spilled Booze, & Star Wars

​Why does the Millbrae BART station smell like chocolate and not, well, a BART station? [SFAppeal]Is the price of a Caltrain ticket about to go up? [Streetsblog]Get your culture on (free!) at the Divisadero Art Walk tonight. [Haighteration]Woman goes on a rampage and wrecks Richmond Delano's liquo ... More >>

Bloody Weekend: Ilya Yurchenkov Gunned Down; Konstantin Tomashevsky Dies Mysteriously at BART

View Larger MapThis was a heartbreaking San Francisco weekend for two painfully young men entering the prime of life. On Saturday morning 18-year-old Ilya Yurchenkov died after a late-night Friday shooting at Geary and Lyon. A suspect is in custody; police spokesman Boaz Mariles told SF Weekly that ... More >>

Local Video: League510, They Come In Peace To The Beat

Moving to a new place can feel like coming to a new planet, at least that's what it's been like for League510, who says they're from... outerspace. Producing a sound they've coined as "Town Techno" and ditching their "spaceship" in the Oakland Hills, they've released the video for the first single ... More >>