Emery-Go-Round to West Oakland BART Poll

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Emery-Go-Round to West Oakland BART service would save SF commuters anywhere from 25-45 minutes of round-trip commute time … but is this something that the community wants? Is it even feasible? Would it require contributions from the West Oakland Business Community or additional revenue from Emeryville businesses and residents? There are a lot of questions to ask but I think we need to get the conversation started!

This poll is now closed. The results are embed below.


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I intend to approach the transportation committee with this poll data to help aid in their decision-making (FTR: I personally commute to DT Oakland so this service would not effect me personally). If you have any comments to add to this poll, please use the Facebook or WordPress commenting feature below! If you would like your comment to be private, please email us.

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Rob Arias

is a third generation Californian and East Bay native who lived in Emeryville from 2003 to 2021. Rob founded The E'ville Eye in 2011 after being robbed at gunpoint and lamenting the lack of local news coverage. Rob's "day job" is as a creative professional.

20 Comments

  1. Fucking Ridiculous idea. The current system is marginal at best. Arrival times at macarthur get stretched out in the evening. Expanding or revising service would exacerbate the problem. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in that hell-hole they call west oakland!!!!

  2. Thanks for the opinion CK (I may have to censor the F-Bomb when I compile the comments, hope you don’t mind ;). West Oakland BART I know doesn’t have a great rep (you can’t even get a cab there, huh?). So do we just “concede” this station to the thugs and live in fear? or do we reclaim it for the people?

    • Try waiting down there at 9:30 in the evening. Oops maybe you ran a little late and now egr isn’t running and no cabs available. So you wanna hoof it to emeryville? You can have that cesspool of a community for all I care.

      Also you’ve just laid a conduit for crime to come into emeryville. Hey just hop on egr and it will take you to a target rich environment. Take a look where the source of the problem is (I.e., a lot of the crime that occurs in San Francisco has its sources from west oakland). Until you crack down on it there, it isn’t a good idea.

      • Well a limited run during the day might be helpful for those commuting to San Francisco and you could always go to MacArthur if they kept the existing service. Btw, I thought criminals were lazy.. Do criminals get up for the 6:30 am commute? Just wondering…

      • I live in west Oakland because I don’t have a cush job and live in Eville, I don’t consider myself a waste of a community…you need a reality check. We have some great folks here in west Oakland not everyone is a thug. I resent your attitude for something that may help people get around safer than now.

      • Hey Val. CK is entitled to his opinion but please don’t think his represents all of Emeryville. I know E’ville has a perception as well but it doesn’t apply to all of us. We’re just hard working people who have high expectations and want to get stuff done. Thanks for chiming in!

  3. Again, I’d hate for our fear of West Oakland to be the biggest factor here. MacArthur ain’t no picnic either and I think the shuttle service established there has made it more highly trafficked and thus safer. Hopefully EGR could do the same for W.Oak. I hardly think the criminals of West Oakland have been avoiding us thus far because of lack of public transportation!

  4. I live in West Oakland. Plenty of us are not thugs and are working hard to improve this challenged but promising community. So CK, keep your haughty attitude in your soulless mall of a “town.” I just shop there, and I think Emeryville’s great if that’s your scene, although those of us who live in Oakland and Berkeley subsidize your libertarian paradise with our sales tax dollars. Talk about corporate welfare. You’re welcome.

    I’ve lived in West Oakland for 6 years and while I was admittedly nervous at first, I’ve had some great experiences and never feel threatened. You just have to use some street smarts.

    I’m sure you’re too busy eating at PF Chang’s and cowering from Oakland’s “thugs” at Pottery Barn to ever come out and see your neighbors in West Oakland.

    Incidentally, West Oakland has a population of only about 50,000 and while I’m sure we have an above-average number of residents engaged in crime, I think this is also the case in many East Bay communities. And unlike some of those communities, West Oakland is moving slowly but surely in a positive direction – in fact, we’re following the path trailblazed for us by Emeryville, which was known as the the biggest cesspool of crime and and pollution on the West Coast as recently as 1980.

    Furthermore, I think a lot of the crime in San Francisco originates in SF’s own rougher neighborhoods like the Tenderloin and the Bayview.

    I think any kind of high-frequency transit routing from West Oakland to MacArthur along Mandela or Adeline is a fantastic idea that will be extremely handy and practical for residents of both West Oakland and Emeryville and will reduce car use in both communities. In fact, some dreamers have talked about running a streetcar along Mandela. We could start with a bus rapid transit line.

  5. Thanks for weighing in Mark. A little “friendly rivalry” between neighbors is fun but we both know our fates are intertwined and I think we both understand that the better West Oakland does, the better it is for our community. I know West Oakland has unique challenges. I think if this is to ever happen where there are stops along Mandela thus benefitting the West Oakland Community, we would need buy-in from West Oakland businesses like Granite Expo, PS Print, BSK, etc. I really think this would benefit the business community of this corridor. Spread the word if you think this is an idea that more West Oakland residents & businesses have an opinion on.

  6. Hey neighbors! I live in the Christie Core and currently I use EGR to the MacArthur station. I also bike down Mandela to the West Oakland station every now and again. I’d very much like to see a pilot “express” EGR up and down Mandela, say during the morning from 7am–9am and the afternoon from 5pm-7pm. EGR already has that Watergate Express and Hollis Express so let’s do this!

