Photo: Eric Fischer/Flickr
In an encouraging departure from past priorities, BART’s Board on July 27 voted against a parking garage, and in favor of better bike access. In doing so, BART showed they mean to follow their new policies to prioritize walking, transit and bicycling access to stations and be fiscally responsible when it comes to car parking. It was a close 5-4 vote of the board and Bike East Bay’s advocacy played a key role to support, with our own board member and Dublin resident Kristi Marleau the final public speaker urging protected bike lanes on Dublin Blvd, her daily bike commute route.
After BART staff had taken a very close look at how to improve access to the East Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station, they proposed a plan to better manage hundreds of existing surface parking spaces around the station, at a fraction of the cost of a new $40 million garage, and to prioritize bicycling and walking improvements.
“More, quicker, cheaper. How often do I get to support a project like this?”, said BART Board Chair Rebecca Saltzman, referring to staff’s innovative proposal. The plan will provide more parking spaces and do so much faster than building a new garage.
As a result, much-needed improvements are closer to being built, including protected bike lanes on Dublin Blvd, a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Dublin Blvd, and a bike parking station. Bike East Bay will be meeting soon with Dublin Public Works to begin designs for protected bike lanes on Dublin Blvd.
You can help by sending a quick email of to your BART Director:
Board@bart.gov
These BART Directors supported the motion:
Robert Raburn
Rebecca Saltzman
Joel Keller
Nick Josefowitz
Bevin Duffy
and these BART Directors voted for a parking garage. Let them know you feel the responsible action was taken to prioritize bike access:
Lateefah Simon
Deborah Allen
Tom Blalock
John McPartland