El Cerrito del Norte station

El Cerrito del Norte
Bay Area Rapid Transit

The station from the southwest
Location 6400 Cutting Boulevard
Richmond, CA 94530
Coordinates 37°55′31″N 122°19′01″W / 37.925183°N 122.316939°W / 37.925183; -122.316939Coordinates: 37°55′31″N 122°19′01″W / 37.925183°N 122.316939°W / 37.925183; -122.316939
Owned by BART
Line(s)
  Richmond–​Warm Springs/South Fremont
  Richmond–​Daly City/​Millbrae
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 2
Bus routes AC Transit: Routes 7, 72, 72M, 72R*, 76, 376 (local); 667, 668, 675, 683, 684 (school days only); 800 (All-Nighter); L* LC* (Transbay, stops at San Pablo Ave. & Cutting)
FAST: Route 90*
Golden Gate Transit: Routes 40*, 42
Napa VINE: Route 29*[1]
SolTrans: Route 80
WestCAT: JL/JR, JX/JPX(30Z)*+,
Richmond Circular Shuttle: Marina Bay
* - Route operates weekdays only
+ - Route JPX continues as 30Z to Martinez
Bus stands 29
Construction
Structure type Elevated
Parking 2198 spaces: Monthly Reserved, Daily ($1/day), Extended Weekend (free), Midday (free after 3pm), Long Term and Attendant Assisted[2]
Bicycle facilities 28 Lockers
Disabled access Yes
Architectural style Brutalist
Other information
Status Operational
Station code DELN
Website El Cerrito del Norte Station
History
Opened 29 January 1973 (1973-01-29)
Rebuilt 2019 (expected)
Traffic
Passengers (FY 2016) 9,229 exits/day[3] Increase 2.23%
Rank 13th busiest
Services
Preceding station   Bay Area Rapid Transit   Following station
Terminus
Richmond–​Daly City/​Millbrae
toward Millbrae (Daly City on Saturdays)
Richmond–​Warm Springs/South Fremont

El Cerrito del Norte (North Hillock in Spanish), frequently shorterned to del Norte, is one of two BART stations in El Cerrito, California, just east of the Cutting Boulevard interchange of Interstate 80 parallel to San Pablo Avenue and the Ohlone Greenway straddling the Richmond border. The station serves the northern portion of El Cerrito and the central areas of Richmond in addition to the west county area and points beyond BARTs coverage area. El Cerrito del Norte is Spanish for "north hillock" or "North El Cerrito". The station serves as a regional transit hub for local AC Transit bus services including a BRT stop, and for commuter feeder services from Solano, Napa, and Marin Counties in the North Bay and other regions of Contra Costa County as well.

History

Del Norte opened to revenue service on January 29, 1973[4] with the line from Oakland to Richmond.

A 2014 study recommending expanding the station paid area, platforms, and vertical logistics (more stairs and elevators within the paid area) to allow more passengers to use the station and decrease dwelling times during congested alighting times.[5] By 2017 the station was serving 18,000 people per day, exceeding its design capacity. BART approved contracts to begin station expansion that year, with an expected completion in 2019.[6]

Platforms and tracks

P
Platform
level		 Side platform, doors will open on the right
Northbound ←      Richmond–​Daly City/​Millbrae toward Richmond (Terminus)
←      Richmond–​Warm Springs/South Fremont toward Richmond (Terminus)
Southbound →      Richmond–​Daly City/​Millbrae toward Daly City or Millbrae (El Cerrito Plaza) →
→      Richmond–​Warm Springs/South Fremont toward Warm Springs (El Cerrito Plaza) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right
G Street Level Exits/Entrances
Mezzanine One-way faregates, ticket machines, station agent

Amenities

This station has a Library-a-go-go machine, a library book vending machine that was added in June 2009 for the Contra Costa County Library system.[7] In 2005 "Ak's Food Corner" opened at the station selling newspapers, flowers, hot dogs, drinks, snacks, fruit, high-value BART blue tickets.

