Blue Line (BART)

The Blue Line is a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) line in the San Francisco Bay Area that runs between Dublin/Pleasanton station and Daly City station. It has 18 stations in Dublin, Pleasanton, Castro Valley, San Leandro, Oakland, San Francisco, and Daly City.

Blue Line
Daly City-bound train west of Dublin/Pleasanton station in May 2018
Overview
Owner	San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District
Locale	Tri-Valley, East Bay, San Francisco Peninsula
Termini	Dublin/​Pleasanton Daly City
Stations	18
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	Bay Area Rapid Transit
History
Opened	May 10, 1997 (1997-05-10)
Technical
Line length	35.7 mi (57.5 km)
Track gauge	5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)
Electrification	Third rail, 1 kV DC
Operating speed	70 mph (110 km/h)[1]
Route map Blue Line highlighted in blue Show interactive map Legend Valley Link 2027 Dublin/ Pleasanton Iron Horse Regional Trail I-680 West Dublin/​Pleasanton San Leandro Hills Castro Valley I-238 / I-580 to Berryessa/​North San José Bay Fair transfer San Leandro SR 112 / SR 61 to OAK Coliseum Fruitvale Lake Merritt to Richmond to Antioch, to Richmond I-880 West Oakland Amtrak Transbay Tube Alameda County San Francisco I-80 Bay Bridge Embarcadero Montgomery Street Union Square/ Market Street Powell Street Civic Center/​UN Plaza 16th Street Mission 24th Street Mission Glen Park | San Jose/ Glen Park I-280 Balboa Park San Jose and Geneva San Francisco San Mateo County Daly City to SFO/Millbrae All stations are accessible This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram

The Blue Line shares much of its track with other BART services. The eastern segment which is unique to it is located in the median of Interstate 580, as are its three unique stations of Castro Valley, West Dublin/Pleasanton, and Dublin/Pleasanton.

History

Of BART's five primary rapid transit services, the Blue Line was the most recent to open. Service began when the Dublin/Pleasanton extension opened on May 10, 1997.^[2] The West Dublin/​Pleasanton infill station was added to the line on February 19, 2011.^[3]

SFO/Millbrae extension service

September 2005 BART map showing only the Dublin/Pleasanton line operating south of Daly City

When the SFO/Millbrae extension opened on June 22, 2003, BART extended the Blue Line to SFO. BART truncated the Blue Line back to Daly City and rerouted the Yellow Line to San Francisco International Airport in its place on February 9, 2004. San Mateo County is not a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, so SamTrans funded the county's BART service. When the extension's lower-than-expected ridership caused SamTrans to accrue deficits, BART agreed to SamTrans' request to operate only this line south of Daly City effective September 12, 2005.

SamTrans and BART reached an agreement in February 2007 in which SamTrans would transfer control and financial responsibility of the SFO/Millbrae extension to BART, in return for BART receiving additional fixed funding from SamTrans and other sources.^[4] BART has since again increased service south of Daly City, but this line now terminates at Daly City.

Blue Line's south-of-Daly City service

Date of change	Service pattern
June 22, 2003	Daly City–SFO[5]
February 9, 2004	none[6]
September 12, 2005	Daly City–SFO/Millbrae[7]
January 1, 2008	Daly City–Millbrae (evenings/weekends)[8]
September 14, 2009	none[9]

2019–2022 changes

MacArthur-bound train at 19th Street Oakland in February 2019

On February 11, 2019, the Blue Line began operating between MacArthur station and Dublin/Pleasanton station on Sundays. The change was to allow single-tracking in the Market Street subway during electrical work, with only the Yellow Line running through the Transbay Tube to serve San Francisco.^[10]

Sunday service to San Francisco and Daly City resumed on February 16, 2020. From February 16, 2020 to September 13, 2020, and again from March 22, 2021 to August 1, 2021, trains terminated at Montgomery station during single-tracking work.^[11][12] From September 14, 2020 to March 21, 2021, and again from August 2, 2021 onwards, trains terminate at 24th Street Mission during single-tracking work.^[13][14]

Stations

Station	Jurisdiction	County	Opened	Other BART lines
Dublin/​Pleasanton	Dublin / Pleasanton	Alameda	May 10, 1997
West Dublin/​Pleasanton			February 19, 2011
Castro Valley	Castro Valley		May 10, 1997
Bay Fair	San Leandro		September 11, 1972	Green Line Orange Line
San Leandro
Coliseum	Oakland			Oakland Airport Connector Green Line Orange Line
Fruitvale				Green Line Orange Line
Lake Merritt
West Oakland			September 16, 1974	Green Line Red Line Yellow Line
Embarcadero	San Francisco		May 27, 1976
Montgomery Street			November 5, 1973
Powell Street
Civic Center/​UN Plaza
16th Street Mission
24th Street Mission
Glen Park
Balboa Park
Daly City	Daly City	San Mateo