The BART board of directors will have queer leadership for the third consecutive year after members voted Thursday for Bevan Dufty to serve as president for 2024.
Dufty, a gay man, previously served as president in 2019. He announced earlier this year that he will not seek reelection to the BART board next year, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported. He represents District 9 in San Francisco.
Janice Li, a queer woman who represents District 8, also in San Francisco, served as board president this year. Lesbian Rebecca Saltzman, who represents District 3 (parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties) who previously announced that she would not seek reelection next year, served as board president in 2022.
Dufty said he was "extremely hopeful" about the upcoming year following the December 21 vote that elected him president of the BART board, a news release from the regional transit agency stated. Dufty said he will work hard to support and collaborate with the BART team to solve problems and to anticipate the challenges ahead.
"I am so proud of the work this agency does to support the Bay Area community," Dufty stated. "I look forward to working hand in hand with the rest of the board in 2024."
Dufty, a former San Francisco supervisor who represented District 8 that includes the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, was first elected to the BART board of directors in November 2016 and was reelected in 2020.
Serving alongside Dufty as vice president will be Mark Foley, who represents District 2 that includes Antioch, Brentwood, and part of Concord in Contra Costa County.
Foley stated that 2024 will be an exciting, but challenging year.
"There are a lot of great things happening at the agency we should celebrate," Foley stated. "People in the Bay Area love BART and what we do. We mean so much to people and provide a crucial lifeline for people traveling to school, to doctors' appointments, and to work."
Foley was first elected to the BART Board in November 2018 and was reelected in 2022. Foley served as board president in 2021 and vice president in 2020 and 2022.
BART faces financial issues as it works to recover ridership from the COVID pandemic. As the B.A.R. previously reported, the transit agency projects it will have a $58 million deficit to plug in its fiscal year that begins July 1, 2024. It is also facing a $307 million deficit in its fiscal year that begins July 1, 2025.
It recently announced that fares would increase 5.5% beginning January 1. Rather than implement an 11% fare hike all at once, the board voted in June to stagger it; the second 5.5% increase will occur in January 2025.
BART is also working to reassure riders that the system is safe. It recently began installing hardened fare gates at the West Oakland station. The new fare gates are expected to be installed at all BART stations by the end of 2025, according to the agency.
Dufty did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
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