Station
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 and also 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 places 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.
Read more about this topic: El Cerrito Del Norte (BART Station)
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