The German novelist Thomas Mann once defined love as essentially “our sympathy with organic life.” In that sense public transit needs love as much as its riders do, so one Bay Area Rapid Transit rider made the logical suggestion: Why not find it together?
On Valentine’s Day, the agency ran a sold-out social experiment. The plan was simple enough: A three-car train picks up 18-to-35-year-olds looking to mingle at the Downtown Berkeley station and pairs them up in three-minute “speed dating” rounds on the ride to 24th St. Mission station. Everyone gets name tags bearing “Looking For” checkboxes to indicate preferences. On the ride back, raffle prizes and a mixer. No stops in between, no booze, no standing past the yellow line.
When BART announced the special event, San Francisco resident Nova Bradford immediately bought tickets with a half-dozen friends. Notably, the rest of her group resides in the East Bay. “Without BART, I wouldn’t be able to be friends with these people,” Bradford said.
Romantic or platonic, making new connections on BART isn’t unheard of. Moreover, its competition from the internet has fallen out of favor. Participants were quick to point to “app fatigue” as key to the event’s appeal. Jen, a fellow rider, described dating apps as “a ruthless place” for meeting new people, adding: “We need something more sustainable.”
Since 2021, the cratering stock prices of dating-app companies Bumble and Match Group attest to this fatigue, while U.S. Census data saw the rate of unpartnered adults reach a 20-year peak in 2019. Viewed another way, being single may now be more popular than online dating.
“Ever since the pandemic, people have been in their own world,” said rider Erika Harris, who added that she was “tired” of “no meaningful conversations” online. “This gives young people the opportunity to get together and meet people you would never expect.”
Courtship isn’t the only institution struggling to bounce back after the pandemic. As federal bailout funds dry up and commute patterns remain below pre-pandemic trends, local leaders are looking to a nine-county ballot measure to plug major funding gaps projected in 2026 for transit agencies like BART and AC Transit.
“I think BART was always a ‘third space,’ but now it’s more intentional,” said BART board member Barnali Ghosh, who rode the train to chat with passengers. “I love the energy here.”
In the car for 30-to-35-year-olds, a charming chaos ensued almost immediately. To many, the word “counterclockwise” sounded just like “clockwise” while the train roared loudly through a tunnel. Strangers bounced around each other in a social pinball machine. Everyone paired up with anyone looking for anything—at any level of intimacy and any gender. Suggested icebreakers ranged from favorite places to take BART to zanier questions such as one’s preferred fantasy animal to own as a pet if it existed. Full disclosure: Pegasus, obviously.
Some conversations flowed smoothly; others derailed into a ditch. One Indian woman told me after the speed-dating rounds that she was given a Valentine’s Day card by an older Indian man. “He told me, ‘I don’t like that you’re Indian, but you can pass pretty well.’ Bold, huh?” she scoffed. Aside from that mishap, she reported a modestly positive experience overall: “about what I expected.”
A young, bald man in an Ozzy Osbourne t-shirt and combat boots said his expectations were exceeded by the density of friends aboard, new and old. “With the internet and everything that’s going on in the world, you can definitely get stuck in a vacuum,” he said. “It’s just nice to get out and talk to people.”
Even if conversation partners had nothing in common, said rider Nayla Lopez, the shared appreciation for the novelty of BART’s effort meant “we all still had something to talk about.”
“What a fun idea,” rider Denise Castillo said. “I think we should be investing more in public transportation. I would love to see more like this from BART.”
As the ride back became bumpy with unexpected halts, a few riders sat alone, visibly exhausted. “My social battery is tapped out,” one told me. Meanwhile, some train aficionados, sometimes called “railfans,” high-fived to celebrate their new place in the annals of train history.
By the time it regrouped outside the station for selfies—full disclosure: Yes, I am in one—Bradford’s group had grown its ranks. One of the friends brought along a new companion from the train, both grinning from ear to ear.
