# George and Gracie: The Robot Voices of BART

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bay-curious-6896/george-and-gracie-the-robot-voices-of-bart
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bay-curious-6896/george-and-gracie-the-robot-voices-of-bart.md
Podcast: [Bay Curious](https://stenobird.com/podcast/bay-curious-6896)
Published: 2026-04-06T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/KQINC2018847747.mp3?updated=1775172365
Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/KQINC2018847747.mp3?updated=1775172365
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/bay-curious-6896/episodes/george-and-gracie-the-robot-voices-of-bart
Duration seconds: 840

## Resource

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

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/bay-curious-6896/episodes/george-and-gracie-the-robot-voices-of-bart/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/bay-curious-6896/george-and-gracie-the-robot-voices-of-bart.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.