Dimond Bus News
On April 28th, several Dimond merchants and DIA members met at Fruitvale and MacArthur with representatives of AC Transit and the Oakland Traffic Engineering office, to discuss plans to route another bus through the Fruitvale/Mac intersection.
The #50 bus currently goes from Alameda to the Fruitvale BART station. The plan is to route it up to the Chabot Science Center, to provide a BART/Science Center link. The biggest potential problems will come when the bus goes from the Science Center back down to the BART station.
The plan is for the bus to go down Lincoln, turn right onto MacArthur, and then left onto Fruitvale. Because this bus would stop on Fruitvale in front of Cybelle's, the dry cleaners and the bar, the plan is to move the whole Fruitvale stop that is now in front of BofA across MacArthur so that all the buses going down Fruitvale would stop in front of Cybelle's etc.
This would result in a gain of several parking spots in front of BofA, and a loss of several in front of the dry cleaners and the bar.
The group on Friday raised two main problems for this plan:
- the way a left-turning bus would tie up traffic at the Fruitvale/Mac intersection
- the preferability of keeping the bus stop in front of BofA, where there are no businesses fronting right on the sidewalk.
For now, the new plan will go into effect and will be carefully monitored. If problems develop, there are two other plans to consider.
- have the #50 bus stay on MacArthur through the Fruitvale intersection and then turn left onto Dimond, left onto Montana, and right onto Fruitvale.
- have the #50 bus turn right onto Coloma from Lincoln, then left onto Fruitvale.
Which do you like best, AC Transit's current plan, Plan A, or Plan B?
Send an email to aorb@dimondnews.org
Other bus news: during Friday's walk-around, AC Transit and the City agreed to put in a cross-walk between Safeway and the Library, getting rid of the one just to the south. The bus stop at Coloma and Fruitvale will be moved to the Library/Safeway part of Fruitvale.