Happy Transit Month 2026!

 
 

This is your quick guide for all the fun taking place across the Bay Area including 80+ exciting and interactive events, the Ride Contest, nominating your Transit Heroes of 2026, and more!

What is Transit Month? 

For the 6th year in a row, Bay Area Transit Month is here and everyone is invited to over 80+ events across the entire region throughout September that celebrate the role of public transportation in our communities.

Bay Area Transit Month

Transit Month celebrates the buses, trains, workers, and riders that make the wonderful Bay Area transit system we all know and ride. Check out the more than 80 events on the calendar this year; participate in the month-long Ride Contest to win prizes, earn digital badges, and compete on leaderboards; and nominate your Transit Heroes of 2026 to be honored for their contributions to Bay Area transit. 

With 80+ events happening across the Bay Area, there is something for everyone

From the Let's Glow BART Anime Festival in Fremont, to the pop-up transit art galleries in San Francisco, transit happy hours in San Carlos and Oakland, a transit scavenger hunts in Petaluma, and a speedrun on BART across the entire region Transit Month has free events for people of all ages and interests throughout the Bay.

Transit Month is the perfect time to hop on board with your friends and family to discover new adventures you can access through transit, build community, raise awareness about the importance of keeping our region moving through transit, and get more involved with your local organizations. 

 
 

Some events have maximum registration limits, so view events quickly and sign up to secure your spot today!

Here are the events Seamless Bay Area is hosting: 

The annual Ride Contest returns!

In addition to events, Transit Month features the Ride Contest: a month-long online game that highlights the places, events, and recreation you can discover via public transit. By tracking their transit trips throughout September, you can win prizes, earn digital badges, compete against friends and for top leaderboard positions, and show your love for transit. The Ride Contest is a fun and casual way to participate in Transit Month and encourage people across the Bay Area to take more trips on public transit throughout September. 

In 2025, Ride Contest participants took nearly 33,000 transit trips for a cumulative 198,000 miles traveled on Bay Area transit!

This year's competition is expanding to include SoCal and the North Coast.

Nominate your 2026 Transit Heroes for the Rider First Awards

Do you have an amazing bus driver, train operator, or station attendant who makes your rides better? Is there a person that speaks up effectively for transit and helps other riders? Or maybe you’ve seen improvements on your trips such as new transit lanes, boarding areas, better signage, or clear communication. 

For our 9th Annual Rider First Awards, we’re looking for you to nominate people or projects that have made life better for transit riders in the past year!

For example, nominees can be: 

  • An amazing bus driver, train operator, station attendant, or ambassador. 

  • People who have spoken up effectively for transit or helped other riders. 

  • Improvements you’ve seen on your trips such as new transit lanes, boarding areas, better signage, or clear communication.

  • Any people or improvements that have made transit better in some way.

If you only know the project (transit lanes, improved bus stop, etc), give us the details and we can help track down the people responsible for the positive change!

Tell us who your Transit Heroes of 2026 are before Sunday, September 28th at midnight.

Transit Month in SoCal, San Diego, and the North Coast!

Transit Month is also expanding from the Bay to LA, San Diego, and the North Coast! You can find more information at ca.transitmonth.org.

 
 

Why Transit Month is needed more than ever before

Public transportation is more than just a means of transportation. Transit connects communities, increases mobility, maintains our healthy environment, and opens opportunities to discover something new. 

For the 6th year in a row, Bay Area Transit Month celebrates the role of public transportation in our communities and the region’s economic, social, and cultural vibrancy. Public transit is essential to thriving cities and the people who make those cities special. 

This year, Transit Month comes at an important moment for the future of Bay Area transit. Right now, there are dozens of ongoing and future initiatives aimed at improving transit coordination, preventing service cuts, and making the experience better for riders. Now, more than ever, it's important that we show our elected leaders how important transit is to our communities and that we need to continue funding and improving the system.

By showing up to Transit Month events and getting out and taking transit this September, we raise awareness about the importance of keeping our region moving through transit. 

Transit Month is a community-driven project

September's month-long celebration of public transit would not be possible without the work of dozens of community-based organizations, public agencies, cultural institutions, individuals, and other organizations who host events. We especially want to thank our Transit Month co-organizer, San Francisco Transit Riders.

 
 
Kaleo Mark