New BART Parking Garage Will Offer 500 Spaces For Commuters

DUBLIN, CA — It’s a daily ritual for commuters using the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station, something akin to a vehicular treasure hunt: finding a parking spot if they arrive after 7:30 a.m.

With nearly 8,500 commuters climbing aboard BART trains every weekday, many of them driving to the station from Livermore and central valley communities, parking has become a premium and the lack of parking spaces has been a continuing source of complaints.

But relief is on the way with construction of a second parking garage that’s expected to provide more than 500 additional spaces. The only question is when the new facility will be ready.

The final obstacle to building the garage on land owned by the Alameda County Surplus Property Authority adjacent to the existing BART garage was removed Oct. 9 when the California Transportation Commission approved a $20 million grant to the Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA) to finance part of the estimated $34 million project.

A low-key agency headquartered in Livermore, LAVTA operates Tri-Valley Wheels transit services in Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore and unincorporated areas of Alameda County. LAVTA buses connect to BART, Contra Costa’s County Connection routes and Altamont Commuter Express trains. As project sponsor LAVTA had applied for funding under the state’s Transit and Intercity Rail program administered by Caltrans.

The grant includes $10.9 million in Public Transportation Fund money derived from the increase in fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees imposed by Senate Bill 1 in 2017 and $9.1 million from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The remaining $14 million is being provided by the Metropolitan and Alameda Transportation Commissions which have each committed $7 million.

Alameda County’s General Services Agency will be responsible for day-to-day management of garage design and construction, but the transit agencies involved, along with Caltrans will provide project oversight, a LAVTA spokesperson told Patch.

Although local politicians conducted a ceremonial groundbreaking last October, just a month before the 2018 election, full funding for the project wasn’t guaranteed until state officials approved the LAVTA grant a year later. At the time of the groundbreaking it was estimated the garage would be completed in 2020. It’s uncertain when construction will begin because contracts have yet to be awarded and that process can be lengthy.

Alameda County officials did not respond to Patch requests for a construction schedule.

Currently there are 2,969 parking spaces available at the Dublin-Pleasanton station, not counting disabled or motorcycle stalls, with 1,484 in the BART-owned parking garage on the north side of the station. Neighboring West Dublin-Pleasanton station has 1,048 parking spaces in two garage structures.

According to BART officials, during the 2019 fiscal year ended June 30, gross parking revenues from all stations in the system were $37.5 million with $2.4 million collected at Dublin-Pleasanton. About one-third of this came from monthly fees for reserved parking permits held by 580 commuters. There are an estimated 3,000 others on the waiting list for reserved parking permits.

In addition, system wide BART collected gross revenue of $4.9 million from parking citations and other violation penalties. Violators at Dublin-Pleasanton provided $338,576 of this revenue.