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BART is investing in small improvements that make immense differences to pedestrians and bicyclists entering and exiting our stations, and the Ashby BART Bicycle Access Improvement Project is case in point.  

The project was completed in December 2024 on time and on budget and provides safer bicycle connections to BART from the west and east thanks to a new bike lane that closes a gap in Berkeley’s bike network between two major thoroughfares. The project also installed directional curb ramps on a highly trafficked entrance to align curbs with the intersection’s crosswalks.   

It's not just BART riders benefitting from these improvements, but everyone using the streets around the station, whether pedestrian, cyclist, or driver.  

“It’s always satisfying seeing what you worked so hard for being put to good use," said Matthew Hembd, BART Resident Engineer on the project. “I feel very proud to have taken part in something that has left such a positive and lasting impression on the commuters and people of Berkeley.” 

To execute the improvements, BART worked in collaboration with the City of Berkeley, which owns and maintains the roads and crossings around the station. In the spring, the city began construction on crossing improvements for two major streets, Adeline and MLK Jr. Way.  

“A project like this highlights what great things can be done here at BART when we all work together,” Hembd added.   

Watch a video of the bike lane here 

BART’s Maintenance Department played a key role in executing the vision – from grinding and demolition to spreading and compacting the asphalt – with minimal disruption to the public and a fast timeline.  

“Along with BART’s painters and grounds crews, they were able to transform the area into a place that is much more attractive and modern looking, which many people will appreciate for years to come,” cheered Hembd.  

Heath Maddox, BART Bicycle Access Program Manager and a former North Oakland resident, knows firsthand how significantly cyclists and pedestrians will benefit from these upgrades. For five years, before his career took him to BART, Maddox commuted to and from Ashby Station. At the same time, his children were in preschool across from the station.  

"Our family was doing a lot of traversing of BART property to pick up and drop off kids, usually via cargo bike, so the need to improve bike entries and exits on the west side was very apparent to me," Maddox said. “I always thought that these improvements could be easily legitimized with fairly modest changes to circulation using paint and signage, but even as a city bike/pedestrian planner, for some reason it never crossed my mind to suggest to BART that they do something about it. Then, years later, I found myself in a position – perhaps the position – to spur action from the inside. The rest, including all the great work by BART’s Matthew Hembd and Mariana Parreiras, is history.”  

Bay Area transit agencies have been syncing schedules in a whole new way to make riding transit even faster. Transit agencies from across the region are updating their schedules at the same time in mid-August to significantly improve transfer reliability and timing. With these changes, transit riders who use more than one system will see a variety of improvements across the Bay Area this month, saving some riders as much as 20 minutes on their trips.  

This is the third iteration of a coordinated Big Sync in the Bay Area. Agencies meet several months in advance of each schedule change to share planned changes and to look for opportunities to improve transfers. 

Four transfer hubs get schedule overhauls 

After a thorough analysis of potential high-impact improvements benefiting the greatest number of riders, four specific locations where riders transfer from one system to another were prioritized for changes to maximize efficiency: 

• Dublin/Pleasanton BART
• Daly City BART
• Palo Alto Caltrain
• Concord BART 

These transfer hubs involved the coordination of BART, Muni, SamTrans, Caltrain, VTA, Dumbarton Express, Stanford Marguerite, Tri Delta Transit, County Connection, StanRTA, and LAVTA’s Wheels.  

In all, 18 bus routes at the four hub locations were tweaked to improve transfer connections with BART, Caltrain, and with each other. For these 18 routes, this effort achieves a 33% increase in weekday ideal transfers, most commonly between 5-10 minutes, and a 47% increase in weekend ideal transfers.  

When a transfer window is too short, riders must sprint to make their connection, or worse, they just miss it and have a long wait. This effort achieves a 23% decrease in weekday transfers that are too short and a 36% decrease in weekday transfers that are too long. 

Advancing schedule change alignment is a key priority for Bay Area transit general managers, who meet on a weekly basis to make transit more rider-focused and efficient.   

“The Big Sync was born from the idea that while we are separate agencies by name, we all work as one to serve the region,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers, who leads a Monday morning call with all operators with a focus on coordination and transformational improvements.  “Bay Area transit agencies are maximizing our limited resources by working collaboratively to speed up travel times across the region and make it easier to ride the bus, train, or ferry.”   

