Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a heavy rail publicrapid transit system that serves theSan Francisco Bay Area in northernCalifornia. It joins the cities of theEast Bay, includingOakland, withSan Francisco. Construction began in 1964. The first trains began running on September 11, 1972.[1]
As of 2022, there are five main lines on the system. There are 131 miles (211 km) of track (using a wider-than-normalgauge of1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)). There are 50 stations.[2] Like other rapid transit systems in the world, tracks are in undergroundtunnels in inner cities, and on elevatedviaducts in suburban areas. In some places, they are in the middle offreeways. The busiest part of the system is the Transbay Tube, a 3.6-mile (5.8 km) underwater tunnel under theSan Francisco Bay. Almost 150,000 people pass through the tube every day.[3]
Thefare which people pay to ride BART depends on how far they go. They first buy papermagnetic stripe cards inside the station. Then they insert thisticket into the gate, walk through the gate, and take the ticket out. They then get on board the train. Sometimes they have to change from one train to another to get to where they want to go. After they leave the train at their destination, they insert their ticket into the fare gate again to exit the station. Printed numbers on the card show how much money is left on the ticket. A passenger who enters and exits the same station will be charged an "excursion fare". As of June 2024[update], the fare was $6.75.[4]
In the 2000s, BART was expanded to reachSan Francisco International Airport. It now goes as far asMillbrae. Two otherbranch lines have opened since then. In 2014, BART opened a short line toOakland International Airport that uses trains pulled bycables. An extension of the Pittsburg line toAntioch, which opened in 2018, usesdiesel multiple units onstandard gauge tracks instead of the electric, broad-gauge trains used on the main lines. A project is also going on to expand the southern main line intoSan Jose. The entire extension was supposed to be completed in 2018.[5] Instead, the first new stations were opened on June 13, 2020 after breakdowns in communication and testing with the line.[6]
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