Downtown Berkeley (BART station)

Downtown Berkeley
Downtown Berkeley station platform in 2008
Location	2160 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, California
Coordinates	37°52′11″N 122°16′06″W / 37.869799°N 122.268197°W / 37.869799; -122.268197Coordinates: 37°52′11″N 122°16′06″W / 37.869799°N 122.268197°W / 37.869799; -122.268197
Owned by	BART
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	AC Transit: Routes 6, 7, 18, 51B, 52, 65, 67, 79, 88, 800, 851, F, FS Bear Transit: C, H, P, R, RFS
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	January 29, 1973 (45 years ago)
Previous names	Berkeley (1973-1995)
Traffic
Passengers (FY 2016)	13,748 exits/day
Services
Preceding station   Bay Area Rapid Transit   Following station Ashby toward Millbrae (Daly City on Saturdays) Richmond–​Daly City/​Millbrae North Berkeley toward Richmond Ashby toward Warm Springs/​South Fremont Richmond–​Warm Springs/South Fremont

Downtown Berkeley is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station located in Berkeley, California, United States, one of three stations in the city. It is the second-busiest BART station in the East Bay and the sixth overall, with 13,748 exits each weekday, first being 12th St. Oakland City Center, with 14,403 weekday exits.

The Central Pacific Railroad opened its Berkeley Branch Railroad to the intersection of Shattuck and University Avenues on August 16, 1876. Early civic leader Francis K. Shattuck donated land for the railroad and its depot, and subsidized the initial construction. Berkeley was the terminus of the line until 1878, when it was extended northwest along Shattuck. The Central Pacific was leased by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) in 1885, then transferred to its Northern Railway subsidiary in 1888. The first Berkeley station was a small wooden building at the northwest corner of Center Street and Shattuck; it was replaced in the 1890s by a slightly larger by still modest station.

On October 26, 1903, the Key System began electric commuter rail operation from Berkeley to the San Francisco ferries - a direct threat to the SP's steam-hauled trains - on a line that paralleled the SP tracks on Shattuck. Around that time, Cal president Benjamin Ide Wheeler and other prominent Berkeley academics lobbied SP president E. H. Harriman for an improved train station to complement John Galen Howard's emerging architectural style for the nearby University of California, Berkeley. Finally, the devastating 1906 earthquake and subsequent rebuilding "served as a powerful incentive to expedite the project".