View this map as a pdf

Some of the biggest travel time savings from this Big Sync include: 

Peninsula Travel Time Improvements 

• Riders from the Peninsula coastside to Millbrae will on average save 20 minutes in the morning peak and will save 14 minutes returning in the evening peak for those who take SamTrans #117, SamTrans #110, and BART.
• Riders from the Peninsula coastside to Downtown San Francisco will on average save 17 minutes in the morning peak and on average save 14 minutes returning in the evening peak for those who take SamTrans #117 or SamTrans #110, and BART.
• Midday riders from Union City to San Mateo will save 3 minutes in the westbound direction and 19 minutes in the eastbound direction for those who take Dumbarton Express and Caltrain beginning in September.  

East Bay Travel Time Improvements 

• Riders from East Dublin to Downtown San Francisco will save 17 minutes in the morning peak for riders who take LAVTA’s Wheels #2 and BART.
• Riders from Pleasanton to Downtown San Francisco will on average save 15 minutes in the morning peak for riders who take LAVTA’s Wheels #8 and BART.
• Riders from Livermore to Downtown San Francisco  will save 17 minutes in the morning peak for riders who take LAVTA’s Wheels #10R and BART. 

Other transit service coordination efforts for August include:  

• BART trains will have a longer dwell time at Millbrae Station for improved reliability of Caltrain and SamTrans connections.
• BART trains will have a longer dwell time at Dublin Station for improved LAVTA Wheels connections.
• BART will have more even train spacing between the Orange & Green lines from Berryessa to Richmond for improved connections with VTA, AC Transit, and Union City Transit bus service.
• Muni is offering more morning service on the 49 Van Ness/Mission, 30x Marina Express and 1x California Express that connect to BART and the Salesforce Transit Center based on feedback from their riders.
• VTA’s 500 bus at Berryessa BART will shift to align with BART’s new schedule.
• County Connection Route 35 at Dublin/Pleasanton BART will shift to align with the new BART schedule. In June, County Connection implemented changes to weekend routes 310, 314, and 320 to improve bus-bus connections at Concord BART.
• AC Transit has updated 104 bus lines as part of the all-new Realign network. Realign brings a range of improvements, including coordinated scheduling to support smoother transfers to BART and expanded service for better connections with Golden Gate Transit. Developed over two years with an equity focus, Realign right-sizes their bus network to address fiscal challenges while remaining flexible to meet the evolving travel needs of East Bay riders.
• Tri Delta Transit is making changes to several routes to better align with BART, County Connection, and WestCAT as part of a new “TDT Network” revitalized system update, with feedback from their riders, offering more frequent, efficient, and faster service.
• SamTrans is updating schedules for routes 110, 121, SKY and PCX in the Daly City area to better align with BART arrivals and departures. Farther down on the Peninsula, routes 280 and 281 will shift to better connect with Caltrain service at the Palo Alto Transit Center.
• Caltrain continues to work and meet with BART, VTA, and SamTrans to improve transfers. By sharing data and rider patterns with our partners, we were able to collaboratively sync up several routes that connect at the Palo Alto Transit Center and Caltrain Station, greatly reducing travel times. Because of that, ideal transfer connections have jumped from 44 to 146 and those that were too long or too short have dropped from 106 to just a couple dozen. 

A sea of BART holiday sweaters swarmed the plaza at Rockridge Station for BART’s SweaterFest ‘24 this past Saturday. 

Joy was in abundance as hundreds of people descended upon the station to celebrate the season with a BART twist. And it wasn’t just humans who came to party with the Bay’s biggest transit fans – a spirited snowman, an energetic gingerbread man, and even Chewbacca made appearances.  

Charlie Barreda & Friends played holiday jams for the crowd and Full Belly Bakery served delicious desserts as attendees bought their BART holiday merch from Railgoods and explored the myriad activities stationed around the plaza.  

BART fans young and old crafted wreaths with old paper tickets, took photos in front of a BART holiday wonderland backdrop, got a fresh stamp for their BART Stamp Passports, and wrote odes to BART at the poetry booth.

Didn’t make it to SweaterFest? 

There’s still time to buy a sweater, scarf, and beanie (the sweater vests are sold out). Head to Railgoods.com to get your BART holiday swag!