All Nighter
Encyclopedia
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Portions of the service shadow the rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
and commuter rail services of BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
and Caltrain
Caltrain
Caltrain is a California commuter rail line on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley in the United States. The northern terminus of the rail line is in San Francisco, at 4th and King streets; its southern terminus is in Gilroy...
, which are the major rail services between San Francisco, the East Bay
East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)
The East Bay is a commonly used, informal term for the lands on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay, in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States...
, the Peninsula
San Francisco Peninsula
The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is in Santa Clara County, including the cities of Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain...
, and San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. BART and Caltrain do not operate owl service so that track maintenance can be performed; the All Nighter network helps fill 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 in March 2006. 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.The service is operated by AC Transit
AC Transit
AC Transit is an Oakland-based regional public transit agency serving the western half of Alameda County and parts of western Contra Costa County in the western, Bay-side area of the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area...
, Muni
San Francisco Municipal Railway
The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...
, SamTrans
SamTrans
SamTrans 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 portions of San Francisco and Palo Alto...
, and VTA
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is a special-purpose district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, California, United States...
. 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. 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 service is funded by Regional Measure 2, which voters approved in 2004. The measure increased tolls by $1 on state-owned bridges in the Bay Area.
The All Nighter service initially included County Connection
County Connection
The County Connection is a Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route bus and ADA paratransit service in and around central Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area...
Route 820, which operated between downtown Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
and central Contra Costa
Contra Costa County, California
Contra Costa County is a primarily suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 1,049,025...
County. This route was discontinued in December 2008 due to budgetary problems and low ridership. It also included WHEELS
WHEELS (California)
WHEELS is a bus service that provides public transportation in the Tri-Valley Region of the San Francisco Bay Area, in the United States...
Route 810, which operated between Bay Fair BART
Bay Fair (BART station)
Bay Fair is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station located near the Bayfair Center in San Leandro, California. The station is in BART District 3 and is represented by Bob Franklin.- Service :...
in San Leandro
San Leandro, California
San Leandro is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is considered a suburb of Oakland and San Francisco. The population was 84,950 as of 2010 census. The climate of the city is mild throughout the year.-Geography and water resources:...
and Livermore
Livermore, California
Livermore is a city in Alameda County. The population as of 2010 was 80,968. Livermore is located on the eastern edge of California's San Francisco Bay Area....
via Dublin/Pleasanton BART
Dublin/Pleasanton (BART station)
Dublin/Pleasanton is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station on the border of Dublin and Pleasanton. The station is fed by twenty local and regional bus lines from five different providers....
. This route was discontinued in June 2009 due to budgetary problems and low ridership. Additional service from Bay Fair BART to Castro Valley BART
Castro Valley (BART station)
Castro Valley is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station serving Castro Valley, California.The station consists of an island platform located in the center median of Interstate 580, with the concourse mezzanine located underneath the freeway's westbound lanes...
via AC Transit Route 880 was discontinued in March 2010 due to that agency's budgetary problems.
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 volatile, rising and falling with the financial fortunes of the various transit agencies. AC Transit's long-standing overnight service was completely withdrawn in 1996 and then restored 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 and the light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
network, but later withdrew overnight light rail service due to financial difficulties. Golden Gate Transit
Golden Gate Transit
Golden Gate Transit is a public transportation system serving the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. It mainly serves Marin and Sonoma Counties, and also provides limited service to San Francisco and Contra Costa County.Golden Gate Transit is one of three...
, 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 Lifeline study, about the transportation needs of economically disadvantaged individuals.
Service area
Service in Contra Costa and Alameda counties (including AlamedaAlameda, California
Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...
, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, Fremont
Fremont, California
Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...
, Hayward
Hayward, California
Hayward is a city located in the East Bay in Alameda County, California. With a population of 144,186, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda County. Hayward was ranked as the 37th most populous municipality in California. It is included in...
, Oakland, Richmond
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
and San Leandro) is provided by AC Transit. AC Transit also operates Transbay service to and from San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
over the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge.
Service in San Francisco is provided by the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Service on the Peninsula is provided by SamTrans in San Mateo County with connections to San Francisco and Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. Service in the South Bay is provided by the VTA in Santa Clara County between Palo Altos 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. The 511.org trip planner does not work for trips beginning and ending around 4 a.m. due to programming limitations, so it is advisable to plan trips using All Nighter routes by hand.
