BART is helping address the housing and climate crises by fulfilling state, regional, and local goals to build over 2,000 mixed-income homes near El Cerrito Plaza, North Berkeley, and Ashby stations as transit-oriented developments (TOD). The Berkeley-El Cerrito Corridor Access Plan (BECCAP) comprehensively analyzes how residents in Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Albany, Kensington, Emeryville, and Oakland who currently drive and park at the stations could access BART along the corridor once the TODs are built on the station parking lots.
The BECCAP, which was funded by California’s Department of Transportation (Caltrans), balances the need for BART-rider parking, which is expensive and uses a lot of space, with transportation options that enhance community vibrancy and safety. It was developed in collaboration with the cities of Berkeley and El Cerrito and is focused on implementing strategies along the Richmond line that more equitably distribute BART’s investments in walking, rolling, biking, riding transit, driving, and parking. The Resources and Materials section below has a wealth of information.
The BECCAP approached its analysis with these three primary inputs:
- Policies and plans: Extensive review of and alignment with adopted plans and policies
- Engagement: Robust collaboration with municipalities, community members, and riders
- Analysis: Thorough analysis of each neighborhood’s context and transportation options for getting to and from BART stations along the corridor
The BECCAP provided the following results:
- A proposed set of access and parking management strategies for BART, cities, and other agencies along the corridor that can be put in place at the time of TOD construction
- An understanding of access options that grow BART ridership in such a way that minimizes subsidies from BART’s operating budget to improve transit riders’ experience while meeting equity and sustainability goals
- Parameters for analyzing BART rider parking replacement needs
The BECCAP did not focus on specific access and circulation plans for individual BART stations. Station access plans are funded by the TOD developers as part of the pre-development work at each station.
Resources and Materials
Click on the resource name below to either download the PDF or link to other websites
- Berkeley-El Cerrito Corridor Access Plan (27.6 MB, February 2023)
- Project Fact Sheet (4.3 MB, October 2022)
- Intersection of Future Visions: BART Policies Supported by Community Plans of Berkeley and El Cerrito (0.7 MB, November 2022)
- Frequently asked questions (0.2 MB, June 2023)
Outreach
- Summary of Reference Material and Public Outreach (0.2 MB, June 2023)
- Outreach Milestone Report #1 (1,8 MB, March 2022): A summary of outreach efforts and input received April through August 2021
- Outreach Milestone Report #2 (0.8 MB, November 2022): A summary of outreach efforts and input received September 2021 through May 2022
- Outreach Milestone Report #3 (0.4 MB, March 2023): A summary of outreach efforts and input received June 2022 through February 2023
- Online Open House #1 Survey (3.7 MB, March 2022): A summary of public input received from the first online open house survey, which ran July 2 through August 20, 2021
- Online Open House #2 Survey (2.6 MB, February 2023): A summary of public input received from the second online open house survey, which ran April 20 through May 18, 2022
- Online Open House #3 Survey (1.3 MB, May 2023): A summary of public input received from the third and final online open house survey, which ran December 16, 2022, through January 8, 2023
- Link to Online Open House #3 (winter 2022/2023)