George and Gracie: The Robot Voices of BART

Bay Curious

KQED

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When BART trains pull into stations, a robotic and antiquated-sounding voice announces its arrival and destination. Bay Curious listener Jimmy Tobin has long been baffled by these voices. They're hard to understand, he says, and why is it that in the cities pioneering AI and synthesized speech models our own trains are nearly unintelligible? Additional Resources: In a Tech Hub Like the Bay Area, Why Do BART Announcements Sound So Ancient? Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Ana De Almeida Amaral. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:55.5	From KQED.
0:58.1	Bay Area Rapid Transit.
1:00.6	Our dear friend, Bart.
1:02.6	For regular riders, your whirs, squeaks, and horns are part of the everyday soundtrack of life.
1:09.4	We always hear you coming.
1:11.5	We appreciate those timely warnings.
1:13.7	The doors are closing.
1:15.7	Please step clear of the doors.
1:17.6	And how you help us to not miss our stop.
1:20.2	Arriving at 16th Street Mission.
1:24.4	Every now and then someone real pops in.
1:27.2	To report a stolen phone, please contact the Bart police.
1:30.3	Jimmy Tobin, our question ask her today, has been fixated on one particular sound in the
	...

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