Panorama of the station, April 2008

Buses

There are 29 bus bays that serve six bus agencies for fixed route service and various paratransit and dial-a-ride shuttles.[5] The bus bays are predominantly located on the west side of the station.[5]

AC Transit

AC Transit provides service in western Alameda and Contra Costa counties in addition to commuter service to San Francisco. The station has connecting and feeder service by AC Transit from Albany, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, UC Village, Hilltop Mall Shopping Center, Contra Costa College, El Portal Shopping Center, El Cerrito, Kensington, Richmond, Richmond Parkway Transit Center, El Sobrante, and San Pablo. AC Transit provides comprehensive circulatory service in the immediate surroundings in addition to competing commuter service across the Bay Bridge, San Mateo Bridge, and Dumbarton Bridge.

WestCat

WestCAT provides service in the western Contra Costa County communities of Hercules, Tara Hills, Bayview-Montalvin Manor, Pinole, northern Richmond, Hilltop Mall, Rodeo and Hercules Transit Center. Buses serving the station primarily connect the Hilltop Area, San Pablo Avenue corridor, and Hercules areas with the station.

Commuter feeder service

FAST (Solano County – Fairfield Transportation Center, Suisun–Fairfield station)
Golden Gate Transit (Contra Costa County – Point Richmond; Marin County – San Rafael Transit Center)
Napa VINE (Solano County – Vallejo; Napa County: American Canyon, Napa, Yountville, St. Helena, Calistoga)
SolTrans (Solano County – Vallejo)

Shuttles

An AC Transit/BART consortium operates East Bay Paratransit which serves this station. The Department of Human Services operates a shuttle connecting the station to its facilities in Richmond and Hercules. The city of Richmond also operates a commuter shuttle here from the Marina Bay neighborhood.[8]

Parking

This station features large parking areas throughout, including surface parking and a four-story parking garage on the east side. There are also reserved bicycle lockers and open air racks available.[5] There is a kiss and ride and taxi zone on the east side of the station.[5] This plan determined that parking should be placed closer to the freeway to reduce traffic and that the impact of the large amount of buses and area needed for them had to be mitigated in some manner.[5]

Station Area

Avg. Weekday BART Ridership
FY* Ridership %±
1999 7,537 —
2000 8,362 +10.9%
2001 8,962 +7.2%
2002 7,746 –14.6%
2003 6,863 –13.4%
2004 7,279 +
2005 7,398 +
2006 7,707 +
2007 7,831 +
2008 8,213 +
2009 7,971 −3.1%
2010 7,352 –
2011 7,511 +
2012 7,965 +
2013 8,494 +
2014 8,687 +
2015 9,028 +
2016 9,229 +2.2%
Source: Ridership Reports

The station area is surrounded by local businesses, some of which are run down, with others underutilized parcels and big-box retailers.[5] The station is surrounded by many businesses, including the Del Norte Marketplace shopping center with Walgreens, IHOP, Dollar Tree, Ross, Church's Chicken, and Jack in the Box. For years a Target lay adjacent but was closed when the Great Recession economy was found not to support this old location, and was relocated to the nearby Macdonald 80 Shopping Center. It has now been remodeled into a large Safeway supermarket with a small shopping strip and room reserved for high density dwellings. Del Norte Plaza lies catty-corner from the station and has small offices providing legal and dental services. On the north side of the station there is a motel, the Del Norte Place apartments, a Sketchers shoe outlet, a Honda dealership, Starbucks, Macdonald's, Home Depot and local restaurants. To the south of the station lies a Playland-Not-At-The-Beach amusement park museum, a post office and the El Cerrito DMV. To the east lie single family homes up a sloping hill.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit District developed a station improvement plan in 2004 to create a transit village in the surrounding area.[5] The city of El Cerrito is additionally planning and searching for funds to develop the area around the station as a transit oriented development (TOD) similar to other transit villages,[9] with the reservation that the development must be appropriately scaled.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 29 schedule
  2. ↑ http://www.bart.gov/stations/deln/index.aspx#parking
  3. ↑ Bay Area Rapid Transit District. "Monthly Ridership Reports". Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  4. ↑ BART History Archived October 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Comprehensive Station Plan El Cerrito del Norte" (PDF). BART. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 September 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  6. ↑ Radin, Rick (10 February 2017). "Busy El Cerrito Del Norte BART station set for major remodel". East Bay Times. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  7. ↑ Library-a-Go-Go comes to El Cerrito del Norte BART Station
  8. ↑ Circular Shuttle
  9. ↑ El Cerrito del Norte station access plan, BART, retrieved August 9, 2007
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