New bus
services link UC Berkeley with Rockridge BART, encouraging commuters
to leave cars at home
29
Jan 2001
By
Marie Felde, Media Relations
Berkeley
- The University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory have teamed up with AC Transit
and the City of Berkeley in a new pilot program to help relieve
traffic congestion in the city and promote the use of public
transit.
Beginning
Monday, Jan. 29, UC Berkeley faculty, staff and students and
laboratory employees will be able to use Berkeley Lab's free
shuttle service in the morning between the campus and the
Rockridge BART station. They also will be able to ride AC
Transit's regular bus service linking the campus and the station
for free.
"This expanded
service is another step in our ongoing efforts to help reduce
traffic on city streets and ease the demand for parking. Thanks
to terrific cooperation, we are able to offer a convenient
alternative to campus commuters that also promises to be a
real benefit to southside residents," said Chancellor Robert
M. Berdahl.
Berkeley
City Councilmember Polly Armstrong, whose council district
includes both the campus and the laboratory, played a key
role in getting the shuttle realized. Thanks to her initiative,
the parties have signed a memorandum of understanding for
a five-month pilot program.
"We all
share a common interest in improving gridlock in south of
campus. I'm excited to bring this group together for what
I hope will be a helpful solution," said Armstrong.
Berkeley
Lab Director Charles Shank noted that the laboratory's agreement
to invite UC Berkeley riders to share the lab's popular Rockridge
BART shuttle during the morning commute "extends our own commitment
to alternative transportation options, which over the years
has included a successful shuttle bus system between downtown
Berkeley and the laboratory."
After a
five-month trial, the service will be evaluated to determine
whether it will be modified or continued, said Nadesan Permaul,
UC Berkeley's director of transportation. The campus's Office
of Parking and Transportation is coordinating the new services
with Berkeley Lab and AC Transit.
Both Permaul
and Armstrong said they are hopeful the Rockridge shuttle
will be as successful as the Class Pass program initiated
in fall 1999. That resulted from similarly cooperative efforts
between the campus, Armstrong and AC Transit and allows UC
Berkeley students free rides on all AC Transit routes by paying
$18 a year in additional registration fees.
As with
the Class Pass, riders will need to show proper identification.
For students, it will be their student ID with a Class Pass
sticker. Faculty and staff will need to show their UC Berkeley
employee photo ID.
In the
morning, faculty, staff and students coming from the Rockridge
BART station have the option of using the Berkeley Lab's direct
shuttle bus or AC Transit's #64 bus to the campus. In the
afternoon, the return trip is limited to the AC Transit service.
Both buses offer schedules to get passengers to the campus
in 15 minutes and pick up commuters directly under the BART
station on College Avenue.
Berkeley
Lab's service runs from 6:35 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. every 30 to
40 minutes. The lab's bus will drop passengers off in front
of International House, at the top of Bancroft Way at Piedmont
Avenue.
The AC
Transit bus runs weekdays between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. at 15-minute
intervals. It stops at Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue near
the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.
"Line 64
buses offer sufficient capacity so that faculty and staff,
just like UC students, can avoid driving in the south campus
area," said Rick Fernandez, AC Transit's general manager.
###
NOTE:
For more information on the service, visit www.berkeley.edu/transportation
Photo
IDs for faculty and staff
.
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