AC Transit’s Attractive New Eastmont Transfer Center Open for Business March 4
Press Releases
03/01/2001
(Oakland, CA) AC Transit buses start serving a major new transfer facility at Eastmont Towne Center Sunday, March 4, 2001, that is designed specifically to facilitate transit operations while it improves both the bus riders’ experience and the neighborhood’s ambiance. Eastmont’s new Bus Plaza was built on a 63,000-square-feet site on Foothill Boulevard, at a focal point where five mainline bus routes converge. Major routes serving the stops consolidated in the new transfer station include Lines N/NH/NL, providing local and commuter express service to San Francisco, plus local East Bay Lines 40, 40L, 43, 57 and 58 – trunk line service carrying thousands of passengers each day between San Leandro, East Oakland, downtown and North Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley. At the new bus plaza, AC Transit’s operators and passengers encounter many new amenities that add up to a major improvement over yesteryear’s scattering of on-street bus stops. These include:
- Seven off-street bus stops (plus two more on Foothill) in close proximity for convenient transfer connections
- Bus stop shelters to provide passengers some protection from the elements
- A comfort station for bus operators, many of whom will take end-of-the-line rest breaks at the site before starting their cross-town or transbay trips
- Availability soon of newspapers and sundries in an on-site retail store Direct, ready access to the many commercial enterprises and social services now available at, or soon to be housed in, the Eastmont Towne Center itself. AC Transit’s planning and operational staffs, Oakland’s elected city officials and staff, and Eastmont Towne Center management have been developing the bus plaza since the mid-1990s. It was built at a cost of about $2.5 million, funded largely by federal ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Act) dollars supplemented by matching funds from regional bridge tolls.