“If they close BART, it’s an attack on the lower class,” one Dublin mother said.
Dublin resident Shakira Moore, who uses a wheelchair, talks about her use of BART service during an interview at the West Dublin/Pleasanton station Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Dublin, Calif. Moore relies on the service at least four days a week to commute to her college in Oakland.
train this week, Shakira Moore had no idea the station she relies on is among those BART is considering closing, if aIf the proposed measure fails, BART is considering widespread cuts in 2027 that would include laying off 1,200 employees, closing 10 to 15 stations,The West Dublin-Pleasanton station, which Moore takes to Oakland at least four times a week, is one BART could shutter as it grapples with a $376 million deficit. “If they close BART, it’s an attack on the lower class,” said the 42-year-old, who uses a wheelchair and relies on buses and trains to get most places. “That seems like a waste of taxpayers’ money as well.”, MUNI and other services to get around the Bay Area are depending on a 14-year tax measure that transit officials are banking on to save the region’s trains and buses from deep service cuts and station closures. BART has cited declining ridership due to the rise in remote work following the COVID-19 pandemic as fueling its financial crisis. Fares and parking fees collected pre-pandemic had covered about 70% of the funding for train operations, compared to now, according to data from BART, with fares covering just over 30% of operating costs. The transit agency also reports spending has outpaced revenues while, at the same time, BART is running more trains than it was before the pandemic. The agency on Jan. 1 raised fares by 6.2%, or about an average of 30 cents from $4.88 to $5.18, to help cover these losses in funding, though that is not enough to save the agency from the major deficit it still suffers, transit officials say. Passengers arrive at the West Dublin/Pleasanton station Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Dublin, Calif. announced a $590 million state loan to BART, AC Transit, Caltrain and San Francisco MUNI, which will help the agencies cover operating costs until they can collect new tax money, assuming the measure passes. The transit agencies would have 12 years to repay it.Man suffers fatal medical emergency at SF BART stationMan charged with raping woman as she slept at BART parking lot At a Feb. 12 meeting of the BART Board of Directors, board President Melissa Hernandez voiced concern over the draconian cuts, noting her displeasure that two Dublin stations could close through next year. “For me, that is not fair. It’s not fair to the residents. It’s not fair to the people that depend on BART,” said Hernandez, who represents the Tri-Valley. “We are doing our part, so I want to be very clear that this is very unfair to my district.” BART officials have since proposed foregoing any closures until July 2027 if the measure fails, though the board still has to approve that decision at its next meeting on Feb. 26. Other low-ridership stations on the proposed first-phase chopping block include Castro Valley, North Concord, Oakland airport connector, Orinda, Pittsburg Center, San Bruno, South Hayward, South San Francisco and Warm Springs. At a recent Pittsburg City Council meeting, councilmembers raised concerns that one of their city’s stations could face closure next year. Mayor Dionne Adams said shutting down stations would reduce the quality of life, as residents face longer commutes and added stress for those who rely on train services. “It will take you a longer time to get to the BART station,” Adams told Bay Area News Group. “You will have folks who are frustrated because it’s taking time away from their family.” Orinda Councilmember Darlene Gee told this news organization her city’s BART station is a cornerstone of Orinda’s downtown. She said a tax measure won’t solve all transportation funding issues in the region, but it will help give transit agencies time to do “some serious rethinking” about the long-term structures of these systems. Gee’s biggest fear, she said, is the possibility that voters will make a decision based on old experiences and assumptions about BART — that the system is unsafe and dirty. “They really need to take a fresh look and consider the ancillary things that will impact them if this situation were to come about,” Gee said. “I’m hopeful people will take a holistic look at what this really means other than saying, ‘I don’t ride BART, I don’t care,’ because it means a whole lot to our community.” The ballot measure is expected to go to a vote throughout Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and San Francisco counties. San Francisco residents would see a 1% tax increase, while the other four counties’ residents would see a half-cent tax increase, if the measure makes the November ballot and passes. It needs 186,000 signatures to make it to the fall ballot. Carter Lavin, co-founder of transit advocacy organization Transbay Coalition, told this news organization that his biggest concern with a possible failure of the proposed ballot measure is “the Bay Area economy shuts down, the Bay Area becomes an inaccessible place to millions of people and traffic becomes even more unbearable.” “This is happening because, as a region, as a state, as a nation, we don’t invest in transit. We haven’t done it in any significant amount,” Lavin said. “We have a great opportunity to fix that.” His group, which does organizing work throughout the entire region, has been hitting the streets collecting signatures, crafting signs in favor of the measure and conducting education campaigns about the realities of the Bay Area’s transit future. Lavin said it’s hard to imagine the “amount of upheaval that the destruction of transit would cause in the Bay Area,” and called the potential failure of the measure “catastrophic” for the region. “At the end of the day, this isn’t about VTA, this isn’t about Caltrain, this isn’t about BART. It’s about your neighbor, the person sitting next to you in the church pew, the person you go to work with, the person on the bus, the person you see driving by,” Lavin said. “This is really a question of are we going to invest in our community? Are we going to invest in each other?” Back at the Dublin station, Moore said the closure of any Tri-Valley station would make it even more difficult for her and her son. “It’s already hard” and “unpredictable,” she said, to get to Oakland, where her 16-year-old attends high school and plays football. Losing the station could mean he’d have to attend another school, she said.Veteran defenseman is back with the Sharks, but his NHL career is in limbo California Democrats declined to endorse a candidate for governor at their convention. Here's what that means. 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