WestCAT
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Locale | Contra Costa County |
|---|---|
| Transit type | Commuter Bus |
| Began operation | 1977 |
| System length | 20 mi² |
| No. of lines | 16 |
| No. of stations | 300 |
| Daily ridership | 4,782 |
| Operator | Western Contra Costa Transit Authority |
WestCAT is a public transportation service in western Contra Costa County (north of Oakland, CA). It is a service of the Western Contra Costa Transit Authority. This service provides local service in the towns, communities, and areas of: Hercules, Pinole, Richmond including the Hilltop area, Rodeo and Crockett. It also has express lines connecting the aforementioned places and Martinez with The El Cerrito del Norte BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit District) Station in El Cerrito. The routes are (Local) 12, 13, 14, 14/15, 15, 16, 16/17, 17, 18, 18/19, 19. Also (Express) J, JX, JL, JR, JPX, JPX/30Z, and 30Z.
There is also a direct route linking the Hercules/Rodeo area to the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco called the Lynx. With stops in the Rodeo Park and Ride, North Shore Business Park, and the Hercules Transit Center, this line then goes nonstop from there to San Francisco. WestCAT is currently testing Wi-Fi service on the Lynx line. [1]
WestCAT also runs a route called the C3 - Contra Costa College Connection which provides a direct link to Contra Costa College from Hercules and Pinole along the San Pablo Avenue Corridor. This route is only serviced when Contra Costa College is in session. For example, there is no bus service during the college's holidays.
WestCAT's fleet started out with shuttle vans, and then using buses made by El Dorado National and Thomas Built Buses. Now, WestCAT runs an almost all Gillig fleet, ranging from ex-Tri Delta Transit 1987 Gillig Phantoms, to 2002 model Gillig Phantoms and 2 Gillig Low Floors serving mostly the 16 - Pinole Valley/Pinole Vista route.
