AC Transit Announces the Roll-Out of the East Bay's First Ever Dedicated Red Transit-Only Lane

The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, in partnership with the city of Berkeley, is excited to announce the completion of the East Bay’s first ever dedicated public transit-only lane on Bancroft Way. Known as the Bancroft West Pilot, this three block long transit-only lane assumes the curbside lane between Dana and Fulton Streets northbound. The transit-only lane is painted red as a strong visual cue for a motorist and cyclist to avoid traveling in this lane. The Bancroft West Pilot is the first phase in a series of streets and infrastructure improvements under development by the City of Berkeley. In this iteration, the transit-only lane is designed to make AC Transit service through the southside of UC Berkeley faster and more reliable for riders. Additionally, a fully protected two-way cycle track — to improve bicyclist safety to Southside and the U.C. Berkeley campus — will operate on the reverse side of the street and runs parallel to the designated public transit-only lane.

“The transit-only lane embodies the city of Berkeley’s Complete Streets Policy,” said Mayor Jesse Arreguin. “This pilot transit-only lane incorporates thoughtful design, considerable public input including local business interest and leaders in accessible bikeways and streets. Best of all, the cost of installation is minimal but the lane’s safety benefit to Berkeley’s pedestrians, cyclist, seniors, and motorist is immeasurable.”

The transit-only pilot will enable the city of Berkeley to both monitor and then analyze the lane’s benefits and tradeoffs. In fact, Bancroft West is the first of a three-phase project, which will represent over $6 million in infrastructure improvements for the city of Berkeley. This first-ever designated transit-only lane will narrow Bancroft Way to two lanes of travel for cars with an ultimate goal to control speed.
“Red transit-only lanes were piloted in San Francisco several years ago and resulted in a travel time improvement of up to 27 percent for their public transit system, said AC Transit Board of Directors President, Elsa Ortiz. “AC Transit is hoping to mirror that reliability for the 10,000 trips our riders take within the Southside area.”

The Bancroft West transit-only pilot will also realize other demonstrable safety improvements including upright delineators that separate motorist from an all-new green high-visibility cycle track, new continental crosswalks at major intersections and midblock and new placements of AC Transit bus stops. The totality of this design will facilitate the safer movement of pedestrians, motorist, cyclist and buses on Bancroft Way.

“The transit-only lanes are proven passive enforcement in cities where they are deployed, but our focus is long-term safety of the 10,000 people who ride AC Transit through Berkeley’s Southside each day,” said AC Transit General Manager, Michael Hursh. “Our research found where installed, the painted lanes have proven to reduce collisions, risky driving behavior, dramatically reduces the risk of cars merging into the bus and will diminish motorists suddenly stopping in front of a bus to parallel park.”

There will be minor alterations to street parking. Along Dana Street, on-street parking has been shifted to allow for the installation of the upright delineators for the new cycle track. Street parking, removed on the north side of Bancroft Way between Dana and Fulton Streets, may be relocated to Durant Street with phase two of the Southside Plan. In fact, a similar pilot in the city of San Francisco did not reduce the supply of parking in neighborhoods but instead expanded parking by shortening the commercial loading hours. An equally impressive finding is that transit-only pilots have not increased the delay for motorists.

“Achieving this innovative milestone within District 7 was truly a team effort,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. “I want to thank our residents for their steadfast support, Bike East Bay, the Telegraph Business Improvement District, our forward thinking Mayor and the collective Public Works staff all of whom diligently marshalled this pilot to its installation.”

There will be slight alterations to AC Transit bus stops. The bus stop at Bancroft Way and Dana Street has been relocated about 250 feet west toward Ellsworth Street. The transit-only pilot project will also improve the rider experience, speed and reliability for the following AC Transit bus Lines: 6, 36, 51B, 52, 79, 604, 605, 851, and F.