All Nighter
Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALL : All Nighter
The All Nighter is a night bus network of service in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, which shadows the rapid transit and commuter rail services of the BART System (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and Caltrain, the major rail services between San Francisco, the East Bay and the San Francisco Peninsula. BART and Caltrain do not run at night; the All Nighter network is used to fill this gap while still allowing the night hours for track maintenance on the rail systems. Their slogan is, "Now transit stays up as late as you do!"
History
The service launched initially in December 2005, and fully launched in March 2006. BART and Caltrain riders who previously were left stranded after the transit service closed at midnight can now take advantage of new All Nighter buses that operate between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.The service is operated by AC Transit, Muni, Samtrans, County Connection and WHEELS. The agencies have created a network of timed transfers as well as new weekend service every half hour from downtown San Francisco to BART stations along the Richmond and Fremont lines. AC Transit has an 800 route that travels down Market Street and around downtown San Francisco, within walking distance of more than 75 late-night venues, before heading over to the East Bay. It's the first time AC has run buses in San Francisco beyond the Transbay Terminal.
The All Nighter service also includes a late-night line run by County Connection, the 820, to central Contra Costa County, and a new 810 WHEELS line between the Bay Fair BART station and Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton.
The service is funded by Regional Measure 2, which voters approved in 2004. The measure increased tolls by $1 on state-owned bridges in the Bay Area.
Service
The service to Contra Costa & Alameda Counties (including Alameda, Berkeley, Fremont, Hayward, Oakland, Richmond and San Leandro) is mainly provided by AC Transit; this includes Transbay service to and from San Francisco over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. However, County Connection serves Oakland, Concord, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek; additionally, WHEELS serves Hayward, Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore.For the West Bay and South Bay, service is provided by the San Francisco Municipal Railway in San Francisco, SamTrans in San Mateo County, and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in Santa Clara County (including Silicon Valley). SamTrans and VTA provide service along the Caltrain rail corridor between San Francisco and San Jose. The service aims to provide a way for people to not be stranded for missing the last BART or Caltrain trains which leave around midnight, and also to provide an alternative to those who go out at night, especially to drink (in the hopes of reducing drunk driving and providing more options for those without a designated driver or who do not own cars. It also provides non-auto transport for those who work at night.
The service runs hourly Tuesday through Friday early in the morning (Monday through Thursday nights) approximately from Midnight to 5 AM. Service on Saturday through Monday early mornings (Friday through Sunday nights) runs every half-hour between Midnight and 7 AM Saturday and 9 AM Sunday. Since each bus is coordinated by its own transit provider and [511.org]'s trip planner does not work for trips beginning and ending on either side of 4 AM, it is advisable to plan trips on the All-Nighter Network by hand. Furthermore, travel between San Jose and Fremont or the environs of either is lengthy; a considerable defect in the Network is present in that there is no night bus service between the two.
Transfer Points
So-called pulse transfer points are points where schedules are coordinated to facilitate transfer between All-Nighter Network lines. The main such point is in Downtown Oakland were the Bay Bridge (AC Transit) 800 service meets up with (County Connection) service along the BART line to Pittsburg/Bay Point, and service that shadows the BART line to Fremont station. Another important transfer point is the one at Bay Fair BART Station where those who transferred at Oakland towards Fremont can again transfer to WHEELS service along the BART line towards Dublin/Pleasanton and along I-580 to Livermore. A pulse point in San Francisco is at the Transbay Terminal for transfer between Muni, SamTrans and AC Transit services.Downtown Oakland Pulse Transfer Point
- 800
- 801
- 802
- 805
- 820
- 851
All Nighter & other owl routes
L Owl
(SF Muni) The L Taraval Muni Metro line provides 24-hour service in the Twin Peaks Tunnel as far as West Portal Station before turning off on Taraval Street towards the San Francisco Zoo.
N Owl
(SF Muni) The N Judah Muni Metro line, the busiest in the system, has 24-hour service on the Judah Street corridor, including service to the University of California, San Francisco, and on the Embarcadero towards the Caltrain terminal at Fourth and King. Upon completion of the Third Street Light Rail Project, the proposed T-Third extension of the K Ingleside line may eventually receive 24-hour service depending on need; in any case the N Judah will reach Third and Mariposa in the Mission Bay district.
- *22 [Route 22 Website]
91 Owl
((SF) Muni) A loop around San Francisco running every 90 minutes. Riders usually complain that to get to where they want that they have, "Got to go everywhere, to get where I'm Goin'".
- *376 North Richmond Night [Route 376 Homepage]
- *397/297 [Routes 397/297 Webpage]
- *800 Transbay [Route 800 website]
Runs along Market Street in San Francisco; 13th Street, Broadway, and Telegraph in Oakland; Ashby, Adeline, Shattack, and University in Berkeley; San Pablo Avenue in Albany and El Cerrito; and finally MacDonald Avenue in Richmond.
- *801 International-Mission [Route 801 Homepage]
- *802 San Pablo Ave [Route 802 Homepage]
- *805 MacArthur-Airport [Route 805 Homepage]
- *810 East Avenue [Route 810 Homepage]
- *820 [Route 820 Homepage]
- *840 Foothill [Route 840 Homepage]
- *851 Broadway [Route 851 Homepage]
Lack of service
There is no night service to Marin County by Golden Gate Transit, or to northwestern Contra Costa County in the WestCAT service area. There is a similar lack of service in far eastern Contra Costa County in the Tri-Delta Transit service area, and there is no service along the Interstate 80 corridor of Vallejo Transit in Solano County. One of the worst gaps in the system, and the only gap preventing the circumnavigation of the bay, is the lack of service between Fremont and San Jose. Similarly, there is no service along I-680 between Walnut Creek and Dublin. Additionally, there is no Highway 17 Express service to Santa Cruz and there is no service along highway one between Daly City and Half Moon Bay. There is also no service between San Joaquin County (Stockton, Tracy) or Stanislaus County (Los Baños, Modesto) and the WHEELS service area. There is also no service acrross the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge between 12:30 AM and 05:00 AM or the Dumbarton and San Mateo Bridges.See also
- AC Transit (AC Transit or The AC bus)
- San Francisco Municipal Railway (The Muni)
- Central Contra Costa Transportation Authority (The County Connection)
- Livermore-Amador Valley Transportation Authority (WHEELS)
- Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (Valley Transportation Authority or VTA)
- Vallejo Transit
- Tri-Delta Transit
External links
- ()[All-Nighter Network page]
- ()[511 general regional transit information]
- ()["'All Nighter' Closes the Late-Night Gap in Regional Transit Service" AC Transit News Article]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.