A Retired 1970s-Era BART Train Car Is Becoming a Bay Area Restaurant

A retired car of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is getting a fresh lease of life, this time in a completely different avatar.

Arthur Mac’s, the popular restaurant recognized for its pizza, wings, and beer, is repurposing a legacy BART train car by turning it into a restaurant.

The restaurant announced on social media that it had received the decommissioned train from BART, which will be used as its next new location.

Arthur Mac’s had applied to BART’s Legacy Fleet Program to get a retired BART Class A car, the restaurant shared in a Facebook post on May 7, 2026.

The restaurant shared an image of a crane hauling the vintage train out of the yard to its new home in downtown Hayward, Alameda County, in the Bay Area.

Once open, the retired train will feature a retro video game arcade along with a children’s play area, as well as additional seating for weatherproof dining, according to BART.

Arthur Mac’s vision for the legacy bar is to offer a “time capsule” that transports diners and community members “beyond the confines of time and space.”

The restaurant’s name itself is an anagram honoring the MacArthur BART station.

The pizza joint did not share details of the planned opening date.

Arthur Mac reportedly received the A2 car 1203, which joined BART’s fleet in March 1973, according to BARTchives.

Manufactured by Rohr, the A2 car reached 50 years of revenue service in 2023. The next year, the A2 cars were among the final legacy cars still operating in the BART system.

BART’s Legacy Fleet Decommissioning Program

Known as the legacy fleet, BART officially bid farewell to and retired the fleet of original train cars at a formal ceremony and final train ride in April 2024.

Since the cars had sentimental value to passengers, BART decided to take up offers to repurpose the vintage cars.

The transit system selected eight applicants, who described their plans for the restored cars. While Arthur Mac’s is preparing to open a restaurant inside one of the cars, other train cars will be transformed into short-term rentals, museum gardens, and more.

Despite the San Francisco Bay Area facing a severe shortage of affordable housing, none of the reuse proposals sought to use the legacy cars as homes for the unhoused or as affordable housing, BART said.

While other public transit agencies have disposed of their legacy cars by sinking them into the ocean to serve as artificial reefs, BART cars cannot be sunk due to their aluminum composition, BART noted.

Since BART cars run on a nonstandard gauge, the fleet is unsuitable for sale to other public transit agencies.

Other recipients of the legacy fleet include the professional baseball team Oakland Ballers (delivered in April 2025), the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association (August-October 2024), and the Hayward Fire Department (December 2022).