El Cerrito Plaza station

El Cerrito Plaza station is a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in El Cerrito, California, located adjacent to the El Cerrito Plaza shopping center. It primarily serves southern El Cerrito, northern Albany, and Kensington, along with nearby portions of Berkeley and Richmond. Nearly identical in form to El Cerrito del Norte station, El Cerrito Plaza station has two side platforms serving the line's two elevated tracks, with a fare lobby underneath. The Ohlone Greenway runs through the station area. The station is served by the Orange and Red lines.

El Cerrito Plaza
Platforms at El Cerrito Plaza station in 2017
General information
Location	6699 Fairmount Avenue El Cerrito, California
Coordinates	37.902694°N 122.298968°W / 37.902694; -122.298968
Owned by	Bay Area Rapid Transit
Line(s)	BART R-Line
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	AC Transit: 71, 72, 72M, 79, 667, 668, 675, 684, G Bear Transit: RFS
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
Parking	761 spaces
Bicycle facilities	30 lockers
Accessible	Yes
Architect	DeMars & Wells[1]
Other information
Station code	BART: PLZA
History
Opened	January 29, 1973[2]
Passengers
2025	2,062 (weekday average)[3]
Services
Preceding station Bay Area Rapid Transit Following station North Berkeley toward Berryessa Orange Line El Cerrito del Norte toward Richmond North Berkeley toward Millbrae Red Line
Location

History

The BART Board approved the name "El Cerrito Plaza" in December 1965.^[4] The station opened on January 29, 1973.^[2] As with El Cerrito del Norte station, the escalator walls feature tile mosaics by Alfonso Pardiñas.^[5] UC Berkeley music professor Jorge Liderman committed suicide at the station on February 3, 2008.^[6] Conceptual plans for modernization of the two El Cerrito stations were released in December 2013.^[7] Thirteen BART stations, including El Cerrito Plaza, did not originally have faregates for passengers using the elevator. In 2020, BART started a project to add faregates to elevators at these stations. Two new faregates at El Cerrito Plaza were installed in May 2022.^[8]

In 2018, BART and the city of El Cerrito signed a memorandum of understanding to begin planning for transit-oriented development to replace surface parking lots at the station.^[9] A developer was chosen in November 2020. A total of six buildings with about 750 residential units are planned.^[10] Per BART policy to limit parking replacement at urban stations, BART parking will be reduced from 761 spaces to 145 spaces.^[11][10][12] The first building was approved by the city in 2023. As of December 2024^[update], construction of the buildings is expected to begin in 2025, with all completed within 4 years.^[13]

Bus connections

AC Transit buses at the station

Busways on both sides of the station serve a number of AC Transit bus routes:^[14]

• Local: 71, 72, 72M, 79
• Transbay: G
• School: 667, 668, 675, 684

The busways are also used by the Bear Transit RFS route.^[14] Several other AC Transit routes — including rapid route 72R, Transbay routes L and LC, and All Nighter route 800 — run on San Pablo Avenue 0.25 miles (0.40 km) to the west.