BART recognized for excellent fiscal responsibility

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has been awarded the Triple Crown Award by the Government Finance Officers Association. The award recognizes government agencies that have achieved excellence in budgeting, financial reporting and financial planning. The award is for the fiscal year that ended in 2024 .

“This recognition reflects BART’s ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability and responsible stewardship of public funds,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers in a press release. “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.”

Earlier this month, the BART's board voted to adopt a series of recommendations from a third-party financial review commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. The Bay Area Financial Efficiency Review found that between 2019 and 2025, BART reduced operating costs by more than $516 million through service reductions, workforce controls and operational efficiencies.

New actions approved by the board include improving fare compliance, enhancing parking revenue, leasing communications assets, expanding the Clipper BayPass program, improving service reliability, operating shorter trains during lower-demand periods, identifying contract savings opportunities and evaluating expanded retail partnerships, BART officials said.

Also, in BART's fiscal-year 2025 triennial review, the Federal Transit Administration found BART in compliance with all 23 federal standards evaluated, including financial management, federal grant administration, procurement and project implementation. These results reinforce BART’s commitment to responsible use of public resources and effective oversight, BART officials said.