On Monday, we showed you the parking situation at the BART station on Oakland Ave. in Concord. There are thousands of empty spots in the parking garage and the two adjacent parking lots. Before COVID, the lots and garage were all full before 8 a.m., but now, it’s a whole different story.
The same thing can be seen at the Pleasant Hill BART station, where weeds and random bushes are growing in the parking lot that borders the station and the garage. The lot is for permit use only before 10 a.m., and after 10 a.m., anyone can park there. However, as you can see, the lot is almost empty.
The Pleasant Hill BART garage isn’t too different. Only a couple floors in the once crowded garage are full. Most of the reserved spots sit empty. Floors 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are pretty much empty, with the exception of a few scattered cars.
Here are pictures from Pleasant Hill BART – All pictures taken Monday May 22 at noon:
28 comments
Maybe they can convert these areas to camping spots or ultra high density housing.
Commuters aren’t safe using BART. Too many vagrants, drug users. Homeless, is what they are called now.
I used to take BART without a second throught. Not anymore. Maybe its the cities I no longer enjoy. Filth. Scummy drugsters, lefties. We are targeted for harassment. Good job city planners. Lets give them a raise.
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City planners?
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Your outrage is severely misplaced.
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Blame elected politicians and appointed officials who conjure laws and policies.
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Found this Exit12A and other interested parties:
https://www.bart.gov/about/bod
The BART Board of Directors is comprised of nine elected officials from the nine BART districts. Board members serve a four-year term. For biographical information, click on a name below…more
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Looks like Sunvalley Mall most of the year.
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Well, since 2020, a lot has change. Most tech people are working from home. Football games for Raider fans, was always crowded and busy. That definitely decreased riders in using bart. Oakland A’s attendance is horrible due to owner’s possibility of moving the team, Warriors are in SF… then you don’t want to travel on the bart due to homeless people and crime against riders. Bart management needs to increase more cleanups, safety measures, and remove the non paying customers away from the stations. Or The Bart will be a thing of the past. Before 2020, we used Bart for football games, baseball games, going into SF… those are things of the past for us.
Looks like what most of California will be looking like in the future… a ghost state!
The clear government solution: A study! Then, raise the prices! wait… that’s their answer to everything
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Concur. Your cynicism is well-founded and factual.
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How can you blame people, given all the decay & lack of safety. I would rather walk bare feet on hot coals for 10 miles than take BART…
Transitions in society always vacillate for a while before stabilizing. Do not immediately believe that some things have changed forever, it may save our communities money.
With many more people working remotely since 2020, there is no longer the same need for BART or (for that matter) the HSR.
Meanwhile, in the Alice In Wonderland world of BART and CA government, as of March 2023 there were more press releases on funding for the $29 billion dollar Link21 project which includes another transbay tunnel perhaps between SF and Jack London Square for either BART or light rail as well as other infrastructure projects. Expected completion date for the tunnel is 2040.
Don’t want my catalytic converter stolen or my windows shattered!
Agree, and I’ll add a few more just for the heck it. Don’t want my cell phone and wallet stollen, sit or step on needles or poop, get car jacked, assaulted, spit on, cussed at, and just feel really unsafe.
Build tiny houses for the homeless in the empty lots.
After thought….And just think how convenient it would be for the homeless to use Bart.
It’s already too convenient. I see them sprawled across 2-3 seats during commute almost daily.
I presume sarcasm here. Offering free stuff to freeloaders — mentally ill or otherwise — virtually begs for more freeloaders (and beggars). BART parking lots were acquired via eminent domain and built with taxpayer appropriations on the premise that they would exist to provide BART patrons with access to the BART system. Repurposing them for unrelated use is not only constitutionally dubious, but doing so also abuses the public trust conferred on the BART district.
As a practical matter, once the WC and lamorinda station parking lots eventually fill back up, look for the PH and even Concord station parking to serve “backtracking” commuters again. It will take some time for the WFH crowd to trade out of their first ring suburban homes for larger abodes in inferior school districts farther out, but they will do so as their kids grow up. As those who must commute through the tunnel buy their houses, demand for BART (and parking at BART) will increase. Failure to maintain the existing parking facilities in reserve would needlessly squander an invaluable public resource.
A combination of the safety on BART, the safety in Oakland or in San Francisco, and the ability to work at home. I never had a job where I could work at home and I am pretty sure I would not have like to. Seems you would be missing the world go by.
I remember in 2013 I put my name on the “waitlist” for a permit. I was like number 600. Every six months I had to renew. After a couple of years I quit. Guessing there isn’t a waitlist anymore.
I put my name on list in July 2018—was well over 1,000 down the list. Received email June 2020 that I was ‘in’. By then didn’t need it since working from home. Go fig.
Remember in the 70’s when BART was shiny and new and SF was safe and fun? So, so sad what’s happening there. I moved out of California years ago. smh
@Tracey
It’s beca of Democrat rule. High crime & high taxes.
And you weren’t charged to park in their lot!
Where did you go? We left for Texas. I know CA is a dumpster fire, but I miss it so much. My friends, family….the memories.
Bart is only convenient if your going to Oakland Arena/As stadium or SFO. Anywhere else and you have to take a bus or Uber to the final destination anyways. Then there’s the waiting. I took Bart with family last month and barely missed a train had to wait 15 min. I can drive from concord to Berkeley in 15 min…
Why would I park in a BART lot when I can have my vehicle broken into without moving it?
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