New Bus Routes: More Buses to BART, No Transfers Needed on Site

The new year begins with a reshuffling of the Berkeley Lab shuttle bus schedules which should provide better and more service to Lab employees, both downtown and onsite. Bus Services acknowledges that the changes might be confusing at first, but it urges patience while both drivers and passengers get used to the system.

The primary benefit of the new system is that, for many people who ride the shuttles, the overall time to reach their buildings will be less than what they currently experience. That’s because they will no longer have to transfer to an on-site bus; both off-site routes travel through the Lab and can stop at most major locations.

Here are the major changes from the previous routes:

• Wait time for buses at most stops during the day goes from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. But many stops served by both off-site shuttles will see buses every 7.5 minutes.
• Two offsite buses now travel through the lab, in opposite directions, making stops at most major hubs before exiting for downtown.
• The former Hearst route (now orange) will return to the Lab via Gayley, Rimway and Centennial roads, rather than through the Blackberry Gate. It now enters at Strawberry and departs at Blackberry.
• The former Bancroft route (now blue) returns to the Lab via the Blackberry gate from Hearst Avenue and departs from Strawberry. The Bancroft buses, now running every 15 minutes, will also continue from West Campus Circle to the downtown BART station, adding two buses per hour to the BART destination (wait time: 7.5 minutes).
• The on-site bus (green) no longer serves the south end of the Hill (buildings 72, 62, 66, 67, 74, 83, 84 and 85) or the Strawberry Gate. Both off-site buses will serve this area, and the orange (Hearst) bus will stop at the 74/84 bus kiosk. On-site stops are also at 15-minute intervals.
• The terminus for the on-site bus will be the main Building 65 stop, with service to Building 77, the 69/75 kiosk at Grizzly Gate, the Building 71 complex, and Building 90.
• All three bus routes have common stops at the 50 complex, the cafeteria, and Building 48 (the fire house).
• Two buses will serve each off-site route, leaving every 15 minutes and completing their circuits in 30 minutes.

Here are the route characteristics that will not change:

• Bus stop locations
• The Rockridge bus schedule

Transportation Services has now published an arrival schedule for all stops on all three new routes, available in the cafeteria lobby or online here.

The new system adds two more buses going through the Lab to the BART station, now totaling eight per hour (pick-ups every 7.5 minutes). Also, many of the bus passengers who utilize the system for their daily commute will not need to transfer to an on-site bus to get to and from their buildings. And the Lab will save overhead funds that can be used by scientific divisions in their research.

Passengers should make sure they board the correct bus – color-coded by route – if they are going to a particular part of downtown. For example, only the blue buses serve the Bancroft area. However, all off-site buses serve all stops through the Lab upon their return to the Hill. And all off-site buses – blue and orange – service the Hearst Avenue, Milvia and Center Street stops. At the top of Hearst Avenue, the orange route heads north to campus and returns via the Strawberry gate, and the blue route heads east, up the hill to the Blackberry gate.

The on-site (green) bus will be synchronized with the blue off-site bus at Building 65, where transfers can be made to places like the 90 complex, Building 71, and Buildings 69 and 75. They will connect every 15 minutes.