The San Bernardino Transit Center (Metrolink designation San Bernardino–Downtown) is an intermodal

transit center A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips. F ...

in downtown San Bernardino, California, United States. It is owned and operated by

Omnitrans Omnitrans, stylized as "OmniTrans," is a public transportation agency in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The largest transit operator within San Bernardino County, it serves the San Bernardino Valley. The agency was established ...

, the area's

public transportation agency A transit district or transit authority is a government agency or a public-benefit corporation created for the purpose of providing public transportation within a specific region. A transit district may operate bus, rail or other types of tra ...

. Opened in September 2015, the center consolidates two Metrolink commuter rail routes, the

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

rail route, and more than a dozen local bus services, including the

sbX sbX is a bus rapid transit (BRT) service in San Bernardino and Loma Linda, California, United States. It is operated by Omnitrans, a public transportation agency in southwestern San Bernardino County. The route is internally named by Omnitrans ...

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

line into one central location.

History and development

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

(PE) and its local predecessors used the SBTC site as a

tram shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train ca ...

in the early 1900s, and later

Upland–San Bernardino Line The Upland–San Bernardino Line was an interurban line operated by the Pacific Electric Railway between Downtown Los Angeles and San Bernardino, California. This line also had shorter service that terminated before the end of the line at Baldwi ...

trains terminated here. Omnitrans selected the site at the corner of West Rialto Avenue and South E Street to build a transit center in the 2000s, and purchased the land for the station from

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

, the successor corporation to Pacific Electric, in 2008. In 2010,

San Bernardino Associated Governments San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG or SanBAG) was an association of the San Bernardino County local governments and the regional transportation planning agency Including also regional planning organization for the county, with policy ...

, the area

regional planning organization A Regional Planning Organization is a government body that guides the development of public and private resources in a manner that ensures public safety, well being and livability. Regional planning organizations take different forms and may also in ...

had stepped into to fund and coordinate the project and hired design firm HDR, Inc. to draw up plans for the transit center. Construction of the center began in 2014, with a

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...

held on February 25. The sbX line and its adjacent station on E Street opened on April 28, 2014. The transit center was complete by August 24, 2015, when a celebration was held at the site, but it didn't open for service until September 8, 2015, coinciding with a major service change for Omnitrans, which saw more than a dozen bus lines rerouted to serve the transit center. Train service came to the station in late 2017 after the completion of a project that built tracks between the transit center and San Bernardino's Santa Fe Depot, which was the city's primary train depot. Test runs of the train service to downtown with paying passengers began on December 16, 2017, with the service officially being declared open on December 18.

, a

hybrid rail Light rail in the United States is a mode of rail-based transport, usually urban in nature. When compared to heavy rail systems like commuter rail or rapid transit (subway), light rail systems are typically designed to carry fewer passengers and ...

route (light rail with some features similar to commuter rail), opened on October 24, 2022, with its western terminus at the transit center. At the same time, the daily express trip on Metrolink's San Bernardino Line was extended to station. Express trains pass through the transit center without stopping. The

California High-Speed Rail Authority The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is a California state agency established pursuant to the California High-Speed Rail Act to develop and implement high-speed intercity rail service, namely the California High-Speed Rail project. Mem ...

is considering the station as a possible stop on the second phase of the

California High-Speed Rail California High-Speed Rail (also known as CAHSR or CHSR) is a publicly funded high-speed rail system currently under construction in California in the United States. Planning for the project began in 1996, when the California Legislature and Gover ...

project.

Services and facilities

The center contains a

LEED Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

station building with public facilities, waiting areas, and

solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...

on its roof. A

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

titled ''Explorations'' is on the exterior of the station building, and a large

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

is at the center of the bus area. The central bus plaza has 19

bus bay A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

s, with two additional bus bays located along West Rialto Avenue which runs along the northern edge of the transit center, and the

bus rapid transit platform in the median of South E Street which runs along the eastern edge of the transit center.

Rail services

A total of four train tracks are located along the southern edge of the transit center, served by two

side platforms A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

and one

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

. The Arrow service uses the two tracks closest to the central bus plaza, which continue across South E Street to Redlands. Metrolink trains use all four tracks, including the two southernmost stub-end tracks, where trains can be stored for extended periods of time without blocking the main line.

Bus services

the following transit bus routes serve the San Bernardino Transit Center: *

: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 15, 215, 290, , * Beaumont Transit: *

Mountain Transit Mountain Transit (legally the Mountain Area Regional Transit Authority) is the third largest regional transit agency in San Bernardino County, California. Mountain Transit serves the San Bernardino Mountain communities of Crestline, Lake Arrowhea ...

: , *

Riverside Transit Agency The Riverside Transit Agency (RTA) is the main transit agency for western Riverside County, California, United States. RTA provides both local and regional services throughout the region with 39 fixed-routes (including RapidLink Gold Line), 9 Com ...

: * SunLine Transit Agency: *

Victor Valley Transit Authority Victor Valley Transit Authority (VVTA), the second largest transit operator in San Bernardino County (with over 1,020,119 passengers a year), is a transit agency providing bus service in the Victor Valley, California area. In , the system had a r ...

: 15 The station is also served by the intercity bus company FlixBus which operates routes to Las Vegas, Phoenix-Tempe, San Diego, and Ventura from the transit center.

References

External links

San Bernardino Transit Center
at the HDR, Inc. website
San Bernardino Transit Center
at the

U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

website
San Bernardino Transit Center
at the VVTA website
Transfer Centers
at the

website {{Metrolink (Southern California) Bus stations in San Bernardino County, California Buildings and structures in San Bernardino, California Transportation in San Bernardino, California 2015 establishments in California Transport infrastructure completed in 2015 Metrolink stations in San Bernardino County, California Railway stations in the United States opened in 2017 2017 establishments in California Transit centers in the United States Proposed California High-Speed Rail stations Arrow stations