BARTing your way through the day: A BART Advisory

I commute to Emeryville every few weeks for work, and I've found that taking BART and then the complimentary Emery-Go-Round shuttle work well for me.

Lately, though, something has changed on the BART route. Passengers traveling to Oakland and Richmond can no longer take a single train from the Fremont station. Apparently, according to the BART website, fires earlier this month damaged a service facility. Because of that, passengers boarding in Fremont, Union City, and Hayward all have to board an SF train to start their journeys, and then transfer at Bayfair (just before San Leandro) and catch a Richmond train. While the BART website advises that you give yourself an extra 10 minutes for transfer, I would recommend that you give yourself an extra 15-20. The SF and Dublin/Pleasanton trains seem to arrive more often than the Richmond ones. Check out the official word at http://www.bart.gov/news/press/news20080511.asp.

That being said, if you're living in San Jose and heading up to the City on BART, I would recommend driving to Millbrae or South San Francisco and catching a train from there. Both stations offer free parking, and plenty of it, and are easily accessible from 101 (with the latter, you need to take the 380 connector and exit at El Camino Real, but it's very straightforward).

Finally, BART has an EZ Rider card for frequent riders. Instead of buying a ticket each day, you can just pass a card over a decal on the ticket scanner, and the money will automatically be deducted from your card. The card is initially filled with $45 from your credit card, and refills for you when you are running out. I'm tempted to sign up, what with the work commuting and my jaunts over to S.F. For more on the EZ Rider card, please visit: http://www.bart.gov/news/features/features20061018.asp.