Possible to take BART from SFO to Berkeley?
 

Gang,

I have never taken the train service at SFO.

Is it possible to take the BART train from SFO to a BART station in Berkeley (not sure of station names)?

Any advice is appreciated.

William

Yes, you can.

You probably will have to transfer trains.

The Richmond bound train will take you thru Berkeley. I believe Berkeley has more than 1 stop.

For more info., check out:
http://www.bart.gov/index.asp

Berkeley has 3 stops - Ashby, Berkeley, and North Berkeley. Depending on the day/time of day, you will need to change trains at 12th St/Oakland City Center, or not (and MacArthur in the reverse direction). The University is closest to Berkeley Station - you can walk or short bus ride from there. You can also walk up the Gourmet Ghetto from there (Chez Panisse, Cesar, et many others).

If I may ask, when and why are you coming? (I don't live very far from there).

In any case, make sure you are on a RICHMOND train NO LATER than MacArthur Station, and make sure you never end up on a Fremont or a Dublin/Pleasanton train at any time on your trip TO Berkeley, and you will be fine. On the return, you can take a Fremont train (and change at MacArthur to anything going to SF), or an SF train (although it may not go quite to the end of the line, you can take it until the end and just wait for an SFO train).

Sorry if this is off-topic, but did I read the schedule correctly, that BART service to SFO is only during rush hour? If so, why?

No, I believe it is the Richmond train only goes to SFO during rush hour, at all other times, only the Pittsburg train does. You can get there at all operating hours.

you can also use the bart "quick planner" for both pda and web enabled cell phones. i haven't used the wireless product but i swear by the pda one. also on the page is an actual "here to there" planner so you can do it on-line. hope this helps

http://www.bart.gov/stations/quickpl...ickplanner.asp

JS: Eastbay1K is correct - Pittsburg BayPoint trains serve SFO from very early am to about 11:30 pm and, during rush hour, SFO service is augmented by Richmond line trains.

So during rush hour times, BART trains to SFO run more frequently due to two lines worth of trains heading all the way to Milbrae instead of the usual one. The wait isnt as long as SFO, which is nice.

...but it's best to change to the Richmond train at 12th Street/Oakland City Center, because it will almost always be waiting for you on the other side of the platform there. It might get ahead by 19th Street or MacArthur.

I live in Berkeley and work at Cal...welcome to our little town!

Thanks Gang.

Appreciate all the information.

William

I just did the opposite a couple of weeks ago. I drove from Berkeley to a car dealership on Broadway in Oakland for some needed service. I dropped off the car and the dealer's shuttle drove me to the 19th St. Oakland station. From there to SFO. I had an international flight, so it was very convenient to take BART right to the International Terminal.

This worked out very nicely.

OK... I just pricelined and got the Holiday Inn SFO airport.

It says it is close to the BART station.

Would that be the airport station? :)

Guessing after I finish in Berkeley I can take the BART back to the airport and catch the airport hotel shuttle from there?

William

According to BART's station finder (http://www.bart.gov/stations/station...irections.asp), the Holiday Inn SFO isn't that close to BART at all! Hopefully there's a shuttle.

The SFO BART station is actually inside the airport, adjacent to the International Terminal; the SFO hotels are all a couple miles off-site. Airport hotels that are actually close to a BART station would probably be near the Millbrae or South San Francisco stations, a stop away from the airport.

The post above was correct at the time of posting, but has since changed. Direct trains now run from SFO to Dublin/Pleasanton instead of from SFO to Pittsburg/Bay Point. The new routing requires two transfers to get from SFO to Berkeley at certain times of day :td:

To get from SFO to Berkeley:
From SFO take the Dublin/Pleasonton train to Balboa Park
From Balboa Park take the Richmond train to Berkeley (Ashby, Downtown Berkeley, and North Berkeley stations).
***Note that Richmond trains do not always run from Balboa Park. Typically, you can catch the Richmond train at Balboa Park during the day (except Sunday). For alternate directions, see below.***

Alternatively, to get from SFO to Berkeley:
From SFO take the Dublin/Pleasonton train to Balboa Park
From Balboa Park take the Pittsburg/Bay Point train to 12th St. Oakland City Center
From 12th St. Oakland City Center take the Richmond train to Berkeley (Ashby, Downtown Berkeley, and North Berkeley stations).

For more information visit http://www.bart.gov

During the day (except Sun) Richmond bound trains run from Daly City, so you could transfer to a Richmond train at Balboa Park and just do the one change for a Berkeley destination as an alternative. Watch the times, though, as they stop in early evening.