Bus service returning to South Berkeley

For the first time in three years, area will get much-needed amenity

Since the start of the pandemic, South Berkeley has lacked reliable public transportation options for traveling across the city.

In August 2020, AC Transit, the East Bay's biggest bus operator, suspended Line 80 that traveled along Ashby Avenue, Sixth Street and Pierce Street — some of the area's most dense, diverse and low-income residential and commercial corridors — due to low ridership and revenue losses during the pandemic. Many locals found themselves forced to get around by car, bicycle or foot to the host of schools, shopping centers, health care providers and other transit hubs nearby.

Of the 1,000 riders Line 80 previously serviced daily, the Ashby segment was the most popular, accounting for around 40% of passengers before the bus went into West Berkeley and El Cerrito, according to Michael Eshelman, AC Transit's service planning manager.

Now, a bus is again slated to fill that gap.

The AC Transit Board of Directors unanimously voted last week to extend the Line 7 bus route, which will restore service down Ashby Avenue before connecting riders to the Emeryville Amtrak Station. The change will be implemented as early as August, Eshelman said, contingent on a completed sublease from Amtrak for use of the space.

The planned Line 7 extension will provide service seven days a week, stretching the route from Shattuck Avenue in Downtown Berkeley, around the south end of UC Berkeley's campus and along College Avenue, before merging onto Ashby. A round-trip ride on this bus is estimated to take 160 minutes.

Director Jean Walsh, who represents a portion of the new route in Ward 2, was pleased that the board approved the Line 7 service pilot, saying that the extension will help reduce mile-long gaps in route coverage, as well as align with AC Transit's stated mission of getting as many people as possible on buses to combat climate change.

“(This extension) may flop, it may be great — we don't really know, but I would love to see the data as we get into our final service plan,” Walsh said, adding that she's only heard positive feedback to improved service along Ashby Avenue from constituents during her time on the board. “Let's be nimble. Let's respond to the needs of people in our communities and let's try new ideas.”

Tom Yamaguchi, a resident of West Berkeley along San Pablo, supported the board's April vote, saying he's been frustrated with other AC Transit bus routes nearby that are not reliable for getting across the city.

“I think this is really long overdue,” Yamaguchi said. “It's a big gap that needs to be filled in the system.”

The vote also extended the pilot program for Line 60 from Chabot College to South Hayward BART beyond its planned end date in December. The line is currently performing slightly below average for crosstown lines system wide, Eshelman said. Additionally, the directors voted to allow the Line 78 pilot program, which runs from Fruitvale BART to the Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal in the city of Alameda, to expire in August.

The push to restore bus service along Ashby Avenue has been driven by op-eds and even an online petition from community transit leaders, as well as letters from local elected officials.

“This bus line … is a critical community transportation service that allows residents to travel car-free through a long stretch of the East Bay, which is not accessible on BART and provides a unique route compared with other AC Transit lines,” several members of the Berkeley City Council wrote in an April 2021 letter to the AC Transit board, emphasizing that the area is home to the South Berkeley Senior Center, the South Branch of the Berkeley library, the Ashby BART Station, both Berkeley Bowl locations, Alta Bates Hospital and a Whole Foods Market.