The All Nighter is a
night bus service
Night service, sometimes also known as owl service, refers to the public transport services operated during the night hours. These services are operated, mainly using buses but in certain cases using trams (or streetcars), not including inte ...
network in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Portions of the service shadow the
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
and
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
services of
BART
Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc.
Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Barthol ...
and
Caltrain
Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as far ...
, which are the major rail services between
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, the
East Bay
The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...
, the
Peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
, and
San Jose. Neither BART nor Caltrain operate
owl service
Night service, sometimes also known as owl service, refers to the public transport services operated during the night hours. These services are operated, mainly using buses but in certain cases using trams (or streetcars), not including int ...
due to overnight track maintenance; the All Nighter network helps fill in this service gap. The slogan is, "''Now transit stays up as late as you do!''"
History
The service launched initially in December 2005, and fully launched on March 19, 2006. BART performs overnight maintenance on its tracks, which requires the agency to shut down third rail power. Since there are no redundant BART lines, service is discontinued during maintenance hours.
BART and Caltrain riders who previously faced uncoordinated substitute bus transit service after midnight can now take advantage of the coordinated All Nighter bus service.
![Muni route N Owl bus, August 2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Muni_route_N_Owl_bus%2C_August_2018.JPG)
The service is operated by
AC Transit
AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" ro ...
,
Muni
Muni may refer to:
Municipal
* A common US abbreviation for municipal, municipal services, and the like
*Municipal bond
*Municipal Bridge, the former name of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky
*"Muni", slang for a mu ...
,
SamTrans
SamTrans (stylized as samTrans; officially the San Mateo County Transit District) is a public transport agency in and around San Mateo, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides bus service throughout San Mateo County and into porti ...
, and
VTA.
The agencies have a network of timed transfers, and half-hourly weekend service was implemented between downtown San Francisco and several BART stations along the Richmond and Fremont lines. More frequent weekend service was later implemented as the Late Night Bus Pilot Program, funded by BART's operating budget, after a 2011 study concluded that shifting BART hours to stay open later but also start service later on weekends would adversely impact low-income and minority workers who rely on BART for their commute.
AC Transit Route 800 operates along Market Street in San Francisco; this is the first AC Transit route to operate anywhere within San Francisco beyond the
Transbay Terminal
The San Francisco Transbay Terminal was a transportation complex in San Francisco, California, United States, roughly in the center of the rectangle bounded north–south by Mission Street and Howard Street, and east–west by Beale Street and 2 ...
.
On weekends, Route 800 is extended to 24th and Mission.
VTA Route 22, which runs all day, carries approximately 20% of all VTA bus riders. The late night Route 22 has earned the nickname "Hotel 22" for the homeless that form the majority of riders for the overnight runs. In January 2019, VTA proposed cutting service on Route 22 between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. to help close a budget deficit. In April, the agency recommended continuing overnight service, but working with other agencies to redirect homeless riders to shelters.
The service is funded by Regional Measure 2 (RM2), which voters approved in 2004. The measure increased tolls by $1 on state-owned bridges in the
Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
.
Before the AllNighter
Overnight transit service throughout the Bay Area predated the All Nighter initiative. Overnight service has consistently operated within San Francisco, but service outside of San Francisco has been inconsistent, rising and falling with the financial fortunes of the various transit agencies.
* AC Transit's long-standing overnight service was completely withdrawn in 1996,
restored in 1999,
and expanded in later years.
* SamTrans introduced overnight service to SFO in 2001 and maintained it with a subsidy from the airport starting in 2003.
* VTA introduced overnight service on Route 22
[Route 22 Website]
and the
light rail network, but later withdrew overnight light rail service due to financial difficulties.
*
Golden Gate Transit
Golden Gate Transit (GGT) is a public transportation system serving the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. It primarily serves Marin County, Sonoma County, and San Francisco, and also provides limited ser ...
, which had long offered an essentially 24-hour service on Route 80 to Santa Rosa, reduced the span of service in 2003.
24-hour service was one of the issues considered in the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's 2001 ''Lifeline Network'' study, which detailed the transportation needs of economically disadvantaged individuals.
Discontinued routes
The All Nighter service initially included
County Connection
The County Connection (officially, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, CCCTA) is a Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route bus and ADA paratransit (County Connection LINK) service in and around central Contra Costa County ...
Route 820, which operated between
downtown Oakland
Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States; roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lake ...
and central
Contra Costa County.
This route was discontinued effective December 28, 2008 due to budgetary problems and low ridership. Route 820 operated between downtown Oakland and
Concord BART.
WHEELS
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...
Route 810 was another initial service offering which operated between
Bay Fair BART in
San Leandro
San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sout ...
and
Livermore via
Dublin/Pleasanton BART.
[ Route 810 was discontinued effective June 27, 2009 due to budgetary problems and low ridership.
Additional service from Bay Fair BART to Castro Valley BART via AC Transit Route 880 was discontinued effective March 28, 2010 due to that agency's budgetary problems. Route 880 operated between Bay Fair BART and Castro Valley BART.
Weekend service to Pittsburg/Bay Point BART via AC Transit Line 822 was introduced as a one-year pilot program in December 2014; it was discontinued one year later effective December 20, 2015 due to low ridership. Line 822 operated weekends from San Francisco to Pittsburg/Bay Point BART via Oakland, Pleasant Hill BART and Walnut Creek BART.