Routes
The All Nighter network officially consists of 21 bus routes.| Route | Communities served | Information |
|---|---|---|
| Muni San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million... |
||
| K-Ingleside Owl | Downtown, Civic Center, Castro, Twin Peaks, Forest Hill, West Portal, Ingleside Although officially considered part of the All Nighter network, this route has limited service and does not operate during traditional owl hours. |
Schedule, Map |
| L-Taraval Owl | Downtown, Civic Center, Castro, Twin Peaks, Forest Hill, West Portal, Parkside, Ocean Beach | Schedule, Map |
| M-Ocean View Owl | Downtown, Civic Center, Castro, Twin Peaks, Forest Hill, West Portal, Ocean View Although officially considered part of the All Nighter network, this route has limited service and does not operate during traditional owl hours. |
Schedule, Map |
| N-Judah Owl | South of Market, South Beach, Downtown, Civic Center, Duboce Triangle, Haight, Inner Sunset, Outer Sunset, Ocean Beach | Schedule, Map |
| T-Third Owl | Civic Center, Downtown, South Beach, South of Market, Mission Bay, Dogpatch, Bayview, Sunnydale Although officially considered part of the All Nighter network, this route has limited service and does not operate during traditional owl hours. |
Schedule, Map |
| 5-Fulton | Civic Center, Fillmore, NoPa, Inner Richmond, Outer Richmond, Ocean Beach | Schedule, Map |
| 14-Mission | South of Market, Mission District, Bernal Heights, Excelsior, Daly City | Schedule, Map |
| 22-Fillmore | Marina, Cow Hollow, Pacific Heights, Fillmore, Mission District, Potrero Hill, Dogpatch | Schedule, Map |
| 24-Divisadero | Castro, Noe Valley, Bernal Heights | Schedule, Map |
| 38-Geary | Transbay Terminal, Downtown, Union Square, Tenderloin, Western Addition, Japantown, Laurel Heights, Inner Richmond, Outer Richmond | Schedule, Map |
| 90 Owl | Marina, Civic Center, South of Market, Mission District, Portola, Visitacion Valley Combination of the 9-San Bruno and 47-Van Ness daytime bus lines. |
Schedule, Map |
| 91 Owl | Parkmerced, Parkside, Sunset, Richmond, Marina, Fisherman's Wharf, North Beach, Chinatown, Downtown, SoMa, Dogpatch, Bayview, Visitacion Valley, Excelsior, Ingleside, St. Francis Wood, West Portal Combination of the 28-19th Avenue, 30-Stockton, T-Third, 8X-Bayshore Express, and K-Ingleside daytime bus and streetcar lines. |
Schedule, Map |
| 108-Treasure Island | Transbay Terminal, Treasure Island | Schedule, Map |
| AC Transit AC Transit AC Transit is an Oakland-based regional public transit agency serving the western half of Alameda County and parts of western Contra Costa County in the western, Bay-side area of the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area... |
||
| 376 | El Cerrito, Richmond, San Pablo, Pinole Not officially part of the All Nighter network, but it operates until about 3:30 a.m. |
Schedule, Map |
| 800 | San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, Richmond | Schedule, Map |
| 801 | Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward, Union City, Fremont | Schedule, Map (Northern portion), Map (Southern portion) |
| 802 | Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley | Schedule, Map |
| 805 | Oakland, Oakland International Airport | Schedule, Map |
| 840 | Oakland | Schedule, Map |
| 851 | Alameda, Oakland, Berkeley | Schedule, Map |
| SamTrans SamTrans SamTrans 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 portions of San Francisco and Palo Alto... |
||
| 297 | Redwood City, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto Not officially part of the All Nighter network, but it is a supplemental service for Route 397. |
Schedule and Map |
| 397 | San Francisco, Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Francisco International Airport, Millbrae, Burlingame, San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood City, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto | Schedule and Map |
| VTA Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is a special-purpose district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, California, United States... |
||
| 22 | Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose | Schedule, Map |
Transfer points
The All Nighter network has two primary pulse transfer points where routes are coordinated to meet and provide direct transfers.The primary transfer point in San Francisco is at Market Street and Van Ness Avenue. 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 here 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. 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. These locations are:
- Market Street and Third Street (AC Transit 800 and Muni 91 Owl)
- McAllister Street and Fillmore Street (Muni 5 Fulton and 22 Fillmore)
- Mission Street and 16th Street (Muni 14 Mission and 22 Fillmore)
- Mission Street and Geneva Avenue (Muni 14 Mission and 91 Owl)
- Van Ness Avenue and Geary Street/O'Farrell Street (Muni 38 Geary and 90 San Bruno Owl)
- Van Ness Avenue and Chestnut Street (Muni 90 San Bruno Owl and 91 Owl)
- West Portal Station (Muni L Owl and 91 Owl)
Service gaps
Three routes have been discontinued since All Nighter service was implemented. County Connection Route 820 was discontinued effective December 28, 2008. Route 820 operated between downtown Oakland and Concord BARTConcord (BART station)
Concord is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station that serves Concord, California. The station consists of an elevated island platform.The Concord station operated as a terminal station from the time when BART opened until 1995 when the line was extended to North Concord/Martinez. Pittsburg/Bay Point is...
. WHEELS Route 810 was discontinued effective June 27, 2009. Route 810 operated between Bay Fair BART and Livermore via Dublin/Pleasanton BART. AC Transit Route 880 was discontinued effective March 28, 2010. Route 880 operated between Bay Fair BART and Castro Valley BART.
Currently, no overnight service is provided to Marin and Sonoma Counties by Golden Gate Transit, to northwestern Contra Costa County in the WestCAT
WestCAT
WestCAT is a public transportation service in western Contra Costa County . It is a service of the Western Contra Costa Transit Authority....
service area, to eastern Contra Costa County in the Tri-Delta Transit
Tri-Delta Transit
Tri Delta Transit, also known as Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority, is the local public transportation provider for the eastern area of Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, U.S.A.. It provides local bus service in the communities of Bay Point, Pittsburg, Antioch,...
and County Connection service areas, and to Solano County in the Vallejo Transit service area. Furthermore, no overnight bus service is provided between Fremont BART
Fremont (BART station)
Fremont is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station that serves Fremont, California. The elevated island platform serves as the southernmost terminal station of BART's Fremont line, which is served by trains on the Fremont - Daly City Line, which runs daytimes Monday-Saturday, and the Richmond - Fremont...
and Downtown San Jose, preventing the circumnavigation of San Francisco Bay. Among the Bay Area's bridges, only the San Francisco Bay Bridge has All Nighter service, connecting San Francisco and Oakland.