Downtown Berkeley (BART station)

Downtown Berkeley
Station platform
Location	2160 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704
Coordinates
Owned by	BART
Line(s)
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	AC Transit: Routes 1, 1R*, 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
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	January 29, 1973
Previous names	Berkeley (1972-1990s)
Traffic
Passengers (FY 2013)	13,131 exits/day  6.16%
Services
Preceding station   File:Bart compact logo.svg Bay Area Rapid Transit   Following station North Berkeley toward Richmond Richmond–​Daly City/​Millbrae Ashby toward Millbrae (Daly City on Saturdays) Richmond–​Fremont Ashby toward Fremont

Downtown Berkeley is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station located in Berkeley, California. One of three stations in Berkeley along with Ashby and North Berkeley, it is the second-busiest BART station outside San Francisco, with 11,749 exits each weekday. The busiest outside San Francisco, 12th St. Oakland City Center, handles 12,181 weekday exits.

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 an underground station 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.

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exits/Entrances,
M	Mezzanine	One-way faregates, ticket machines, station agent
P Platform level	Northbound	←      Richmond–​Daly City/​Millbrae toward Richmond (North Berkeley) ←      Richmond–​Fremont toward Richmond (North Berkeley)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Southbound	→      Richmond–​Daly City/​Millbrae toward Daly City or Millbrae (Ashby) → →      Richmond–​Fremont toward Fremont (Ashby) →

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 Centre 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.

BART windows with art of the UC botanical Garden

Entrance windows feature artwork of the UCB Botanical Garden.

Entrance to the Berkeley BART station (bottom right) as seen shortly after the station opened in 1973

See also

• List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• BART – Downtown Berkeley Station Overview