BART lists South Hayward Station for potential closure
The BART Board of Directors on Thursday will consider initial approval of a contingency plan that calls for closure of the South Hayward Station in the event a sales tax measure to support Bay Area transit agencies fails in the November 2026 election.
On Wednesday, the City of Hayward sent a letter signed by Mayor Mark Salinas putting BART on notice that the City opposes the potential closure. The letter noted that closing the South Hayward Station would have an inequitable and disparate impact on the surrounding community, which is made up of working-class neighborhoods with residents who are mostly renters, relatively transit dependent and largely people of color, many of whom are immigrants and speak a language other than English at home.
The letter also pointed out that the closure would undermine more than a decade of planning and investment that has made the area adjacent and in close proximity to the South Hayward Station a model of mixed-use, high-density, transit-oriented development that is at the core of the Bay Area’s sustainable growth and housing production goals.
To learn more about the station closure proposal, check out the BART Alternative Service Plan and related documents to be taken up by the BART Board of Directors at its meeting starting at 9 a.m. Thursday and which are available here on the BART website.
For information on how to attend the meeting and provide public comment either in person or online, see the Board of Directors Feb. 26, 2026, meeting agenda available here on the BART website.
