A. BART AND BOB
For our BEST OF THE BAY ride, you can easily do the whole thing without a car at all. However, if you are driving we recommend that you drive to the Fremont Central Park and leave your car there. Then at the end of the ride your car will be there waiting for you, especially if you want to change clothes, stow the bike, etc. For those who choose to do this, we will meet you at Fremont BART in the morning with your BART ticket and route information sheets to read on your way. Also, if you get there at around 5:40 AM you will find the whole empty train waiting at the platform, giving you plenty of time to find good positions and spread all the bicycles around multiple cars.
When you arrive at Orinda BART on ride-day, you simply ride 1/4 mile North to our Registration table at the Orinda Community Park. There, we will have people to watch your bicycle, restrooms, and plenty of energy foods and drinks. Note that the BART trip from Fremont to Orinda requires that you transfer, preferably at MacArthur Station, to an Orinda train. If you transfer at MacArthur, then you will simply walk across the platform right into the other train - no waiting and no searching for the correct train. Also, you should make sure you board a Richmond train at Fremont; because if you board a San Francisco train then you will have to transfer twice instead of once. Be sure to use the stairs (carefully - bike shoes make it dicey), and help by holding each other's bikes when going through the turnstiles/emergency gates. There are bathrooms at the park, so you don't need to use the BART restrooms.
Here are the times of the Richmond BART trains leaving Fremont Saturday morning:
The earliest train begins at:
| Station | Times |
|---|---|
LEAVE FREMONT: |
5:50 AM |
ARRIVE MACARTHUR: |
6:34 AM |
DEPART MACARTHUR: |
6:54 AM |
ARRIVE ORINDA: |
7:02 AM |
The last train begins at:
| Station | Times |
|---|---|
LEAVE FREMONT: |
7:50 AM |
ARRIVE MACARTHUR: |
8:34 AM |
DEPART MACARTHUR: |
8:54 AM |
ARRIVE ORINDA: |
9:02 AM |
Please refer to www.BaRT.gov for additional train times
If you plan on riding the additional Orinda loop, please arrive at registration by 7:45 AM to allow enough time to reach the rest stops, during their hours of operation.
Here are links to station maps and driving directions:
BART MAPS:
CHERRY CITY MAPS:
DRIVING DIRECTIONS:
Or, you can click here to see all the BART train times:
If you are going to drive to Orinda in the morning and BART back from Fremont in the afternoon, please park in the East BART parking lot (East of Camino Pablo Avenue). There are plenty of parking spots there that BART has OK'd for us, whereas on the street near the Community Park there is very limited and controlled parking.
B. BOB's BAG TRANSPORT
We will be providing a special bag-transport vehicle from Orinda to the Sweet Tomatoes restaurant, so if you have any clothes or other items you wish to have waiting for you at the end of the ride, bring them to Orinda and we will get them to the finish for you.
C. GENERAL NOTES ABOUT BIKING AND BART
A lot of us in the bay area realize that BART is a valuable resource for bike riders, offering a far greater range of ride opportunities with little extra effort. You can simply ride up and get on board, and take it anywhere in the bay area it extends to (p.s. the VTA rail system in San Jose is another excellent addition to your bicycle rides).
Here are a few tips and notes that will make any biking with BART journey as pleasurable and as simple as possible.
1. Avoid using BART during the weekday commute hours. Weekends are especially good, since there are relatively few people on the trains – more room for bikes. While you can fit up to ten or more bikes in one car, it is preferable for all involved if you can spread the bikes out to around six per car.
2. Use a credit card to buy your tickets, looking up the exact amount posted right on each ticket machine. Then you will avoid having left-over BART tickets, and an excess of quarters in change, and it is just plain easier and faster. Another new alternative if you use BART more than occasionally is to get one of the new BART EZRIDER cards (they work like FASTPASS; you will never have to use a ticket machine again) -- click here for more information.
3. Always transfer, if necessary, at a designated “Transfer Station” – MacArthur is the best when traveling from Fremont to Orinda. This will save you much time and effort, and instead make it quite simple. The other train is almost always waiting right there across the platform; you simply wheel out of one and straight across into the other train.
4. At the turnstiles simply lean your bike close to the “emergency” gate, go through using your ticket in the normal way, then return through the emergency gate and take your bike through that gate.
5. BART RULES: Do not take your bike on the first car (an anti-terrorist issue of some sort); Do not take your bike on the escalators (they do enforce that). Either the stairs or elevators are OK to use (of course you must be very careful on those stairs in your bike shoes!). There are also general BART rules to avoid taking your bike onto cars that are full and crowded, and onto certain trains during certain specified commute hours.
