Dumbarton Express is a regional public transit service 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 ...
connecting
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
...
,
San Mateo, and
Santa Clara Counties via the
Dumbarton Bridge, the system's namesake. The bus service is funded by a consortium of five transit agencies (
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Union City Transit, and
VTA). Dumbarton Express is administered by AC Transit and operated under contract by
MV Transportation
MV Transportation, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas., is the largest privately-owned passenger transportation contracting services firm in the United States. The company can provide paratransit, fixed-route, campus and corporate shuttles, and studen ...
.
AC Transit also operates bus service across the Dumbarton Bridge on Route U, which connects
Fremont BART and
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
. Route U is not part of the Dumbarton Express system.
Service area
Dumbarton Express serves the cities of
Menlo Park,
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
,
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 ...
, and
Union City.
Hubs
Service is provided to two major transit hubs:
Palo Alto station
Palo Alto station (also called Palo Alto Transit Center) is an intermodal transit center in Palo Alto, California. It is served by Caltrain regional rail service, SamTrans and Santa Clara VTA local bus service, Dumbarton Express regional bus ...
(connections to Caltrain, SamTrans, VTA) and
Union City station
Union City is a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Train station, station serving Union City, California. The station sits near Decoto Road east of Alvarado-Niles Road, directly behind James Logan High School's campus. Local bus service is provided b ...
(connections to AC Transit, BART and Union City Transit). Both lines additionally serve
Ardenwood Park & Ride.
Routes
As of December 12, 2012, Dumbarton Express operates two routes:
Dumbarton Express has an "open door" policy that allows passengers to ride locally in the East Bay and Peninsula, without crossing the bridge.
Fares and transfer policies
Fares
Fares can be paid with cash (exact change only) and
Clipper card
The Clipper card is a reloadable contactless smart card used for automated fare collection in the San Francisco Bay Area. First introduced as TransLink in 2002 by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) as a pilot program, it was rebrand ...
s, and are identical to the AC Transit fare structure.
Cash fares
Clipper fares
Note: Local travel is within the East Bay or Peninsula only; Transbay travel is across the Dumbarton Bridge.
Transfers and passes
Dumbarton Express accepts transfers and passes from several connecting transit agencies for full or partial fare.
VTA Express Eco Passes and AC Transit Transbay 31-Day Passes are accepted as full Transbay fare.
The following are accepted as full local fare or partial Transbay fare:
* AC Transit local 31-day passes
*
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 ...
monthly passes
* SamTrans monthly passes
* Union City Transit passes
* VTA day or monthly passes
BART-to-bus transfers are accepted as full local fare but not as partial Transbay fare. As of January 1, 2013, BART Plus tickets are not accepted.
Transfers issued by Dumbarton Express are valid for 2 hours and are accepted by AC Transit, SamTrans, Union City Transit, and VTA. Union City Transit has a $0.25 surcharge, payable on board Union City Transit. Transfers to SamTrans are valid only for passengers using Clipper cards.
Future expansion
On August 2, 2017,
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 ...
, one of the five transit agencies that jointly operate the Dumbarton Express, released a study that examined the feasibility of adding additional bus routes to the service. The study recommended two new bus routes: an express bus route traveling between the
Union City BART station to the
Redwood City Caltrain station, and a local bus route between the Union City BART station to job centers in northern
Mountain View and
Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California.
Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the north ...
, the introduction of which would lead to a 34% increase in ridership. The study also reiterated SamTrans' ultimate goal of reintroducing rail service across the
Dumbarton Rail Bridge
The Dumbarton Rail Bridge lies just to the south of the Dumbarton road bridge. Built in 1910, the rail bridge was the first structure to span San Francisco Bay, shortening the rail route between Oakland and San Francisco by . The last freight ...
, ultimately connecting the Redwood City Caltrain station to the Union City BART station via conventional passenger rail.
See also
*
List of AC Transit routes serving the Dumbarton Bridge
References
External links
The Dumbarton Express
{{San Francisco Bay Area Public Transit
Bus transportation in California
Public transportation in Alameda County, California
Public transportation in Santa Clara County, California