]
Late Night Transportation Working Group
In April 2014, Supervisor
A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position that is primarily based on authority over workers or ...
Scott Wiener
Scott Wiener (born May 11, 1970) is an American politician and a member of the California State Senate. A Democrat, he represents the 11th Senate District, encompassing San Francisco and parts of San Mateo County.
Prior to his election to the ...
formed the Late Night Transportation Working Group to study options for improved public transportation in and around San Francisco. In September, the Working Group announced that BART would test more frequent service for AC Transit route 800, cutting headway
Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system measured in space or time. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise defi ...
s from 30 to 20 minutes, and introduce service from San Francisco to Pittsburg/Bay Point BART via a new AC Transit route 822.
Service area
Service in Contra Costa and Alameda counties (including Alameda
An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to:
Places Canada
*Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan
**Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan
Chile
...
, Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
, Fremont, Hayward, Oakland, Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
and San Leandro) is provided by AC Transit. AC Transit also operates Transbay service to and from San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
over the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland ...
.
Service in San Francisco is provided by the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Service on the Peninsula is provided by SamTrans in San Mateo County
San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...
with connections to San Francisco and Palo Alto
Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
The city was estab ...
. Service in the South Bay is provided by the VTA in Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...
between Palo Alto and San Jose.
All Nighter service generally operates daily between midnight and 5 a.m. AC Transit's Transbay service operates until 6 a.m. on Saturdays and 8 a.m. on Sundays and designated holidays to correspond with the times BART is not operating.
Transfer points
The All Nighter network has two primary ''pulse transfer points'' where routes are coordinated to meet and provide direct transfers between agencies.
*The primary transfer point in San Francisco is at Market Street and Van Ness Avenue, where Muni, AC Transit, and SamTrans meet. Timed transfers are available between Muni's L Owl and 90 San Bruno Owl lines, AC Transit route 800, and SamTrans route 397. Muni's N Owl line stops there as well, but without any timed transfers to other All Nighter buses.
*The primary transfer point in downtown Oakland is at Broadway and 14th Street, where various AC Transit routes meet. Timed transfers are available between AC Transit routes 800, 801, 802, 805, 840, and 851.
Secondary timed transfer points are located at seven different locations in San Francisco. The transfer point between SamTrans and VTA is near the Transit Center, which connects SamTrans route 397 with VTA route 22; the routes are not coordinated.
Service gaps
The All-Nighter network operates primarily in dense areas centered on Oakland and San Francisco. No overnight service is provided to several parts of the Bay Area:
* Marin
Marin (French) or Marín (Spanish "sailor") may refer to:
People
* Marin (name), including a list of persons with the given name or surname
* MaRin, in-game name of professional South Korean ''League of Legends'' player Jang Gyeong-hwan (born 19 ...
and Sonoma counties in the Golden Gate Transit service area (limited late night/early morning service is offered on GGT routes 30 and 101)
* Eastern Contra Costa County in the Tri-Delta Transit
Tri Delta Transit, formally the Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority, is a joint powers agency of the governments of Pittsburg, Antioch, Oakley, Brentwood, and Contra Costa County that provides bus service for the eastern area of Contra Cost ...
and County Connection
The County Connection (officially, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, CCCTA) is a Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route bus and ADA paratransit (County Connection LINK) service in and around central Contra Costa County ...
service areas
* Western San Mateo County in the SamTrans service area
* Solano County in the SolTrans
SolTrans, officially Solano County Transit, is a Joint Powers Authority that provides public transportation service to the southern Solano County cities of Vallejo and Benicia. SolTrans was established in 2011 and is the result of a merger bet ...
service area.
* Southern Alamdea County and northern Santa Clara County between Fremont and San Jose
Among the major bridges crossing the Bay, only the San Francisco Bay Bridge has All Nighter service, connecting San Francisco and Oakland.
Routes
The All Nighter network officially consists of 25 bus routes.
BART shadow service is provided by AC Transit routes 800 (between San Francisco and Richmond) and 801 (between Oakland and Fremont) in the East Bay, Muni route 14 in San Francisco (between Embarcadero and Daly City), and SamTrans route ECR on the Peninsula (between Daly City and San Francisco International Airport). Caltrain shadow service is provided by VTA route 22 (between Palo Alto and San Jose) and SamTrans route 397 (between San Francisco and Palo Alto, including stops at SFO).
AllNighter service to San Francisco International Airport is provided by both SamTrans route ECR (operating on a shortened route to Daly City, where it connects with Muni) and SamTrans route 397. Service to Oakland International Airport is provided by AC Transit routes 73 and 805.
Overnight service on VTA's route 22 is currently suspended.
;Notes
Initial list of routes
The initial service providers for the All Nighter service in 2006 were AC Transit, Muni, SamTrans, County Connection, and Wheels. Most headways were 60 minutes, with the exception of Muni (30 minutes except 45 minutes on the 25-Treasure Island) and AC Transit (30 minutes on weekend routes 800 and 801).
;Notes
References
External links
All Nighter Service
Plan a Trip
{{San Francisco Bay Area Public Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Night bus service
2005 establishments in California