El Cerrito Plaza station explained

El Cerrito Plaza
Style:BART
Address:6699 Fairmount Avenue
Borough:El Cerrito, California
Coordinates:37.9027°N -122.299°W
Owned:Bay Area Rapid Transit
Line:BART R-Line
Structure:Elevated
Platform:2 side platforms
Tracks:2
Connections: AC Transit: 71, 72, 72M, 79, 80, 667, 668, 675, 684, G
Bear Transit: RFS
Parking:761 spaces
Bicycle:30 lockers
Accessible:Yes
Architect:DeMars & Wells[1]
Opened:January 29, 1973
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:14

El Cerrito Plaza station is a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in El Cerrito, California, located adjacent to the El Cerrito Plaza shopping center. It primarily serves southern El Cerrito, northern Albany, and Kensington, along with nearby portions of Berkeley and Richmond. Nearly identical in form to El Cerrito del Norte station, El Cerrito Plaza station has two side platforms serving the line's two elevated tracks, with a fare lobby underneath. The Ohlone Greenway runs through the station area. The station is served by the Orange and Red lines.

History

The BART Board approved the name "El Cerrito Plaza" in December 1965.[2] The station opened on January 29, 1973. As with El Cerrito del Norte station, the escalator walls feature tile mosaics by Alfonso Pardiñas.[3] UC Berkeley music professor Jorge Liderman committed suicide at the station on February 3, 2008.[4] Conceptual plans for modernization of the two El Cerrito stations were released in December 2013.[5] Thirteen BART stations, including El Cerrito Plaza, did not originally have faregates for passengers using the elevator. In 2020, BART started a project to add faregates to elevators at these stations. Two new faregates at El Cerrito Plaza installed in May 2022.[6]

In 2018, BART and the city of El Cerrito signed a memorandum of understanding to begin planning for transit-oriented development to replace surface parking lots at the station.[7] A developer was chosen in November 2020. A total of six buildings with about 750 residential units are planned.[8] Per BART policy to limit parking replacement at urban stations, BART parking will be reduced from 761 spaces to 145 spaces.[9] [10] The first building was approved by the city in 2023., construction of the buildings is expected to begin in mid-2024, with all completed by mid-2028.

Bus connections

Busways on both sides of the station serve a number of AC Transit bus routes:[11]

The busways are also used by the Bear Transit RFS route. Several other AC Transit routes — including rapid route 72R, Transbay routes L and LC, and All Nighter route 800 — run on San Pablo Avenue to the west.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Cerny, Susan Dinkelspiel . An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area . Gibbs Smith . 2007 . 978-1-58685-432-4 . 1st . Layton, UT . 501–502 . en-US . 85623396.
  2. News: Names Approved for 38 Rapid Transit Stations Around Bay . Oakland Tribune . December 10, 1965 . 10 . Newspapers.com.
  3. How BART got ART . Eichler Network . Dave . Weinstein . CA-Modern . 6.
  4. News: Composer Liderman dies in apparent suicide . February 4, 2008 . Joshua . Kosman . San Francisco Chronicle.
  5. Book: El Cerrito Plaza and Del Norte Stations Modernization Concept Plans - Final Report . December 13, 2013 . San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District.
  6. Web site: New Fare Gates & Station Hardening . San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District . https://web.archive.org/web/20230904224616/https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/fare-gate . September 4, 2023 . July 2023.
  7. Web site: Memorandum of Understanding . February 28, 2018 . San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District.
  8. Web site: El Cerrito Plaza TOD . April 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240513220706/https://www.bart.gov/about/business/tod/el-cerrito-plaza . May 13, 2024 . San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District.
  9. Web site: El Cerrito Plaza Transit-Oriented Development . August 14, 2019 . San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District.
  10. Book: BART Transit-Oriented Development Program Work Plan: 2024 Update . 7 . March 2024 . San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District.
  11. Web site: Transit Stops: El Cerrito Plaza Station . Metropolitan Transportation Commission . March 29, 2017.