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.

Excellent clarification! I've updated my post above.

bump.
I'm contemplating this as a way to reach the Claremont next month. I read a suggestion to take the Pittsburgh/Bay Point line and get off at Rockridge. does anyone know whether this is the best way to go?

It appears that Rockridge is the closest BART station to the Claremont, about one mile away. Not sure if the Claremont has shuttle service to Rockridge, but AC Transit probably offers connecting svc.

You can get off at Ashby BART Station and take AC Transit #9 to the Claremont terminus. (IMHO, easiest way to get up there)

Or, you can get off at Rockridge BART or Berkeley Downtown BART Station and take AC Transit #7

During peak hours there is a line that goes from Richmond to SF directly, in addition to the Richmond/Fremont line. At other times there is only Richmond/Fremont, so you have to change to a SF train in Oakland between Berkeley and SF.

A mile doesn't sound like a bad walk, as long as the luggage is light.

Hmmm...it's actually about 1.5 miles, a bit uphill. It's not a very scenic walk, either. I know there's a taxi stand at the MacArthur station, but I'm not sure about Rockridge.

Picking up where EastBay1k left off, I'm actually a member of the Club at the Claremont. That would mean a whopping 10% discount should we put together a little Berkeley Do.

By the way, I don't mean to discourage walking. You'll be a short walk from the UC-Berkeley campus. It's quite beautiful and worth a stroll through.

Taxis from Rockridge
 

There is a taxi stand at the Rockridge station, and it's not at all unusual for there to be a taxi or sometimes even two waiting there during the day. The ride would probably be about 1.5-2 miles, which is to say, under $10.

Of course, if you don't see a taxi, you might take a few minutes to enjoy some of the stores along College Avenue, such as the Rockridge Market Hall (good bakery, coffee, and gourmet foods), Pendragon books or Diesel books, Bittersweet (a chocolate cafe), or Rockridge Home (good furniture, home decor, and gift-related items). The proprietor, Jennifer Kaplan, is great with advice if you have an idea of what you might want, and has selected items that are at once practical, interesting, and often by Bay Area designers and artists!).

-Hayden

Don't leave out Zachary's Pizza on College Ave. :)
http://www.zacharys.com/

Great idea! It's only a few blocks north of Rockridge BART on College. A slice and a couple of pints might make that walk to the Claremont a little more doable. You could walk all the way north on College to Ashby, then a few blocks to the east and you'll see the hotel.

Taking Claremont Avenue is (no surprise) more direct to the Claremont, but you'll miss out on all of the interesting stores, shops, restaurants and pubs.

:) Zachary's was on my list, and since my flight arrives at 11 it will be right at luncthime.

I have done Berkeley-SFO and SFO-Berkeley numerous times. In fact just did Berkeley-SFO last Friday for my 7:55AM flight. Its my preferred method to and from SFO if I'm traveling anytime around rush hours.

The other posters have covered the routing and appropriate transfers well. I will just throw in some more info based on my experiences.

The transfers for what you are doing will be very easy as you won't need to change platforms (except for AirTran transfer) and some you don't even have to go across the platform (a whole 30 feet or so) to the other track. There may also be an additional transfer once you reach the SFO BART station. BART brings you to the International terminal so if you are going to a domestic flight you might transfer to the free AirTran (or whatever it is called). I think you can also walk from the international terminal to the domestic terminals but I haven't tried since BART got extended to airport.

Also, the waiting time for the transfers is usually very small. For the timed transfer at MacArthur when going Berkeley-SFO changing from Fremont train to SF train when the system is ontime the trains arrive at almost the exact same time your transfer time will be very minimal. The change at Balboa Park for the SFO train can take 5-10 minutes in my experience and the transfer to the AirTran has always been less than 2-3 minutes

I walk over to the UA/AA terminals all the time. When you get off the train, just walk to the end of the platform, out the fare gates, and work your way over. It will take all of about 10 minutes.

I'm up for a Berkeley DO (or smaller event). tfmpa and Wharvey let us know if you want us to plan a little FT welcome for you when you are in town :D

If there is enough interest I will gladly post on Community for a general Berkeley DO also. Just an FYI, I'm OVERWHELMINGLY biased towards either the Gourmet Ghetto or Downtown Berkeley. :D

Does this put you at the AA or UA end of the terminal? I'm curious because I have seen posts that AA security lines are shorter than UA and you can once again access UA gates via the AA security entrance.

You'll come out at the start of the UA counters (far, far left side, near economy counters), and then have to walk all the way past UA, and then AA, to get to AA security. When you leave the intl terminal, you go down an escalator, then connect to the moving walkway that comes out at the UA domestic side. I don't think I've ever waited more than 5 mins on the AA side.

I love meeting new people when I travel. Very nice of you to offer.
I'm in town the 12th-18th (leave at 7:05 that morning). How about you Wharvey?

Yes, the Claremont is fine, but the Ghetto and Downtown would be much more interesting.

Cool. Thanks! ^

Argh!!! Too late! Was hoping for a DO around here. :(
I'm being "evicted" from IHouse tmr. :(

No word from Wharvey. I'm traveling a bunch between the 12th and the 18th. :eek: But am happy to organize. I could attend late on the 12th (after 8:00PM) and maybe the 17th but don't plan around me :)

Looks like travel schedules aren't matching up. Plan to return in the fall sometime. Maybe we'll have better luck then.

Thanks again to everyone for all their tips and helpful advice.

Confused...again
 

I'm sorry folks, I know the answer is here somewhere but I can't seem to find it. I have a flight to Korea from SFO at 11:25 AM on a Thursday. I'll be leaving from Oakland for SFO. Do I understand correctly that there are direct BART trains to SFO from Oakland...12th Street perhaps? If so, can someone tell me how long it takes?
I tried a couple of links to the BART website but the links are dead. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

The BART train to SFO makes the following stops in Oakland (from north to south): Rockridge, MacArthur, 19th Street, 12th Street, West Oakland. It takes about 45 minutes from 12th Street to SFO. http://www.bart.gov/ should work for exact schedules, maps, etc.