    Finally, let’s keep respect for all our neighbors. Not everyone is a ‘thug’ or up to crime no matter if it’s West Oakland, South Berkeley or along San Pablo avenue, 40th avenue, etc.

  7. Thanks Angel (And thanks for contributing to getting this blog going!). This blog needs more people like yourself. Thanks!

  8. Charming.
    Bitching about a free ride.
    No one would make you ‘be stuck’ in West Oakland. You’re not being forced to take the potential shuttle route.
    Stick to your other free route…and stay classy.

  9. Amazing website, overall. I’ve lived in Emeryville (1400 block) for three years. My first look at the Eville-eye blog has provided more information than anyplace else I’ve looked. For example, the piece on the connector from 40th street to the new Bay Bridge. Plus all the generous credit given to all who have worked on that.

    Re: the dialogue above — about 80% of the population is fundamentally fear-based. In the case of males (I am one) — that fear is unacceptable to express or even admit, so it gets churned into outrage and rants. Ho Hum. (As a former shrink, I say: “Everyone: do the work on your childhoods and get over your unreasoning, learned fears”). And, that’s not to say that bad folks aren’t out there, but FEAR magnetizes disasters into one’s life. Oops. The other, balanced and rational comments in the blog (regarding the EGR possibly going to West Oakland BART) are all breaths of fresh air. Thanks for this very cool new (to me) resource.

    • Thank you for your kind words here Berkeley. The audience has been a slow build but I finally feel we’re working toward something and generating dialogue which is the intent. I echo your sentiment regarding fear and its effects. Thanks for finding us and please help spread the word!

  10. I have known Emeryville since 1962 and lived there since 1968. I have also ventured in West
    Oakland over the years without any incident ( crime ) worth reporting. If you adapt and respect
    the culture of the West Oakland folks, there is NO fear to be worry about. I think the media
    picks and exaggerates what ever happens in West Oakland. Have a friendly attitude and say
    hello to anyone looking at you helps a lot. Just try and see that people are as nice as they can
    be. You gain nothing in looking down or ignoring those who see you as an invader in their
    territory as tourist or visiting the old Oakland houses some of whom have been brought down
    because of local economy and economic opportunities NOT because its inhabitant wrecks them on purpose to make what you then would call them ” blight “.
    Go help them, show you care, know them as your friends then you’ll experience a friendly West-Oakland, those folks would be flattered you come to their place as a choice area to commute.

  11. I’m all for helping West Oak in the process of weeding out the criminal element. If I can help do that by simply taking BART from there instead of MacArthur that’s all the better. I initially thought that I’d rather just stick with egr to/from MacArthur but I suppose overall trip length would shorten with egr service to West Oak even if it is a little longer bus ride. More service to the people more ways is a benefit. If it can happen while still keeping egr fare free then lets do it.

    OP – maybe an interesting question for the poll would be something along the lines of “Would you be in favor of a egr paid fare service option to West Oakland”

  12. Thanks Reggie, the paid model is an interesting take (and one I’m wondering if they are considering). Perhaps residents & employees would be given fastrak cards. I wonder how Bay St. Would feel about this and if this would be a deterrent from shoppers using EGR. I may post in a future poll.

  13. Again with the EBOTS: as it’s being conducted, there’s also an ABAG study going on to examine how all this mess can be coordinated within the PDA (Primary Development Area) that is pretty much West Oakland with little bits of Emeryville here and there (plus some Jack London plus the Army Base plus maybe some of the Bridge?).

    Then there’s the WOSP (West Oakland Specific Plan) and its supposed-to-be inclusion of the Army Base Transportation Plan and some other stuff having to do with the Port. Most people would assume that all of this transportation mess would welcome some sort of coordinating body to ensure that BART was speaking to Emeryville and Oakland to MTC and ACTC to ABAG and everything as going to turn out just peachy. Yes?

    Don’t bet on it unless there’s a specific leader somewhere in this process who will absolutely demand it and not give up the gavel the very minute he or she gets what they want for their community and to hell with the rest. Fact is, thugs included, we’re all here compressed into a geographic area at the foot of the Bay Bridge with a couple of BART stations that need to be better connected so that the economic corridor from Emeryville all the way down to Jack London can begin to change the dynamic of the part of the East Bay, no matter where the artificially constructed lines of one municipality happen to intersect with those of another.

    If we just take a peek at what the few years ahead will bring, we’ll see fleets of driverless shuttles plying their way around this area like the old ant farm you used have as a kid. They’ll be summoned by your cellphone and come right to where you’re standing or where your Aunt Minnie is waiting over at the Senior Center or your friend’s sister is just coming off BART and because she called, knowing that her ACTransit hookup wasn’t for another hour. DRT (Demand Response Transit) will be here before you know it, sure as Google made little green apps – or is in the process of…

    With such new mobility, commerce increases (Commerce = Transportation x Productivity), business expands, unemployment drops, thugs convert and communities stabilize. Everyone’s happy because the near-inconquerable snakeball of bureaucratic intrigue has been thwarted – not for long, mind you, but for a brief breath of fresh air and regeneration of our always-bridled, blindered and branded economy.

  14. […] this could be decades away. The city seems to be ignoring the data we’ve provided them that 73% of Emery Go-Round users would be more likely to use it if it went to West Oakland BART. This could be implemented much sooner if the city was more motivated. How about the long-term idea […]

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