BART is receiving an $850,000 grant to install LED lighting upgrades at nine East Bay stations, including Downtown Berkeley and North Berkeley. 

The lighting upgrades at the BART stations replace older bulbs with LED lights, which are brighter and more energy-efficient, potentially saving money on maintenance and energy costs in the long run, according to BART District 3 Director Barnali Ghosh, who represents Berkeley’s BART stations. 

Rep. Lateefah Simon, who represents Berkeley, secured the grant as part of Community Project Funding, or CPF, which allows congressional representatives to request federal funding for initiatives in their local district. Simon secured an $11.2 million grant for 15 projects across the East Bay, including for BART station lighting and constructing a pedestrian plaza at the Ashby BART Station.

“Having brighter lighting inside BART stations, including the Downtown BART station in District 4, supports my goals of our Downtown being a safe, accessible destination,” said District 4 and downtown Berkeley councilmember Igor Tregub, in an email. “I hope this initiative will increase BART ridership and use of this station, which can help bring more BART users to Downtown.”

BART spokesperson Chris Filippi said improved lighting was identified as a top priority for BART, who made requests to Bay Area representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives, because LED lights improve visibility, safety and make stations more welcoming. 

Rep. John Garamendi, who represents much of Contra Costa County, also secured $500,000 in federal CPF funding for station lighting upgrades at the Richmond, El Cerrito and Pittsburg BART stations. 

The lighting upgrades will cut energy use from station lighting in half, according to Ghosh. 

“Particularly when we’re thinking of students, but with all our riders, the top priorities, many of them come down to safety and to comfort and to overall having a high-quality transit system,” said UC Berkeley senior and local transit advocate Ren Zaro Fitzgerald. “One of the ways we can get those is through these pivotal infrastructure upgrades like LED lighting improvements.”

In Simon’s press conference, she mentioned better lighting and visibility also increases accessibility for riders with visual impairments like herself.

“As someone who was born congenitally blind and has been dependent on public transit my entire life – I know that accessible, reliable public transportation is non-negotiable,” Simon said in a press release. “During my time on the BART Board, I fought to make our public transit systems safer and improve the rider experience. Now in Congress, I am fighting hard to expand on that work and deliver for us.”

Fitzgerald also hopes this can serve as a reminder of the importance of investing in public transit as a ballot initiative to fund Bay Area public transit heads to the November ballot. 

The ballot measure proposes a half-cent sales tax in order to generate almost $1 billion for transit agencies including BART, AC Transit and Caltrain. Currently, BART faces a $350 million to $400 million structural deficit, partially due to declining ridership after the pandemic. 

“It’s extremely important that we are keeping public transit funded in the long term, and that requires a reliable and long-term state solution led by Gov. (Gavin) Newsom, led by the state legislature,” Fitzgerald said. “I think that something like this — being able to secure nearly $1 million for an LED upgrade — shows the investments that our federal representatives have for our need for public transit, and I would love to see that on the state level.”