Is Coliseum the Bay Area’s worst transit connection?
While Amtrak and BART run parallel to each other for almost 30 miles in the East Bay, there are only two stations where passengers can actually make a transfer between the two systems - Richmond and Coliseum. For many riders traveling between the South Bay and the East Bay, transferring at Coliseum is the more logical connection. Sadly, what could be a simple walk from one station to another ends up taking over five minutes and is filled with hazards and inconveniences, discouraging transit use. As our recent video shows, it is all too clear from start to finish of the journey that not only was the user experience of making this transfer never considered, but also user safety was given almost no thought.
The Amtrak platform is connected to BART by an elevated walkway, which also serves as the access route to the Coliseum stadium and the Oracle Arena. While just below the grade of the BART platform, there is no easy, direct access to the walkway. Instead, you are required to go all the way down to ground level, exit the BART fare gates, then walk across and back up two flights of stairs to begin the overhead journey toward the Amtrak station. While there are escalators, they are almost never running – on the day we filmed our journey, the lower escalator was blocked by a shopping cart.
Once up above on the walkway, you will first notice fumes wafting about from the adjacent heavy industrial uses; then you are funneled into what feels like, at best, a cattle corral, and at worst, the perimeter of a maximum-security facility. Fencing not only lines the walkway vertically but also curves over to almost fully enclose you in a sort of chain link tunnel. No doubt conceived of as a way to deter people from throwing things off the side, the result is a space that feels completely unsafe. The lack of sight lines from multiple angles and the cage-like nature of the space makes you feel as if no one would see you if a crime were committed.
The six switchback ramps connecting the elevated walkway to the Coliseum Amtrak station add an additional two minutes to the transfer time when connecting to BART. There is no elevator or stair.
While it only takes about two minutes to cross the 560-foot walkway, it feels much longer. To add insult to this already humiliating transfer, just when you think you are almost at the Amtrak station, with the tracks below in sight, you realize that you are only still halfway there. Because there is no simple staircase - let alone an escalator or an elevator - for getting down to the platform, riders are forced to traverse a long series of dark concrete switchback ramps. In total the ramps add an additional 560 feet, or two additional minutes to this transfer - about the same amount of time as it took to cross the walkway all the way from the BART station. Countless people transferring here have no doubt experienced the panic of seeing their arriving Amtrak train from the elevated walkway, followed by frantically running down the ramps to make the connection, arriving moments too late as their train to Sacramento or San Jose is pulling away, with the next train not for over an hour. They could well have made their connection had a simple staircase been provided.
Beyond the inconvenience, the switchback ramps are potentially the most unsafe-feeling part of the transfer, as they are dark and completely cut-off from any outside view. Once you are down on the Amtrak platform, there isn’t a station house, attendant, or any security to be seen.
The real shame of the Coliseum BART-Amtrak connection is that the location is one of the most multimodal of all the existing BART stations, connecting not only the Amtrak link but also the Oakland Airport Connector. Add in the numerous bus lines that go to and from the station, and the park-and-ride lot, and you have the component parts of a proper transit hub. Yet its design gives it the sense of being anything but.
In the same way that the newly released plan for Downtown Oakland disappointingly missed an opportunity to connect BART and Amtrak into a regional hub, Coliseum BART is yet another example of a lack of foresight and true vision on the part of transit agencies and city leaders to integrate existing transportation systems, so that they can link seamlessly together. It is also another glaring example of how our transit systems and their designs fail to treat every user of the system as a valued customer and human being.
Given the current traffic woes of the Bay, it should not be that difficult to provide a transit experience that is a compelling alternative to driving. But with major regional transit transfer hubs as unpleasant and arduous a Coliseum, combined with the lack of any kind of fare discount for transferring between the two systems, it’s no wonder so many people continue to choose to drive.