Bay Area's Mass Transit Program Offers Huge Perks to Employees

They and their families ride without paying, even after retiring

In a little-known perk at a transit system struggling to control the cost of benefits, BART gives its employees and their families free travel passes on its system -- even after they retire.

Although other Bay Area transit agencies offer their own free-ride programs, BART's is among the most generous. It provides the same lifetime travel benefit to board members and their families, the only one of seven surveyed Bay Area transit operators to do so.

The cost? All together, BART forgoes more than $2.1 million a year for the free rides -- $741,000 of it for families.