BART

Convenient for tourists to use to go to/​from San Francisco. Announcements made on the trains (next stop, special messages, etc) need to be louder and clearer. A lot of the time we had no idea what was being said. Staff was very helpful when we had questions/​issues.

I took Bart from Bay Point to Fremont on Sunday (⁵⁄₁). The train arrived at Fremont on time which was 2:58pm. I had a problem with my ticket and I don’t take Bart too often so I don’t really understand how their ticket system works. I went to talk to their employee at the window about it. She was texting on the phone as she was answering my questions. I find that was extremely rude, very unprofessional! What make a Bart employee so difference than the rest of us other than their wages? We don’t see an employee at Safeway on the phone texting while they ringing up our groceries, or a nurse doing that while giving your little ones the shots for that matter. I understand we all have family emergency while we at work. What happened to: «Here’s my work phone numbers. Call me if there’s an emergency»? Where did all that go? Bart need to do something about their employees’s cellphone policy.

It’ll get you from A to B, and the trains arent any dirtier than the next city’s trains BUT I am not a fan of using BART.
Instead of a one price fits all system like they have in New York ($ 2.50 per way) or LA ($ 1.75 per way) you have to waste time calculating how much YOUR stop will cost. For me to get from the East Bay (Dublin/​Pleasanton) into SF it costs me $ 5.50. Way too expensive.
It feels like they purposely make the pricing system complex so that you leave the system with unused money on your ticket. The tickets are paper so they’re harder to maintain and their ticket machines are nowhere near as user friendly as other machines.
Parking at a station? Good luck figuring out how to pay. BART keeps parking machines inside the turnstiles but change machines outside the turnstiles… yet their parking machines are cash only.
I wouldn’t complain so much about a Public system but at $ 11 per round trip I expect a better experience.

Bart has become an essential last resort for local travel. People with standards actively try to avoid using it, and for good reason. It smells, it is used as a trash can, the train operator tells you the door is closing 100 times before it actually does, that bell sound unnecessarily beeps repeatedly before the doors close (why?), the tunnel sound decibel is way too high in terms of gut wrenching noise, you never know when someone with zero manners will cough in your face, and the ticket machines in the stations look like they are from 1972.
All of this is an embarrassment to such an iconic city with so much money. Yes it is the most expensive city. Lets reflect that in the quality of public transit appearance and functionality, without raising fares more. Show there are improvements visually, then there will be a reason for a price hike.
One question… where is the money from the fares going of the 500k people who ride it each day? There is no indication of supposed improvement. This fact is sketchy.
If they want to keep their customers, clean it up, and don’t give bullshit reasons to increase fees or let people hop the turn-​styles.
They should learn from more modern, dignified, and cleaner representations of public transit that appears like it cares, such as Montréal, Budapest, and Boston.

I took BART from Berkeley downtown to SoSF Station (w/​a transfer @ MacArthur Sta). The SFO/​Millbrae train from MacArthur Sta was very late in arriving. When I finally arrived & got off at SoSF Sta., I tried to use the bathroom but it was locked. It was only 11:30pm, so I asked the Station Attendant why the bathrooms are closed early and whether there are new policies about the bathrooms. We have used the bathrooms when we come late from the City and so were very surprised that they are now locked. She told me that BART is a Public Transit System and BART has the option to NOT have the bathrooms available at anytime but if I really have to go she can open the bathroom for me. I believe the Station Attendant is just LAZY and not following procedures to allow the public access to BART bathrooms. I don’t see any reason why I need to plea to a Station Attendant every time I have to use a bathroom.

My biggest complaints with BART are: inconsistency, safety and it’s just plain dirty. While I understand a public transit agency cannot stop anyone from using the system, it doesn’t feel safe, especially if you are using it during non-​commute times. There are a lot of homeless and crazies that move from car to car and train to train. I saw a man sitting in a seat who was accosted by a crazy walking through the train. BART does nothing (and I mean NOTHING) to make patrons feel safe; they have dummy security cameras in the majority of their cars! BART has a «schedule-​smedule» attitude; they don’t run on time, are frequently 20+ minutes delayed and don’t apologize. The trains are pretty filthy; I don’t know if they are ever cleaned. BART also holds the entire Bay Area hostage every 3 – 4 years when the train operators union contract is being negotiated. During the last strike, I had to use AC Transit; the commute experience was radically different and I crossed over the to the Light Side. Now, I only take BART when I have to (which fortunately is not very often). Other major cities have larger systems and fewer problems. Also, get rid of those ridiculous paper tickets that are useless if a drop of water touches them.

