Ahead of its Board of Directors meeting scheduled on Wednesday, October 9, to vote on whether to approve the proposed Realign Final Network Plan, AC Transit has made last-minute changes to service routing in West Alameda slated for implementation in spring 2025.
The Draft Final Plan, published in August, initially proposed rerouting Line 20 from Webster Street into the West End and Alameda Point before it continued on its existing route to Downtown Oakland. However, following a series of public hearings in September and feedback from bus operators and labor partners, Line 20 is now proposed to continue operating as it does today with no changes to routing.
Instead, Line 19 would be extended to serve Alameda Point in a loop that adds new bus service to Willie Stargell Avenue and Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway west of Webster Street, at an hourly frequency. The Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal would be within walking distance of the extended route.
“This change will balance the desire for improved connections to Alameda Point, add new trip generators on the low-performing Line 19, and minimize impacts on existing through-riders on Line 20 traveling to Downtown Oakland,” according to an AC Transit staff report.
The report also explains why eliminating Line 21 service to the Oakland airport (OAK) is still proposed, noting that ridership to the airport has trended downward since 2019 and that most public comments opposing the change “have come from Alamedans on Bay Farm Island and on Alameda’s East End as opposed to those in East Oakland’s Equity Priority Communities.”
The Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday, October 9, will begin at 5 p.m.
Ken Der is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact him via [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Ken-Der.
