Embarcadero station

Location

Embarcadero is located in the northeastern section of San Francisco's Financial District, specifically underneath Market Street between Front and Drumm Streets to the north and Fremont and Main Streets to the south. The Ferry Building, Embarcadero Center, Transbay Terminal and the eastern end of the California Street cable car line are all located near Embarcadero station.

History

Service at this station began on May 27, 1976, three years after the other San Francisco stations. The station was not part of the original plans for the system. As a result of increasing development in the lower Market Street area, the basic structure of the station was added into the construction of the Market Street subway, anticipating a later opening. The later opening resulted in the Embarcadero station having a much different design than the other three Market Street stations. The station was designed by chief BART architect Tallie Maule and Hertzka & Knowles & Associates in collaboration with Parsons Brinckerhoff, Tudor Construction, and Bechtel.

Embarcadero originally was the terminus for all of the Muni Metro lines, but in 1998 a new extension was opened along the Embarcadero and to the Caltrain station at 4th and King Streets. Service along that extension was originally provided by the E Embarcadero line, which ran between Embarcadero Station and the Caltrain station. The N Judah line was later extended along the new extension to replace the E line. On April 7, 2007, the T Third Street line replaced the N line along this route, but N line service was reinstated on June 30, 2007 to serve alongside the T.

Since at least 1992 the station was serenaded by the "Jazz Man" Ronald Brewington. He would play saxophone for commuters and entertain them with conversation and charm. For Christmas Brewington would give out Christmas cards to passengers stating "You are my Carnegie Hall". He claimed his name was Garrick Sherrod, however that was an identity he had stolen. The Jazz Man was actually a fugitive from Albuquerque facing capital murder charges stemming from the 1987 murder of his wife Diedre. He was arrested at a BART station in 2012 and extradited to New Mexico. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Station layout

Like all stations in the Market Street Subway, Embarcadero has a tri-level configuration. Passengers first descend to a mezzanine concourse containing faregates for passengers to enter separate BART and Muni paid areas, with one Muni entrance in the middle, flanked by two BART entrances. Below, there are two island platforms: one on the second level down for Muni trains, and another below the Muni platform for BART trains.

Transit connections

There are numerous local and express Muni bus lines stopping at this station. The Temporary Transbay Terminal is a short walk from the station, at Howard & Beale Streets, with Greyhound, Samtrans, SolTrans, AC Transit, WestCAT, and Golden Gate Transit buses operating from it.

Amtrak Thruway Bus line 34 makes two trips to Stockton from this station daily, each way. Route 99 connects San Francisco with the closest Amtrak station at Emeryville many times daily.

There is a BART Bike Station inside the Embarcadero Station offering bicycle commuters with a BikeLink card to use the secure bike parking facility.

When the Transbay Transit Center is complete, a pedestrian tube will be built under Beale St connecting its train platforms with the Embarcardeo Station, linking BART and Muni to the new transportation hub.