Passenger Trains > Jack London Square/BART Connection

Thinking about a trip with the grandsons to the Bay Area this summer. If we stay near Jack London Square, what is the nearest/easiest BART Station?

We'd like to take the train up the coast from the LA Area, and tour San Francisco and UC Berkeley without having to Rent a Car. Return trip would be on San Joaquin to BFD and bus to LA.

Suggestions?

Oakland City Center/12th St. Station is not too far. There is a bus that originates at the Amtrak station and goes down Broadway, and it drops you off right at the BART station.

However, if the weather is good, you might try taking the ferry to San Francisco. The dock is at the north end of the pier, right behind Bevmo.

BART: Oakland 12th Street. About 12 blocks from JL Square; a few more blocks from the Amtrak station. There is bus service (AC Transit), but their timetables are works of fiction. If out at night, keep a heads-up walking in Oakland along Broadway.

BART can take you within blocks of UC Berkeley. Easy and quick on the Richmond trains from downtown Oakland. San Francisco service also excellent from the same station.

Ferryboats run between JL Square and Alameda to San Francisco. Lots of info about getting around here: http://www.transitinfo.org/

At the Square: Waterfront Plaza hotel has a 3-diamond AAA rating.
Jack London Inn: 2-diamond. Some UP crews stay there.
Executive Inn & Suites: 3-diamond; nice place. UP crews stay there and there is a courtesy shuttle (a mile or more from the Square).

http://www.jacklondonsquare.com/

Also, the Jack London Inn is the place where the crew from the California Zephyr stays. I've heard mixed reviews about that place. If it were me, I'd take the Waterfront Plaza over the JL Inn. You can walk to both places from OKJ though. A short taxi ride away is downtown Oakland with the usual assortment of hotels everywhere. I also recommend taking the ferry to San Francisco from Jack London Square. It's very simple. Once in SF, you'll be a few steps away from the F Line trolley which goes up and down The Embarcadero (including Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf). The F Line uses the old-fashioned restored cars but I forget what their technical name is. They're nice looking and fun to ride down The Embarcadero.

Not a pleasant walk in either direction from JLS, The bus or the ferry would be a better choice.


TCS - traffic and trouble

Lake Merritt BART station is closer to the Amtrak station than the 12st Station.

silagi Wrote:
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> Lake Merritt BART station is closer to the Amtrak
> station than the 12st Station.


Downtown Oakland is fairly safe during the daytime hours. Lake Merritt BART Station is closer to Amtrak, but the walk is not as heavily trafficked as the walk up Broadway, where the closest entrance to BART is at 11th Street (for the 12th Str. Station). Route 72 is the bus line from Amtrak to 12th St.; Route 51 goes to the UC Campus from 8th and Broadway.

I've done the walk from Jack London to Bart many times. No worse than most places in US Cities, and a lot better than trying to walk along most suburban wasteland boulevards. From the station a walk through the produce district is really interesting, but straight up Broadway is fine.

Just did this trip.

I would never detrain in Oakland...scared the living Hell out of me.

I would detrain in San Jose, and take Caltrain to San Francisco. Once there, you have streetcars, cable cars, light rail, heavy rail, and BART. Impressive city to say the least. If I was going and had to go to OKJ< I would cab it to the 12th street BART station, and then hitail it to SanFran. You walk Oakland at night, you are a bigger man than I.

It depends on what day of the week/time of day to decide to walk in Oakland. For me, I would never walk alone through the produce district which is basically adjacent to the Amtrak station. Scary place, especially at night. And on weekend nights, there are a few bars there that draw some scary crowds. OPD seems to patrol that area heavily on weekend nights. But during the daytime, I wouldn't have any issue at all walking through Jack London Square. Lots of business people around, tourists, shoppers, etc. Just take a taxi at night---there's usually one or two waiting at the depot when #14 eventually pulls in.

I've stayed at the Waterfront Plaza, nice place, should be able to get rooms with a view of the Bay if you book far enough in advance. At night, stay around the Square, it gets a little rough east, north and south of there. I also recommend the ferry, it drops you off at the end of Market St, then you can get trolley or bus connections to Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate, Baker Beach, Fort Point or you can walk and cover that entire area, but you'll be tired. Take the bus to go to Cliff House, Land's End and the Zoo. Both of these areas will take a day each to explore. Sea Cliff, where Robin Williams and others have digs, is between Baker Beach and Land's End. Long stretch of no restrooms, stores, etc, through there. Not much to see either, they have high walls around alot of the houses there. Wonder why that might be?

If you can, I do recommend going to Pt. Bonita and the other areas just north of the Golden Gate. There is lots to see and do there, but you do need a car. If you do drive there, take the Richmond - San Rafel Bridge and avoid the Bay Bridge. Less stressful, only around 15 miles more and from the Jack London area, when I worked for the Coast Guard, I beat another crew that left at the same time I did to the CG Station at the north end of the Golden Gate by a half hour becuase they got tied up in the Toll Plaza and City traffic. The Coasties at the station don't mind visitors either, just be polite and ask if you can look around, the entrance is at the front, by the Flags. They are Law Enforcement, so they might be toting guns if they're headed out on patrol, so don't be suprised, though the main mission of this station is Rescue, with 2 47' self-righting Surfboats assigned last I heard. They pick up lots of surfers and wind surfers in trouble in the Golden Gate and off the Ocean Beach/Lands End area.

Chief409

A note on the SF Muni "F" line-- It uses three basic classes of streetcars: "PCC cars", built in the late 1940's, sometimes called streamliners or Art Deco cars, they're in a multitude of paint jobs representing various cities; Peter Witt cars, built around 1928, which came from Milan, Italy, which are orange except for one in yellow; and other vintage cars from as far back as 1913, from various cities including one original Muni car (# 130). Check the Market Street Railway website for more details.

It never ceases to amaze me how much expertise, information, and willingness to share it is demonstrated in this group. I can't tell you all how many times you have come forward with all the necessary info to enhance a trip to somewhere for us---------and this thread is just one more stellar example!! Thanks to everyone for rising to the occasion to make Railrev's trip a great one!! and thanks once more for all the help you have given us in the past as well.
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

I wholeheartedly agree, Carol. Not only do I continue to learn and have fun with this hobby, but I've also made several new friends throughout the Amtrak system whom I've met at platforms to say hello, as well as being given a tour of "their" city. Lots of good folks here on TO.

> Executive Inn & Suites: 3-diamond; nice place. UP
> crews stay there and there is a courtesy shuttle
> (a mile or more from the Square).

When booking, ask for a room on the Estuary side, not the freeway side.

Once again, it's too bad a BART-Capitol Corridor connection closer than Richmond does not exist. If BART passed by the Emeryville Station, ridership to SF would surely be much higher.

avogel Wrote:
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> Once again, it's too bad a BART-Capitol Corridor
> connection closer than Richmond does not exist. If
> BART passed by the Emeryville Station, ridership
> to SF would surely be much higher.

And once again, their respective Coliseum stations are within a couple hundred yards of one another, connected by a walkway.

Coliseum is way out of the way!

Plus the Coast Starlight does not stop at Oakland Coliseum station.

Considering the Starlight used to stop at Richmond, its rather annoying it doesn't stop any BART station now.