North Berkeley
The circular headhouse of North Berkeley station
General information
Location1750 Sacramento Street
Berkeley, California
Coordinates37°52′26″N 122°16′57″W / 37.873915°N 122.282552°W / 37.873915; -122.282552
Line(s)BART R-Line
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks2
ConnectionsBus transport AC Transit: FS, J, 51B, 52, 88, 604, 688, 800
Bus transport Golden Gate Fields Shuttle
Construction
Structure typeUnderground
Parking822 spaces
Bicycle facilities58 lockers
AccessibleYes
ArchitectKitchen & Hunt[1]
History
OpenedJanuary 29, 1973
Passengers
20231,747 (weekday average)[2]
Services
Preceding station Bay Area Rapid Transit Following station
Downtown Berkeley Orange Line El Cerrito Plaza
toward Richmond
Downtown Berkeley
toward Millbrae
Red Line
Location

North Berkeley station is an underground Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station located in the North Berkeley neighborhood of Berkeley, California. It is bounded by Virginia Street, Sacramento Street, Delaware Street, and Acton Street in a residential area north of University Avenue. The main station entrance sits within a circular building at the center of a parking lot, while an elevator between the surface and the platform is located at the parking lot's Sacramento Street edge. The station is served by the Orange Line and Red Line.

History

The 2022-installed elevator faregate

The site was originally an open area across which the Key System constructed its Westbrae streetcar line, subsequently given the letter designation "G". The tracks ran diagonally across the property in virtually the same alignment as today's underground BART tracks. Homes began to be constructed along the periphery of the site, and after the G-Westbrae line was closed in 1941, filled in most of the rest of it. All of these were demolished in the 1960s to make way for construction of the North Berkeley station. Early proposals included replacing the demolished homes with apartment buildings, but these did not come to fruition. Instead, the area around the station became a parking lot.[3] Service at the station began on January 29, 1973.[4]

Pursuant to a law passed by the state of California in 2018, the City of Berkeley and BART are beginning to plan the development of transit-oriented housing on the station parking lot, with a deadline for zoning due to the district in 2020.[5] The station site is only partially suited for housing due to the presence of the tracks and station box underneath. The Berkeley City Council approved a memorandum of understanding with BART in December 2019.[6]

Thirteen BART stations, including North Berkeley, did not originally have faregates for passengers using the elevator. In 2020, BART started a project to add faregates to elevators at these stations. The new faregate on the platform at North Berkeley was installed in October 2022.[7]

See also

References

  1. Cerny, Susan Dinkelspiel (2007). An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area (1st ed.). Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith. pp. 501–502. ISBN 978-1-58685-432-4. OCLC 85623396.
  2. "Monthly Ridership Reports". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. September 2023.
  3. Duane, Daniel (2023-05-30). "A Tale of Paradise, Parking Lots and My Mother's Berkeley Backyard". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
  4. "BART Chronology January 1947 – March 2009" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 13, 2013.
  5. Orenstein, Natalie (17 January 2019). "Plans for housing at North Berkeley BART develop under new law". Berkeleyside.
  6. Orenstein, Natalie (December 11, 2019). "Berkeley approves agreement with BART around housing at two stations". Berkeleyside.
  7. "New Fare Gates & Station Hardening". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. July 2023. Archived from the original on September 4, 2023.

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