BART Connects: Local teens on the life skills you gain riding transit

"Knowing how to ride public transit is a big step in growing up."

Read more BART Connects stories at bart.gov/bartconnects.

Tri-Valley teenagers Enzo Wu and Apardeep Singh have a message to parents: Get your kids on transit!

The high school senior and sophomore want people their age to understand that public transportation is an important tool. You don't have to have a license, and you don't have to beg your parents for rides. Seeking independence? Transit is the answer.

"Taking transit builds social confidence, which so many kids lack these days," said Enzo. "Knowing how to ride public transit is a big step in growing up."

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To give his peers a leg up, Enzo founded the Dougherty Valley High School Public Transit and Infrastructure Club. He serves as president and Apardeep is the head of PR and social media. More than thirty students regularly show up to meetings, and it's been an effective venue for educating their peers about urbanism and the role public infrastructure plays in their lives.

"Some of my friends won't necessarily take transit everywhere like I do, but just getting the idea in their heads is a big step," Enzo said. "Building transit skills now will come in handy many years down the line when you need to get to college, to work. That's why I ride transit, and that's why I'm advocating for kids my age to do the same."

About BART Connects

Tens of millions of people ride BART every year -- to work, dates, practice, friends, and fun. BART Connects tells their stories.

In June, BART Communications launched the second edition of BART Connects, a storytelling series that features real BART riders who span generations, neighborhoods, and walks of life. You can read their stories below.

In the coming months, the stars of BART Connects will take us for a ride in a series of video featurettes that will be regularly posted on BART social media.

You will also see the faces of BART Connects riders in advertising spaces in the BART System and across the region.

BART Connects grew out of a call for rider stories BART Communications launched in 2023 to learn how our transit system impacts people's lives. The initial response made clear that BART means something to those who ride it.

Have a cool BART story to share? Submit a short summary at bart.gov/story. You may be the next BART Connects feature!