Weekend Parking @ BART
 

I was reading on BART's website that you are allowed to park for > 24 hours on weekends and holidays which fall on Friday or Monday.

I'm planning a trip to SF over Labor Day weekend: flying into LA, and driving up to the Bay Area from there.

A couple of questions:

1) Of the stations that allow weekend/holiday parking, Daly City seems the most convenient. Is it safe to park a vehicle there for several days?

2) When does this overnight parking begin? Would we be able to park Friday evening through Monday morning? Or does this not start until Saturday?

Any help/advice would be most appreciated.

Greg

Resurrecting a really old thread..

Does anyone know how the weekend extension for the 24 hour limit is actually enforced? I just found this out, and it will save me a lot of money on my weekend trips out of SFO, but then up till now I've usually flown back from NY early Monday morning.

The Bart page states that the weekend parking is from Friday morning to Monday 2AM. Does this mean I will get a $100 ticket even if I park Friday afternoon and drive away Monday morning, say a little after 10AM? If you don't count the weekend, it's less than 24 hours, right?

The wording doesn't sound encouraging, but you never know.

It probably depends on the station. If you have one with reserved/paid parking, and with the parking machines where you have to register your space number on weekdays, I think you'd be more likely to have a problem on the Monday morning. I regularly have left my car @ El Cerrito Plaza or North Berkeley over Saturday nights w/o issue.

Here's the current from Bart's web page on parking:

"***All stations offer Extended Weekend parking which allows BART riders to park their vehicle from the start of train service on Friday to 2:00 am Monday. BART riders at stations where there is a daily fee requirement (currently Daly City and Colma Stations) must pay the daily fee for Friday. Should a designated holiday (see below) fall on a Friday patrons are allowed to park from the start of train service on Thursday until 2:00 am Monday. Should one of the designated holidays fall on a Monday patrons are allowed to park from the start of train service on Friday until 2:00 am Tuesday."

I've found the Millbrae and Colma stations safe but would have some qualms about Daly City.

Thank you for the replies.

When you say safe, are you talking in terms of security, or in terms of not getting a ticket? I live in the Southern part of the Peninsula, so I will be parking at Millbrae if I can avoid a ticket by pulling out during the morning on Monday. Seems like daily parking is now free at that location, so parking enforcement would only be looking for 24 hour violations, I guess.

I was referring to safety of vehicle and persons. Have no impression of how diligent BART police is to parking enforcement. I do know that Millbrae, San Bruno and S. SF stations offer free parking during a weekday and free on the weekends as per the website.

I haven't worked for BART Police for 15 years, but back in those days they sent out a fleet of cadets at 6-8 in the morning whose sole job was to write parking tickets. They had a pretty vigorous parking enforcement program, including towing of cars without current registration, or with outstanding parking tickets.

I used to leave my car in the Pleasanton (Dublin side) BART station lot for several days mid-week without any trouble. That was a couple years back.

Yeah, you probably don't want to park there overnight. There have been a lot of reports of gas siphoning this past week alone.

Update:

I parked at the Millbrae Bart station Saturday morning and retrieved my car mid-day on Monday. No problems.

Next time I am parking on Friday and pulling out Monday morning, and hopefully that will be OK too.

If I had known this earlier this year, I would have saved a lot of $$ in airport parking when time was tight, and a lot of time when I was trying to use the free parking at the Atherton Caltrain station. :(
But I guess better late than never!

Update 2:

Parked on Friday and pulled out on Monday. Originally set to pull out in the morning, but ended up pulling out at night and didn't get a ticket.
Not sure though whether I was lucky or whether they are not enforcing parking.

Any recent updates on whether BART is issuing parking tickets for this?

Specifically, I'd like to park at Millbrae station during the day Friday and leave Monday evening. The BART site says weekend parking is free only until 2 AM Monday, which would mean my plan is against the rules. However, considering that (1) Millbrae allows free daily parking, and (2) I won't be parked more than 24 hours after the weekend ends, I figure this plan should be safe. Any recent experiences?

I seriously doubt BART police will be out until 6 AM.... you should be fine.

If Bart police are out at 6:00 a.m. on Monday, this would mean a ticket. The question is whether Bart police are actually striping tires on Friday or over the weekend.

any recent experiences with Millbrae BART Parking?
 

Wondering if any FTers have recently done an extended weekend parking at the millbrae bart parking lot w/o getting a ticket? Anyone done a Friday morning to Monday evening parking stint? Anyone seen BART metermaids at all? Thanks for the replies in advance

Friday morning to Monday morning would be fine.

Friday morning to Monday evening would cost you a pretty penny.

I've been using the Millbrae station extensively for the past year, usually a couple weekends a month. Sometimes my car is parked till Monday afternoon or evening, but a few times due to flight cancellations or other I had to leave the car there till Tuesday or Wednesday.
I have yet to receive a ticket. Frankly I don't think they are issuing any tickets at all even during the week.
But of course there's no guarantee that the police won't start this weekend. ;)

I too have been parking at various BART stations for at least up to 5 days, if not longer, and never received a ticket. I only park at stations that don't have a meter of course.

Long Term parking at Peninsula Bart stations
 

Test
 

I parked at the Millbrae Bart Station from Friday morning to Monday evening in July, without any problems...didn't see any markings on my tires...
Could be a fluke, but perhaps the bart parking police may not checking everyday at Millbrae...

Anyone have their tires marked at Millbrae?

