Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Downtown Berkeley station

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Owned by
  
BART

Disabled access
  
Yes

Platforms in use
  
1

Tracks
  
2

Ridership
  
13,131 exits/day

Downtown Berkeley station

Location
  
2160 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704

Connections
  
AC Transit: Routes 1, 6, 7, 12, 18, 25, 49, 51B, 52, 65, 67, 88 (local); 800, 851 (All Nighter); F, FS* (Transbay) Bear Transit: C, H, P, R, RFS * - Route operates weekdays only

Opened
  
January 29, 1973 (44 years ago)

Address
  
Berkeley, CA 94704, United States

Lines
  
Richmond–Fremont, Richmond–Daly City/Millbrae

Parking spaces
  
There's no parking at Downtown Berkeley Station. The closest station parking is at North Berkeley or Ashby stations.

Bike lockers
  
Valet bike parking facility

Owner
  
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District

Similar
  
North Berkeley station, Ashby station, 19th Street Oakland station, MacArthur station, 12th Street Oakland City Cent

Bart downtown berkeley station california bay area rapid transit


Downtown Berkeley is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station located in Berkeley, California, United States, one of three stations in Berkeley along with Ashby and North Berkeley. It is the second-busiest BART station in the East Bay and the sixth overall, with 13,748 exits each weekday, first being 12th St. Oakland City Center, with 14,403 weekday exits.

Contents

Bart downtown berkeley station california bay area rapid transit


Location

Located at the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way, Downtown Berkeley station is situated near the center of the City of Berkeley. It is the primary station for those travelling to and from the University of California, Berkeley, which is one block to the east. As a result, it is also used by patrons of events taking place at the University, such as concerts or lectures, and especially football games and other athletic events, including those sponsored by the MyBART service.

Because this station is underground, there is poor cell service unless underneath the center of the station. Cell boosters have not been rolled out in the Berkeley Subway creating a dead zone from Ashby to north Berkeley.

History

Downtown Berkeley opened on January 29, 1973, as part of an extension from MacArthur to Richmond, with service southward to Fremont until the opening of the Transbay Tube and subsequent service to San Francisco later that year. The station was designed by Maher & Martens of San Francisco in collaboration with Parsons Brinckerhoff, Tudor Construction, and Bechtel.

In the mid-1990s, BART changed the name of the station from simply "Berkeley" to "Downtown Berkeley" in an effort to minimize confusion between this station and North Berkeley. The station is still often referred to as Berkeley in train announcements. The station has been the site of many BART Alert protests in response to occurrences on the political scene.

A station and plaza renovation project began construction on August 29, 2016. The project scope includes new lighting, landscaping, drainage, paving, and bus shelters in the overground plaza of the station. The main rotunda entrance will be replaced by a glass entrance structure similar to those found in downtown Oakland. The $11.2 million project is funded primarily by BART, with additional funding from the City of Berkeley, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and Alameda County. Work is expected to conclude in winter 2017. A further project to renovate the underground station interior is in the planning stages.

Station layout

Like most underground BART stations, Downtown Berkeley has two levels: a mezzanine containing the faregates and an island platform with two tracks. Access to the station is provided by five street-level entrances on Shattuck Avenue, with two at Addison Street and Allston Way each and one at the southwest corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street. The escalators at the latter are topped by an icositetragonal rotunda that covers passengers entering and leaving the station from inclement weather.

Amenities

There is also a valet bike parking facility outside the station at street level and is operated by Alameda Bicycle. It used to be placed at the top of an unused stairway from the mezzanine level to the platform below. The stairs were built so that an additional entrance could be opened if needed in the future, and had never been used by passengers.

Entrance windows feature artwork of the UCB Botanical Garden.

Relation with other stations and ridership figures

Below is data for average weekday entries and exits between the Ashby BART and other BART stations as of January 2017. The transit time and one-way trip cost is based on BART's fares and schedules booklet, last updated in February 2016, and valid as of January 2017. A few notes for interpretation:

  • Downtown Berkeley serves commuters in both directions: it serves people who commute to downtown Berkeley every day for work or study (it is the closest station to the University of California, Berkeley). Most of these commuters come from nearby areas in Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito, and Richmond. It also caters to a large residential population that works in San Francisco or Oakland.
  • The following kinds of stations will have higher entry/exit counts: nearby stations, stations in downtowns (Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco, stations with transfers, end-of-line stations, and airport stations.
  • For airports in particular, people are more likely to take the train when going out from the airport than when going to the airport, possibly because they are on a less tight timeline when leaving the airport.
  • Some daily commuters don't enter and exit at the same station. For instance, commuters from downtown Berkeley who work in downtown San Francisco exit at an earlier station in the morning and enter at a station farther south when returning (e.g., exit at Embarcadero in the morning and enter at Montgomery in the evening). This is to get on a less crowded train. A similar phenomenon is observed between the two downtown Oakland stations.
  • References

    Downtown Berkeley station Wikipedia