Every week, as I ride the rails of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, I’m reminded why public transportation is one of our region’s greatest assets. Freed from traffic and parking headaches, I can read, think—or simply observe my fellow passengers. I also marvel at how BART has shaped access and growth in the greater Tri-City area over the past half-century.
The vision for BART emerged as early as 1946. Construction began in the 1960s before ultimately launching service in 1972. That same year, a train ran off the tracks at the Fremont station due to an Automatic Train Control system failure—aka, the “Fremont Flyer” incident—leading to a comprehensive redesign of the system and a change in leadership. Two years later, the Transbay Tube connected the system’s four branches, including the one terminating in Fremont.
Not surprisingly, the introduction of BART also spurred the development of local bus services in the southern portion of Alameda County. AC Transit bus service in Fremont began in November 1974 and in Newark the following month, with the Fremont BART station becoming a key transit hub.
Meanwhile, Union City opted to create its own bus service in 1974, known as “the Flea.” Although by the early 1980s “the Flea” was renamed Union City (UC) Transit, the “Flea” name was resurrected for a microtransit pilot project in 2023.
In 2017, the Warm Springs/South Fremont station opened, becoming the new southern terminus of the East Bay BART line. But the 2020 pandemic hit transit hard, draining ridership across all modes.
Last week, reporter Diego Aguilar-Canabal wrote in his East Bay Today newsletter about AC Transit’s 104 updated and new routes that are now being shaped by “lower post-pandemic ridership and a $41.5 million budget deficit.” The changes aim to focus limited resources on high-demand corriors, though some riders fear “longer travel times and reduced service to certain neighborhoods.”
Aguilar-Canabal also points out a bigger truth: California’s climate goals depend on keeping public transit strong. Cutting service risks not only leaving riders stranded, but also pushing more cars—and emissions—onto our roads.
Transit has always been more than a way to get from point A to point B. It’s a public investment that knits together our cities, supports economic growth and gives more people the freedom of mobility. If we care about sustainable, connected communities, we can’t let public transportation wither.
Funding initiatives will be on ballots soon. Let’s show the same vision our predecessors had when they built BART: invest now, so the next 50 years of transit can be even better than the last.
