BART Director Rebecca Saltzman won’t seek re-election

The BART director's term expires Dec. 1, 2024.

BART board member Rebecca Saltzman won’t seek re-election to her position and will step down when her term expires in 2024.

Saltzman announced her decision Wednesday via X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. In the statement, she cited the workload combined with her family life as two of the main reasons for her decision. She first was elected onto the BART Board of Directors in 2012 and represents District 3, which spans the East Bay from San Leandro to El Cerrito.

“Since I was elected in 2012, I’ve held a near full-time job while serving on the BART Board and it’s been challenging,” she wrote. “My wife and I had a baby in 2019 and balancing being a mom with two other jobs has felt near impossible at times.”

Saltzman also is the director at Bike East Bay, a non-profit organization that promotes bicycling as the primary way to get around for work and recreation in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. She said she will continue working there.

Her term as BART’s director ends on Dec. 1, 2024.

At BART, Saltzman said she navigated the “most challenging time in its history” and one that “faces a financial cliff in fiscal year 2027.” She said she had planned to step down in 2020 but that the outbreak of COVID-19 and the crisis in which BART found itself caused her to postpone the decision.

“BART is emerging from the pandemic as a more innovative agency that’s more responsive to its riders,” Saltzman said. “We’re focusing on riders, running all new trains and increasing cleaning on trains and in stations.”

She said she plans to walk the precincts next year and call voters to support the 2026 funding measure for the transit system.

This is a developing report. Please check back for updates.