No Pants BART Ride Day 2020 in San Francisco
Drop your pants, if you are not too shy
Dates: January 12, 2020 (over)
Since 2001, the Annual No Pants Subway Ride, also known as No Pants BART Ride Day, took place every January in San Francisco. BART stood for "Bay Area Rapid Transit." Over 600 people would ride BART without pants, wearing only colorful underwear and socks. The main idea was to keep a straight face and act normal, although people often couldn’t resist chatting, joking, and taking pictures.
Retired after the Pandemic
Rove.me reached out to Vivek Ramachandran, one of the former organizers, who shared that the event is no longer held. "Unfortunately, the No Pants Subway Ride is no longer," Ramachandran noted, explaining that Improv Everywhere, which coordinated with agents in various cities, retired the event after the pandemic. As the head of the San Francisco edition, he confirmed that after years of joyfully defying winter norms, the annual No Pants Subway Ride has officially come to an end.
The No Pants BART Ride also took place in dozens of countries around the world. It was initiated by the prank group Improv Everywhere. This event occurred spontaneously in early January, with the date usually selected in early December. The first No Pants Subway Ride happened in New York City, where 150 people participated. In some cases, participants were even handcuffed for disorderly conduct due to their unconventional attire.
