This year, I tried something new and rode BART to the Let’s Glow BART Anime Fest at the Warm Springs Station on Sept. 19. I’d heard about last year’s festival, and was a little confused. BART and anime? Was this a thing?
Yes. My husband and I arrived around 4pm when the event started, the place was packed, and the line for official merch was already snaking across the parking lot. A fellow attendee informed us that last year the event had only taken up one side of the parking lot, and people were body to body in the artist’s alley. I thought, “More crowded than this?” But navigating the crush was worth it to find adorable creations, some in tribute to BART and public transit in general.
Lots of people were in cosplay (BART-themed or otherwise), there were tricked out sticker cars, singing and dancing. It felt like a more low-key version of Fanime. In 2025, 4,500 attendees turned out. This year BART estimates an attendance over 7,000—plus quadrupling Warm Springs’ Saturday ridership.
Going back through BART’s website, I saw that they first put out a call for artists to create BART-themed characters at Crunchyroll in 2022. They launched the mascots at Fanime in 2023. In an X post, BART shared:
“Since COVID, BART’s rider demographics have changed considerably. It’s gotten much younger, more diverse in race and less likely to own a car.”
So yes, they’re going after the anime fans. They’ve also tabled with their anime and railgoods merch at nerdy events like the NorCal Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco.
Because we BARTed in, we received a cute fan of the mascot Barty, which inspired much envy from the drivers. We also braved the line for official Railgoods merch, and I was proud to take home a sticker sheet of Nimbus, the hawk-themed character.
BART’s website says, “You can often find Nimbus on top of the hills, taking in the breezy wanderlust of the Bay Area. The nature and civilization below provides tons of inspiration for the stories he writes with his friendly hawk companion.”
I too can be found wandering the hills, writing stories or chatting with my bird companion. But sometimes I can also be found on BART.
