Stairway rising out of a BART station, a blanket abandoned on the steps

Accessibility Design  ·  UX Research  ·  Systems Design

BART
Accessibility

Designing real-time transit access for riders
who can't afford a broken system.

Role Product Designer
Designer Josh Yule
Year 2025
The Problem

Riders find out it's broken when they're already there.

BART's elevators and escalators go down constantly. There's no real-time status in the trip-planning flow. Riders who depend on accessible infrastructure don't find out it's broken until they're already at the station, under time pressure and without a backup plan.

I set out to fix that across three touchpoints: the BART app, in-station signage, and Google Maps.

Civic Center entrance — escalator closed for construction under a Market Street Canopy and Escalator Project notice, riders carrying their things down the stairs 16th and Mission Exit B — a rider hauls heavy bags up the stairs beside the escalator
Who It Affects
“

They are often down for repair with no timelines ever provided. The elevator doesn't seem like an option.

Tanya · Frequent commuter, knee problems

“

The elevator is out of service so much I just use the stairs. And it lets out in a high crime area, so it's safer to just take the extra time.

BART rider · Mobility impaired, uses a cane

“

These aren't edge cases. Elderly riders, mobility-impaired commuters, tourists, and daily riders are quietly absorbing the cost of a broken system every single day.

Research finding · Spring 2025

01 · BART App

Status where decisions get made.

I integrated elevator and escalator status directly into the trip-planning flow. When a device is out, an inline alert appears with the affected entrance and alternate options. No more hunting through a separate Advisories menu.

Current
Current BART app — no accessibility status in trip flow Redesigned BART app — inline BART.gov alert in trip flow
↓  scroll to reveal
How I got there

Four iterations, one clear direction.

Before

No accessibility info

Trip Details shows stops and timing. Zero mention of elevator or escalator status at any station in the route.

Step 01

Icons added, collapsed

I surfaced elevator and escalator icons directly in the station row. One tap expands to entrance-level detail.

Step 02

Entrance details expanded

The expanded state names exact entrances, like Escalator to Concourse and Elevator to Street Level, so riders know which door to use before they arrive.

Final

Inline BART.gov alert

When a device is out, a BART.gov Alert fires inline with the specific entrance, the reason, and a direct link to alternate options.

01 / 04
BART app Trip Details — no elevator or escalator info present BART app — elevator and escalator icons added, collapsed BART app — expanded state showing exact escalator and elevator entrance names BART app — inline BART.gov Alert showing escalator under maintenance
01b · Plan Trip Flow

Advisories surfaced before you commit to a route.

The fix extends into the Plan Trip screen. An Advisory banner flags any active outage on your route. Tap to expand and a BART.gov Alert appears inline with the specific entrance, its current status, and a link to accessibility alternatives. No separate menu. No dead end.

Advisory collapsed BART Plan Trip screen — Advisory banner showing 1 Message
Alert expanded BART Plan Trip screen — BART.gov Alert expanded, escalator outage at Entrance B
Current State

The existing screen shows a generic all clear. It sits buried inside the station booth, invisible to anyone walking past.

BART Entrance sign above the fare gates — no elevator or escalator status anywhere at the entry point Current BART in-station Elevator Advisory screen — generic message behind station booth glass
02 · In-Station Signage

Before you commit to an entrance.

I designed overhead digital signage posted at each entry point with plain-language status. The key decision was placement over polish. Status needs to appear in stride, before riders descend.

Detail of redesigned overhead signage — Escalator Not in Service, please use the one across the street
Station concourse and fare gates beneath an overhead elevator and escalator status sign Redesigned status signage mocked up on the info pylon at the Oakland International Airport BART entrance, with a zoomed detail of the elevator and escalator status list
03 · Google Maps via GTFS-RT

Most riders aren't using the BART app.

By publishing elevator and escalator status as a GTFS-RT open data feed, BART surfaces accessibility info in every third party app at once: Google Maps, Apple Maps, Transit, and more.

1 data feed.
Every app.

Current Current Google Maps — no elevator or escalator status shown
Redesigned Redesigned Google Maps — OUT OF SERVICE status for escalator and elevator
Full redesign flow

Three new screens, from trip planning to live status.

Trip Flow Google Maps trip directions — Escalator/Elevator Info row added at 24th St Mission

An "Escalator/Elevator Info" row appears in the station stop card, right inside navigation. No switching apps.

Detail Panel Google Maps accessibility detail panel — entrance name, escalator direction, elevator location

Tapping expands a panel: entrance name, escalator direction, elevator position. All sourced from the GTFS-RT feed in real time.

Status Active Google Maps — Escalator and Elevator both OUT OF SERVICE in red at 24th and Mission

When a device is down, "OUT OF SERVICE" appears in red at the entrance level. Specific, clear, and visible before you leave home.

On the map itself

The elevator becomes a destination.

A dedicated elevator pin and an entrance callout land directly on the navigation map. Riders with mobility needs, strollers, or heavy bags see exactly where the elevator is and which corner to enter from, before they ever leave the platform.

Google Maps navigation on a satellite view of 24th and Mission — a BART Elevator pin marks the elevator's exact location, and a callout reads Enter station via 24th and Mission NE Corner New · Elevator pin New · Entrance callout
Google Maps crowd-sourcing — What accessibility features are available?

Riders help keep the data current.

Beyond the live feed, I designed a crowdsourcing layer that lets riders report accessible entrances, seating, stop buttons, and LED signage directly in Google Maps. The platform already prompts this kind of feedback for transit. Extending it to accessibility status means BART's data improves over time, even when the official feed lags. The community becomes part of the infrastructure.

Outcome

For Riders

Accessibility status surfaced before arrival. Fewer surprises, better decisions.

Live status shows up in the apps riders already use, which takes the guesswork out of every trip and builds trust in the system as a whole.

For Mobility-Impaired Riders

The ability to plan around outages from home, with confidence.

Riders with mobility or sight considerations know before leaving whether a device is out of service, and which direction an escalator is running, so the route they choose is one their body can actually take.

For BART

One open data standard that scales accessibility information across the entire transit ecosystem.

The same feed doubles as operational insight. It informs maintenance priorities, supports emergency dispatch, and grows ridership by making the system easier to trust.

The pocket, the station, the platform. One failure addressed at three scales.