What You Need to Know About This Weekend's Transbay BART Closure

BART is encouraging people to plan ahead for the Labor Day weekend's transbay BART closure, which will take place Saturday, Sunday and Monday. BART will not run trains between West Oakland and Embarcadero stations in order to repair old sections of the Transbay Tube. Here's what you need to know about this weekend's closure.

All stations will remain open except West Oakland

BART will be doing maintenance near West Oakland Station on tracks that are more than 40 years old. Despite significant delays expected on the roads, BART Assistant General Manager for Operations Paul Oversier said in a statement that these repairs simply cannot be avoided.

Train service will be more frequent, customers still encouraged to 'stay local' 

BART says train service in the East Bay, the West Bay and the Peninsula will be more frequent than during a typical weekend. Trains will run in the East Bay every 10-20 minutes. There will also be fewer rides requiring transfers.

Free 'lifeline' bus service between Oakland and San Francisco

BART says this bus is intended for people "with no other transportation options." If you are headed to San Francisco from the East Bay, you can board the bus from the 19th street BART Station in Oakland. Buses will leave about every 90 seconds. If you are heading to the East Bay from San Francisco, you can board the bus from the temporary Transbay Terminal at Howard and Main streets, two blocks from the Embarcadero BART Station. Customers should expect delays of up to two hours. 

And … Billy Joel's in town, too

About 50,000 people are expected to see the Piano Man in concert at AT&T Park on Saturday night. If you simply cannot avoid travel from the East Bay into San Francisco on Saturday, SFMTA advises motorists to avoid the Bay Bridge and downtown San Francisco two hours before and after the event.  The concert will take place from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

AC Transit, Muni Service Changes

Some AC Transit bus stops will be shifted, and Lines O and F will also be detoured. Read the full AC Transit notice.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said the Billy Joel concert, Muni's holiday schedule and various construction projects should factor into people's transit plans: "With impacts to Muni, BART and traffic, this is a chance to take advantage of the final days of summer and walk, bike or take the bus where you need to go." A full list of advisories can be found online.

The San Francisco Bay Ferry will provide additional service between Alameda, Oakland and San Francisco, One extra ferry is also being  added each day to the Vallejo/San Francisco route.

Regular BART service is set to resume Tuesday at 4 a.m. The closure this weekend follows a similar closure that occurred in early August.