A lot of hopeless people sleeping on the train, the train operator they dont anything at all. Very smelly stincky. And 80% of there trip was late and delay. And also the sign most of the time was wrong.

Das U-​Bahn-​Netz ist in San Francisco noch recht jung und somit befindet sich alles noch Aufbau. Innerhalb der City ist das Stationsnetz recht engmaschig, kommt man in die Vororte, werden die Abstände größer.
Die Ticketautomaten befinden sich, ähnlich wie in den Deutschland direkt bei den Rolltreppen und sind somit nicht zu verfehlen. Unterschied hier, man muss eine Art Geldkarte aufladen, um sich dann ein Ticket kaufen zu können. Somit sollte man sich vorher informieren, wie oft man fahren möchte und dementsprechend Geld auf die Karte laden. Zuviel eingezahltes Geld bekommt man nämlich nicht zurück erstattet.
Eine Tageskarte für das komplette Netz kostet knapp 12 Dollar und man kann mit ihr alle Strecken bereisen.
Wir starteten von der Powell Street zu einem der entferntesten Stationen und zwar in die SF Outlet Mall, die zirka 90 Minuten mit U-​Bahn und Bus entfernt liegt. Der Weg dorthin klang im Vorwege schwierig und auch die Beschreibungen im Internet waren nicht ganz klar. Im Nachgang aber war alles total einfach, gut ausgeschildert und man hatte sich schnell und leicht zurecht gefunden. Sogar die angegebenen 90 Minuten waren viel zu grosszügig berechnet.
Der Weg hat sich gelohnt. Die Anbindung war super getaktet und man auch noch was von Oakland und Umgebung gesehen, da die Bart ausserhalb des SF Stadtgebiets oberhalb fährt und nicht nur unter der Erde
Möchte man in die San Francisco Outlet Mall oder einfach die Aussenbezirke der Stadt kennelernen, lohnt sich ein Trip mit der Bart. Schneller und kostengünstiger geht dies nicht.
Eine Anbindung an den International Airport ist auch im Werden und man kann somit demnächst auch direkt vom Flughafen in die Stadt fahren und wieder zurück.

I’ve been to other countries and other states,
I’ve never seen a more disgusting public transit system.

We are still tourists getting the hang of BART. But when we do get it right — BART is fabulous in getting people around San Francisco. We were helped by the good people on the train with some of our questions and we didn’t discover the website for BART until the end of this trip — better than some of the apps we had on our phones.
It was nice to think about helping the environment getting from The Wharf to SFO as well as getting there so quickly and efficiently.

BART delayed yet again. Generally, this transportation system is terrible. There are always equipment problems or other delays. I tried giving them the benefit of the doubt but it is a bit hard to do so when you are constantly getting stranded and left waiting along the line. Here’s to BART, a singularly terrible option made still more terrible by the fact that it is often the single option available.

It’s an OK system for what it is. BART gets a ton of people from the burbs right into the city with out too much trouble as say compared to other cities public transit. Beats the bus. Prices have gone up and the trains just get more crowded at commute hours. I just took the train from West Dublin station into the city, $ 11.50 round trip. This was just the second stop the empty train makes from Dublin Station and there were just a few seats left! My friend and I got 2 of the last seats together. Next stop Castro Valley, people standing now! All the way into SF! Our ride back at around noon the train was empty from San Leandro out to Dublin, except for the street vagrant using BART to sleep on during the day riding aimlessly around on the system.

It’s a good service because it runs to and from the airport from downtown, and it’s the cheapest option there is. It’s pretty quick, and there are usually enough seats. The crowd is less sketchy than the other forms of transportation in SF. I ride this to save money and to avoid any kind of traffic delay. It’s also completely safe. The stations exits is another story…

Any public transportation in a complex city is a good thing. The BART has been around for years and expanded. Because it has SF airport and Oakland airport on its line, it really makes it idea for travelers to take. Parking is difficult and expensive in SF. So the BART option is really a good one. I understand the frustration with price and time with the system. Having used the Washington D.C. metro system (which copied BART), I see the need of such system. Perhaps if I lived here, I wouldn’t like the price. But as a visitor, it is the best way to go. Don’t be influence by the bad reviews. It is safe and convinient.