BART long term parking - holiday/ weekend strategy
 

I will be parking at Millbrae BART from ~11 AM Saturday, June 28 through ~11 PM Saturday, July 5. My interpretation of the BART extended parking rules caused me to purchase a long-term parking permit from Monday, June 30 through Thursday, July 3 (remember July 4 is a holiday) . . . 4 days @ $6 per day = $24. Anyone foresee any problems/ issues with that?

BART web site seems rather vague (perhaps deliberately) when it comes to long-term parking that includes weekend & holiday periods.

You read it as I do. I parked at San Bruno a few weekends ago from Saturday morning until Monday at around midnight. SB offers 24 hour free weekday parking, hence no ticket on Monday. I didnt see any tire marks.

Parking overnight at El Cerrito for the weekend
 

I was planning to park my car at the El Cerrito BART station from Saturday June 28 afternoon to Sunday June 29 (and take the BART to SF).

Is it safe (I mean for my car)?

Also, by looking at the BART website, it looks like it's free for the weekend. Right?

Thanks!!

I have left my car at El Cerrito Plaza weekend overnight plenty of times (nothing recently) without an issue, and probably a few times at El Cerrito Del Norte.

What about Friday afternoon to Monday evening at San Bruno?

They have a 24 hour limit on weekdays but I dont know how heavily enforced it is

Was it El Cerrito Del Norte or Plaza? I was planning to park at Del Norte, as it's closer to the highway and it's completely free.

EDITED: nevermind... this morning I cannot even read messages :-P

No puedo creer la locura de tu posting. :D
You could have simply replied with this.

I parked at Millbrae from Thursday morning (6/19) to Sunday evening (6/22)this past weekend for the JFK-ORY In Flight DO and purchased a 2 day parking pass for Thursday and Friday. The ride Thursday was a Spare the Air Day and was free. I was early enough to catch the direct route to SFO. The return trip on Sunday required a transfer at San Bruno, but was seemless and almost too tight of a connection.

They're timed on purpose.

I realize that. My comment was that it was almost too tight. If I had not been standing at the door when my train stopped and rushed to the other train, I would have missed the connection. As it was I barely made it across the platform in time. If my train had been delayed 10 seconds or if there were people in front of me at the door, I would have missed the connecting train.

They'd hold the train if it was going to be within a minute or two. The same thing happens at MacArthur with timed connections. Often, I've had to wait a couple of minutes on a train that is waiting for another. Unless there is a real train delay, the timed connections work well. Also, the 'driver' is usually looking out the window to see if people are walking to the train.

Eastbay1k that's good to know, although the "driver" wouldn't have been able to see me until I was close to the door because of the escalators. The doors did close immediately after I got on.

I mention this because not everyone taking the BART connection is able to stand until the train comes to a complete stop or able to dash across to the other side of the platform. If your mobility is limited these are important issues.

One thing I've experienced is that even though the officially timed connection sometimes requires a layover of 14 minutes :mad:, the downtown-to-Millbrae/SFO train is often running a minute or two behind schedule, which means that I can catch it instead of waiting for the timed connection. But as you've noticed, you've got to be ready to move!

I guess my point is that you might have actually been "lucky" to have caught a train earlier than the timetable officially provides for.

One piece of advice: Be sure to check the overhead displays to confirm your destination. Once after arriving at San Bruno from SFO, I sprinted across the platform and made the connection with seconds to spare, only to have it transport me back to SFO. Doh! :eek:

Planning a trip for Thanksgiving out of SFO - came across this older discussion on parking at Millbrae. I'd like to figure out how long should the long-term permit be for: leaving Tuesday, Nov. 25 in the morning and returning Mon, Dec. 1, at 10 pm. The way I am reading the rules I should be OK with just paying for Tue and Wed? Thanksgiving is a holiday so parking is free, Fri-Sun should be weekend parking, and Mon I am relying on free 24 hr parking... Any objections or other days I should purchase the permit for? What are the recent experiences of parking at Millbrae over several days? Help appreciated.

I just called Bart and asked about parking on Fri 11/28 and I was told it's not free. My station is Dublin but I think it also applies to Millbrae.

Here's the official quote:
I suppose you could buy a separate permit for Friday, but I would just probably buy a single permit covering Wednesday through Friday. You won't need one for the preceding Tuesday and the following Monday unless you want to park in the spaces restricted to early morning commuters.

I agree with Mikew99, you'll need one for Wednesday and another for Friday. You can buy two different ones and put them both in the windshield, someone on this thread has done that.

Thank you for replies and posting official BART rules regarding Friday after Thanksgiving parking. I will definitely have a pass for Wed and Fri. However, I think I should also get one for Tuesday, as it seems to me that the 24 hr parking rule will not work in my favor if I use it both Tuesday and the following Monday for 24 hr parking in a single stay.

During a normal week, you can essentially park Thursday-Monday for free since it is free parking Friday-Sunday and you can arrive on Thursday since you get 24 hours and through Monday with the same 24 hour rule. I have used the online to pay for Tues and Wed through the weekend stays and didn't get ticket at Millbrae. I think its great.

Does anyone know whether it would be possible to park at Caltrain station for 2 weeks straight by paying monthly parking ($20, they sell it together with a monthly pass or 2 10-ride tickets)? I frequently use Caltrain so it would definitely be worth it for me to do this and park at the station during a trip abroad.

Also, there is currently one station, Belmont, where parking is free. Anyone had luck using it for extended parking?

Thanks