If you enter the term “BART” into Google these days, you’re met with a flood of dystopian headlines.
People are apparently punching BART workers in the face, climbing around on the tracks, and even dispatching each other over “scooter disputes.”
From these headlines, you get the sense that riding BART post-pandemic is some kind of horrifying urban nightmare that only the brave embark upon, and from which few return alive.
I admit that as a 10-year Bay Area resident, even I started to feel a little unsure about whether it was still okay to ride BART. I hadn’t ridden BART much since 2019 due to COVID concerns, so I was mostly going from what I heard on the news.
But for a recent overnight at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero, I decided to brave the apparently depraved fellow riders and crumbling facilities of the Bay Area’s main transit line and ride BART downtown.
Here’s the good news: I wasn’t murdered. Not even once.
Returning to BART
In fact, everything about my trips were pleasant, efficient, and cheap. I boarded the train in Lafayette to find it almost empty. Since the pandemic, BART has been running bigger trains to provide more space for social distancing. I had my pick of seats.
BART has also been rolling out new trains. The one I sat in was colorful and clean. It still made the signature BART whooshing noise, but the AC actually worked and the windows were crystal clear.
The train arrived right on time. My car had about 10 other people in it, and picked up several more along the way into SF. Everyone was pleasant, civil and quiet.
When I arrived at the Embarcadero station, I expected to finally find the decaying urban environment that we all read about in the papers. What I found instead was a station that, although dated, was perfectly functional and felt safe.
In short, every aspect of my trip was totally boring and uneventful. In an era where every headline is about some atrocity committed aboard the transit system, that in and of itself felt like news.
A Reality Check
The stories told about BART remind me of the old joke about a weatherman covering a hurricane. At one point in the broadcast, he gets so worked up talking about the power and danger of the storm that he has to step outside to get some air.
BART feels like that. We’re all so focused on any crazy event that happens aboard the transit system that we never pause to consider the fact that up to 160,000 people ride the system each day, mostly without incident.
That’s not to say that BART is perfect, or in good financial shape. Reduced ridership means that the system is struggling fiscally. Although rider numbers are recovering, they’re still down substantially vs before the pandemic.
Much of that is likely due to structural and economic changes, like the Bay Area’s embrace of remote work.
Fearing Fear Itself
But some of it is doubtlessly also due to public perceptions of the BART system. A recent study claims that only 17% of people feel safe on BART, and that fear of the system’s safety is a major reason people aren’t riding.
That’s a shame. Over 450 people die on the Bay Area’s roads every year. Only 4 people died in homicides on BART property in 2022. Statistically speaking, the system remains quite safe.
Of course, I only took two rides. I’m sure people have unpleasant experiences on BART. But the vast majority of riders likely have normal, boring ones.
By focusing only on the stories that end badly, we’re creating the perception of a system that’s much worse off than the actual system appears to be.
If you’re avoiding BART because you’re scared, I encourage you to give the system a try. Maybe you’ll see something unpleasant, or your car will smell bad. Maybe you’ll be forced to endure 8 minutes of low-quality busking while traversing the Transbay Tunnel.
Or maybe like me, you’ll simply arrive downtown in record time, save yourself a cool $45 on SF’s exorbitant parking charges, and emerge with your faith in the system at least partially restored.
Thank you for writing this. As someone who rides BART frequently, it’s true that the system is not perfect. However, I still take either BART or MUNI almost every day as my primary mode of transportation without incident. It’s still one of the countries most functional transit systems and we should not take it for granted, especially as the need for funding becomes more and more pressing.
It’s important to have the many normal rides that happen every day represented! The more people acknowledge the value and importance of transit, the more solvable the problems that do exist become.
Thanks for writing this! I ride Bart or Muni almost every day and while they aren’t without their issues, the large majority of my trips are completely incident free. It’s so important for these trips to be represented too. The more we support transit, the more fixable the problems that do exist become.
The same can pretty much be said about the city itself. Every negative story gets broadcast to the planet and repeated ad nauseam. Every good thing that happens is suppressed. I still see a vibrant city and never feel threatened on the street or on Muni. It’s not back up to pre-Covid levels but I still see people everywhere, including families and tourists. This whole dying doom loop city narrative is nonsense. It’s so clearly politically driven and needs to stop.
I encourage a larger sample size of rides. The one off is cool for an article. Happy for your experience. Daily riders spend close to $300/per mo and deal with other inconveniences on BART. Also they don’t come from Lafayette to SF’s financial Dist.(Areas with resources) @ 5 stops in total through gentrified areas. I do agree, don’t be fearful. Let’s not gloss over glaring issues and BART failures. Thx
Try more than once bud. When you take the Bart day in and day out, those “occasional” negative experiences really start to sour the experience and lead people to not feel safe.
Yeah that’s a lie..I ride bart late night several days a week and it’s not peaceful like you say..
Sorry but this sounds like a paid ad vs an actual article. You don’t say how much you actually paid for the fare. Also, cloth seats on a train where homeless people who urinate on themselves sit? Why not plastic seats that can be easily cleaned? None of the disparate systems; Bart, Caltrain, Samtrans, etc., communicate with each other or sync up their schedules. People don’t use Bart or other public transportation for a myriad of reasons, but the main one is that the system is broken. It’s going to be much harder to overcome that public perception unless service becomes more consistent, safer and less expensive than driving as some employers would rather pay for parking and get their employees to work on time.
Not sure how much I paid, as it was on a Clipper Card. Whatever the fare from Lafayette to Embarcadero is. It’s not a paid ad; no affiliation with BART here.
On a BART ride from Powell to West Oakland, two different men offered seats to older women in the moderately crowded car I was riding, standing with my kid. Then when my kid got a scared look in their eye as more people boarded at Montgomery, another older gentleman offered his seat to her. This was all after spending a lovely afternoon all around Union Square. Quite a contrast from the doom loop narrative.
Bart is dirty and they have 0 police presence as they are all driving between stations!!
I ride BART everyday, some days are challenging and most are painless and efficient. To all the readers… Don’t give up on BART, it’s a huge part of our urban culture and I for one see those silver trains with the light blue accents, as culturally relevant as our skylines and bridges, here in the Bay Area. Wonderful article Mr. Smith. Thank you.