El Cerrito del Norte (BART station)

For other uses, see Cerrito (disambiguation).

El Cerrito del Norte
Sign for El Cerrito del Norte BART Station
Location	6400 Cutting Boulevard Richmond, CA 94530
Line(s)
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	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* 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
Construction
Parking	2198 spaces- Monthly Reserved, Daily ($1/day), Extended Weekend (free), Midday (free after 3pm), Long Term and Attendant Assisted
Bicycle facilities	28 Lockers
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	January 29, 1973
Traffic
Passengers (FY 2013)	8,494 exits/day  6.64%
Services
Preceding station   File:Bart compact logo.svg Bay Area Rapid Transit   Following station Richmond Terminus Richmond–​Daly City/​Millbrae El Cerrito Plaza toward Millbrae (Daly City on Saturdays) Richmond–​Fremont El Cerrito Plaza toward 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. Del Norte opened to revenue service on January 29, 1973 as part of the original BART system. 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.

Station layout

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

This station features large parking areas throughout, including surface parking and a four-story parking garage on the east side. There are 29 bus bays that serve six bus agencies for fixed route service and various paratransit and dial-a-ride shuttles. The bus bays are predominantly located on the west side of the station. There are also reserved bicycle lockers and open air racks available. There is a kiss and ride and taxi zone on the east side of the station. The station area is surrounded by local businesses, some of which are run down, with others underutilized parcels and big-box retailers. The Bay Area Rapid Transit District developed a station improvement plan in 2004 to create a transit village surrounding the station. 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. Furthermore the report established the need to expand 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.

The city of El Cerrito is planning and searching for funds to develop the area around the station as a transit oriented development (TOD) similarly to other transit village, with the reservation that the development must be appropriately scaled.

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. 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

Buses

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, Suisun City) Golden Gate Transit (Contra Costa County: Point Richmond; Marin County: San Rafael) 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.

Station Area

The station is surrounded by many businesses, including the Del Norte Marketplace shopping center with Walgreens, IHOP, Dollar Tree, and Staples. 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 Honda dealership, Starbucks, Macdonald's, Louisiana Fried Chicken, Home Depot and local restaurants. To the south of the station lies an 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.

See also

• List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations

External links

• BART - El Cerrito del Norte Station Overview
• Friends of El Cerrito del Norte Community Organization website
• Transit unlimited profile