*This review if for the Oakland Airport (OAK) BART extension, not BART in general.*
Outstanding! Clean cars, quick service, steps from the terminal.
Only bad part is when you step out of the Oakland Airport station on to the Coliseum station platform — hello real BART world!
Whatever it costs doesn’t really matter. I can hop on BART in Dublin (near my San Ramon home) and roll right to the Oakland airport — no traffic, cabs, expensive towncars/​shuttles or Über.
Not really a BART fan in general, but the airport extension is nice.
4.5 stars — clean up the Coliseum station — hire Paul Bart, BART janitor/​cop!

Like other reviews before mine have stated, BART is kinda outdated and kinda expensive, but it gets the job done. I used BART twice while in San Francisco to get to the city from the airport and back. It took a few minutes to figure out what train to take and how much it would cost, but overall I would definitely use BART again if I ever found myself in San Francisco.

Yes it’s outdated looking and yes it’d dirty, but it’s a quarter of the price compared to a cab and, let’s be honest. It’s really stinking’ fun to ride! Every time the Bart races into a tunnel, I’m tempted to throw my hands in the air and scream like a kid on a roller coaster.
Here’s a piece of information I wish I’d known sooner though — the Bart does not operate all night! I used to ride the light rail in Minneapolis, MN (which runs 24 – 7) on a regular basis, so I assumed any city larger than Minneapolis would of course have a 24 – 7 rail system as well. Long story short though, on my most recent San Francisco trip I had to catch a 5am plane at the SF International Airport and was surprised to learn that the Bart wouldn’t be able to get me there since it’s closed between the hours of 1am-​5am.
Despite this major snafu, I’m still leaving a four star review because I love public transportation (weird, I know). So make it a train, and I’m like a kid who wants to spend her day riding the mall escalator over and over.

I looked at the round trip fare from Dublin to the Colusiem and paid $ 7.60. When I arrived to the airport my ticket needed moe money…$ 19.60…

Took the BART from the San Francisco Airport. First time riding the BART. It travels pretty fast. It took awhile to get to our destination which is Dublin. We had to find the one that goes to Dublin. It has different lines and destinations, so make sure you get on the right one.
I did not care for the loud noise as we traveled. We went under a water tunnel and it literally popped my ears which hurt a little. I did not enjoy that. It did not seem to affect the normal people who ride the BART on a daily basis. The ride was fairly smooth and it got to our destination pretty fast. My husband bought prepaid cards for the BART. We just wave them in front of the scanner and it let us in and out.
I think my husband loaded around $ 40 in the card which should be enough to get us back to the SF airport when we leave from our visit in Dublin.
I do like how friendly the attendant was at the 12^th St and Oakland stop. She helped me swipe my card on the machine because it was not working. She was very helpful.
There were some strange characters on the BART as with any public transportation. I saw a guy haul in a shopping cart in the BART which was funny. Also saw a couple of guys dance for entertainment and then tried to collect money. I guess that it typical with any type of public transportation. It was an okay experience.

I’ve been waiting for this thing for 15 years so I was pretty excited to ride it. I’m a bit of a nerd.
Access the airport station by walking north toward the non-​southwest terminal and then crossing all lanes of traffic. There are signs posted everywhere.
Station is new of course and clean. I don’t remember going through a turnstile until I got to coliseum so I’m not sure how I paid for the ride. Automated trams come every 5 min. They are very similar to the trams at sfo. Big doors and windows make the ride enjoyable. No stops between airport and coliseum. Less than 10 min. Quiet.
Definitely more comfortable, convenient, and frequent than the buses which required leaving the station, buying an additional ticket, and lugging bags up into the bus.

All major metropolitan areas need mass transit solutions to their airports, and Oakland finally gets ours. Gone are the days of AirBART shuttles making endless right turns. Waiting for cabs that never show up? Fuggetaboutit.
Note: you must connect through Coliseum Station, there is no street access otherwise.
The cable pulled train cars run every five minutes from eight in the morning, until eight at night, and at longer intervals from 5am to 8am and 8pm to midnight.
The cost from Coliseum Station to OAK is six bucks.

Bart is very convenient, overpriced compared to other cities with better public transportation, and VERY NOISY especially in the tunnels. The worst part, though is how filthy some of the stations are. The Powell Street station, for example, absolutely reeks with urine smells, and looks like it hasn’t seen a mop in years. I understand that there is some construction going on, but that is no excuse for the complete lack of maintenance. Clean it up, BART!