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BART has been awarded the Triple Crown Award by the Government Finance Officers Association, one of the highest honors in public finance. The distinction for the fiscal year that ends in 2024 recognizes governments that have achieved excellence in budgeting, financial reporting, and financial planning, and is earned by only 441 governments across the United States and Canada.

The Triple Crown Award recognizes agencies that achieve excellence in three critical areas of financial reporting and accountability: the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the Popular Annual Financial Report, and the Annual Budget. Organizations must meet rigorous standards for transparency, accuracy, and communication of financial information to qualify.

The award places BART among a small percentage of public agencies recognized for demonstrating the highest levels of professionalism and excellence in public finance.

“This recognition reflects BART’s ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and responsible stewardship of public funds,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “As we face significantly challenging financial times for public transit, we remain focused on ensuring taxpayers, riders, and stakeholders have confidence in how we manage every dollar entrusted to us.”

The honor comes as BART continues to implement cost-saving measures and pursue new revenue opportunities. Earlier this month, when the BART Board of Directors adopted a balanced FY27 budget, it also voted to adopt a series of recommended early action strategies meant to enhance revenue and reduce costs. The items are based on recommendations from an independent Bay Area Financial Efficiency Review commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

The actions approved by the Board include improving fare compliance through optimization of BART’s new fare gates, enhancing parking revenue, leasing communications assets, expanding the Clipper BayPass program, improving service reliability through schedule changes, operating shorter trains during lower-demand periods, identifying contract savings opportunities, and evaluating expanded retail partnerships.

The third-party review found that between 2019 and 2025, BART reduced operating costs by more than $516 million through service reductions, workforce controls, and operational efficiencies.

The Triple Crown Award also follows another significant external validation of BART’s financial and operational management. In its FY 2025 Triennial Review, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) found BART in compliance with all 23 federal standards evaluated, including financial management, federal grant administration, procurement, and project implementation. The review was the result of a nearly 10-month process that included multiple site visits and thorough examination of BART’s management practices. The FTA’s findings reinforced BART’s commitment to responsible use of public resources and effective oversight.

Together, the GFOA Triple Crown Award, the independent Financial Efficiency Review, and the FTA’s comprehensive assessment underscore BART’s continued focus on fiscal responsibility, transparency, and delivering value for riders and taxpayers across the Bay Area.

BART’s transformative Next Generation Fare Gates Project is being recognized by two prestigious national organizations. The American Public Works Association named the fare gates as its winner of the 2026 Public Works Project Award and the International Partnering Institute announced the gates as its 2026 Collaborative Project of the Year.  In August 2025, BART completed the replacement of 715 gates in all 50 stations across a system that spans five counties. The project was completed four months ahead of schedule.

“No other transit agency in the world has fare gates quite like these,” said BART Assistant General Manager for Infrastructure Delivery and head of the fare gates project Sylvia Lamb. “This project is a true example of a BART-wide effort with every department contributing to the successful installation of new fare gates at every station.”

There are several examples of how Next Generation Fare Gates have transformed the rider experience:

*The number of riders who tell BART they’ve witnessed fare evasion has dropped more than 50% compared with before the start of installation.

*New gates and BART Police Department’s increased visible presence are critical parts of a comprehensive approach to rider safety that has resulted in a 41% drop in BART’s overall crime rate.

*Hours spent on corrective maintenance inside BART stations for vandalism, graffiti, and broken items decreased 961 hours in the first six months after all stations had new gates.

*Early indications are the gates are responsible for BART fare revenue growing by about $10 million annually through reduced fare evasion.

The gates feature a unique door locking mechanism that makes their swing barriers very hard to push through, jump over, or maneuver under. The overall fare gate array height (gate, console, integrated barrier) forms a barrier of 72 inches minimum to deter fare evasion.

Learn more about BART’s Next Generation Fare Gates Project here.

BART recently released the 2026-2035 Sustainability Action Plan (SAP), outlining how the agency will uphold its commitment to advancing regional sustainability in the Bay Area in the decade to come.

Sustainability is both what BART does (providing access to clean and reliable transit) and how BART does it (reducing our environmental impacts while operating the system). The new SAP identifies initiatives that support regional climate resilience, public well-being, increased ridership, and responsible environmental practices.

The 2026-2035 SAP was compiled using the lessons learned from the 2015-2025 SAP and extensive outreach to riders, BART employees, the BART Board, and community members. BART’s Sustainability Department conducted surveys, held community meetings, and established internal working groups to help calibrate priorities. The department also examined historical performance data and built models to forecast BART’s future resource use.

The plan is organized into seven categories that reflect different aspects of BART’s Sustainability Program. Within each category, BART has identified a mission-oriented goal, performance metrics to be tracked relative to 2030 targets, and organization-wide actions that will enhance our sustainability best practices.

Key priorities include:

• Increasing BART’s share of greenhouse gas-free electricity to 100% (currently BART’s electricity is 86% GHG-free as of calendar year 2024)
• Upgrading water fixtures to conserve water across BART facilities
• Expanding recycling and composting efforts across BART facilities
• Adopting a Green Procurement Policy to aid in selecting sustainable materials
• Conducting a multi-hazard climate risk assessment
• Building more Transit-Oriented Development at our stations
• Improving rider satisfaction by focusing on station cleanliness and safety

“BART has made significant progress in advancing sustainability over the past eight years, but there’s more work to do,” said Michael Cox, BART Manager of Sustainability Projects. “Our goal for the new action plan is to establish practices that will pay environmental and cost dividends even beyond 2035. Getting input from many stakeholders helped us ensure we are planning projects that prioritize riders and help our system run more efficiently.”

BART will publish annual sustainability reports throughout the 2026-2035 SAP period to provide progress updates. The forthcoming Calendar Year 2025 Sustainability Report, which will be released later this year, will be the final report summarizing work related to the outgoing 2015-2025 SAP.

Learn more about sustainability at BART at bart.gov/sustainability