BART to award eight retired cars for reuse

OAKLAND, Calif. — Bay Area Rapid Transit has selected eight finalists to receive and repurpose retired BART railcars for uses ranging from a beer garden to firefighter training.

While those selected will not pay for the cars, they will have to pay for transporting and installing them at their new locations, which the transit agency estimates could cost $8,000 to $15,000.

“These cars are iconic to the Bay Area and to the people that not only live in the Bay Area now, but grew up riding these BART cars,” Brian Tsukamoto, the agency’s manager of special projects–decommissioning., said in a press release. “We’d like to see them given a new life. We’d like to see them repurposed and have people continue to enjoy these cars.”

BART solicited ideas last year for reuse of the cars, which are being replaced by “Fleet of the Future” cars currently being delivered [see “Digest: BART seeks proposals …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 21, 2021]. At the time, it noted that most cars would be recycled and used for parts; in announcing its finalists, it also noted that sinking the cars for use as artificial reefs for sea life — as has been done by New York’s MTA and other agencies — is not an option because of the cars’ aluminum bodies.

Plans for the cars include:

— Conversion to a retro video-game arcade and kids’ play area at Arthur Mac’s Tap & Snack in downtown Oakland.

— “Coliseum BAR(T),” a museum and beer garden for the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum.

— A portion of a primarily outdoor café, coworking space and meeting space, to be known as BARTbar, to be built at a still-to-be-determined location by Hospitality in Transit. The company has a similar venture, Metrobar, in Washington, D.C.

— Preservation by the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association, which operates the Western Railway Museum in Suisun City, Calif. The plan is to use three cars as a “Rapid Transit History Center” with displays, artifacts, and a small theater. The association has more details and is soliciting donations for the project at its website.

— Two separate selections for use as a training “prop” for firefighters — one for the Hayward Fire Department, and the other for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, which provides regional training.

— Conversion to a residence and short-term rental property in a town in the Sierra foothills.

— Use as a bike shop and clubhouse for community events by the Original Scraper Bike Team, an organization offering skill training, mentorship programs, and art programs in East Oakland.