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Downtown Berkeley (BART station)
Encyclopedia
Downtown Berkeley is a Bay Area Rapid Transit
station
located on Shattuck Avenue, between Allston Way and Addison Street in Downtown
Berkeley, California
. Signs in the station itself read simply Berkeley, per se the original name of the station. BART officials renamed it in the mid-1990s, presumably to avoid confusion with North Berkeley and Ashby stations, both of which are also located in the City of Berkeley.
The station consists of a mezzanine
level and an underground island platform
beneath it. The escalators leading to the entrance at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street are topped by a icosikaitetragonal rotunda that covers passengers entering and leaving the station from inclement weather.
Downtown Berkeley is the second-busiest BART station outside of San Francisco, with 11,814 weekday average exits in Fiscal Year 2008. The only station outside of San Francisco with more traffic is 12th Street/Oakland City Center.
The station is popular both with student
s of UC Berkeley
who use it to commute to the university and with non-student residents of Berkeley, many of whom commute to job centers in San Francisco
and other Bay Area
destinations. Additionally, it is used by patrons of events taking place at the University, such as concerts or lectures, and especially football games and other athletic events, including those sponsored by the MyBART service.
This has been the site of many BART Alert protests in response to occurrences on the political scene.
Service at this station began on January 29, 1973.
This station is in BART District 3 and is represented by Bob Franklin
.
There is also a valet bike parking facility
outside the station at street level and is operated by Alameda Bicycle. It used to be placed at the top of an unused stairway from the mezzanine level to the platform below. The stairs were built so that an additional entrance could be opened if needed in the future, and had never been used by passengers.
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
station
Metro station
A metro station or subway station is a railway station for a rapid transit system, often known by names such as "metro", "underground" and "subway". It is often underground or elevated. At crossings of metro lines, they are multi-level....
located on Shattuck Avenue, between Allston Way and Addison Street in Downtown
Downtown Berkeley, California
Downtown Berkeley is the central business district of the city of Berkeley, California, United States, around the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street, and extending north to Hearst Avenue, south to Dwight Way, west to Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and east to Oxford Street...
Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. Signs in the station itself read simply Berkeley, per se the original name of the station. BART officials renamed it in the mid-1990s, presumably to avoid confusion with North Berkeley and Ashby stations, both of which are also located in the City of Berkeley.
The station consists of a mezzanine
Mezzanine (architecture)
In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building, and therefore typically not counted among the overall floors of a building. Often, a mezzanine is low-ceilinged and projects in the form of a balcony. The term is also used for the lowest balcony in...
level and an underground island platform
Island platform
An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...
beneath it. The escalators leading to the entrance at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street are topped by a icosikaitetragonal rotunda that covers passengers entering and leaving the station from inclement weather.
Downtown Berkeley is the second-busiest BART station outside of San Francisco, with 11,814 weekday average exits in Fiscal Year 2008. The only station outside of San Francisco with more traffic is 12th Street/Oakland City Center.
The station is popular both with student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s of UC Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
who use it to commute to the university and with non-student residents of Berkeley, many of whom commute to job centers in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and other Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
destinations. Additionally, it is used by patrons of events taking place at the University, such as concerts or lectures, and especially football games and other athletic events, including those sponsored by the MyBART service.
This has been the site of many BART Alert protests in response to occurrences on the political scene.
Service at this station began on January 29, 1973.
This station is in BART District 3 and is represented by Bob Franklin
Bob Franklin (politician)
Bob Franklin is an elected member of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District Board of Directors. He represents District 3 which covers the communities of Kensington, Piedmont, San Leandro, San Lorenzo and portions of Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward and Castro Valley. He was elected on November 2, 2004...
.
There is also a valet bike parking facility
Bike station
A bike station, bicycle center or cycle center is a building or structure designed for bicycle commuters that typically requires users to join as members in order to use secure bicycle parking, and sometimes showers or lockers...
outside the station at street level and is operated by Alameda Bicycle. It used to be placed at the top of an unused stairway from the mezzanine level to the platform below. The stairs were built so that an additional entrance could be opened if needed in the future, and had never been used by passengers.