<p>Anyone who's been to the bay area to visit Berkeley have an opinion on how efficient and practical mass transit is?</p>
<p>From what I understand, to use BART, you must buy a $45 pass that deducts from the total at every stop. At Berkeley itself there is a "Bear shuttle" to take students free of charge to different area of the campus. Please correct me if I'm wrong.</p>
<p>If you're a Berkeley student, you must pay for AC Transit pass...this year was like 37 something, and you can ride the bus all you want...you dun have to buy a $45 pass for BART, you can just buy it everytime you need to take it...theres different prices for different stations</p>
<p>To clarify, the AC transit pass allows Cal students to ride almost all AC Transit busses for free. The transit system is the Bay Area is great, I think it's something like 3rd in the nation behind NYC and Boston.</p>
<p>There is BearTransit, but with the Class Pass, it's pointless to use BearTransit (generally lines run every half hour, so you'll usually see some AC bus before a BearTransit one). </p>
<p>Yeah...with BART most people just buy individual tickets for each trip. So from Berkeley to SF Powell (downtown shopping area), it's like $6.50. </p>
<p>I think public transit is quite effective. Sometimes AC transit sucks; the damn buses never show up when you need them, but for the most part, if you don't calculate your times toooooo precisely (give yourself some leeway), AC will take you where you need. BART is generally always on time unless there's some random circumstance like a train breaking...BART doesn't take you everywhere you need though in SF, so you might need MUNI</p>
<p>I see. Thanks guys.</p>
<p>yogi, you say almost all- which one's aren't free?</p>
<p>Oh and how often do you go into SF? Or use the bus to get to class?</p>
<p>I assume most people (if they live in the dorms) can just walk or ride a bike right?</p>
<p>Some go to SF weekly, many monthly, most a few times a semester, some never. I rarely use the bus to go to class as I'm so close, but often use it to go around Berkeley.</p>
<p>Most people walk or ride a bike, some skateboard or take the bus.</p>
<p>Once in a very very rare while I'll take the bus to class...must be super lazy / sick though. </p>
<p>I go to SF once every two or three weeks...a bit more than most people I know. Last semester I went maybe once a month.</p>
<p>I'm going to be living across the bay so I'll be taking BART everyday. Do Berkeley students get any special discounts for the BART passes? I would be in heaven if the ClassPass covered BART :o</p>
<p>I don't think it does, but you might want to call the university- I think bulk rate tickets are available, but I don't know if it's any different than what the BART has for bulk-buyers.</p>
<p>for some reason, route 51 often have one bus sticking right behind another 51's @$$.......so on the first bus everyone got sandwiched while the one behind is 80% empty.......so stupid......</p>
<p>What is a "Class Pass?" I looked and don't see it explained... also, are bikes commonly used as transportation around campus and the local area? Can I get around with a skateboard or will that be frowned upon?</p>
<p>The Class Pass is a sticker on your ID card that allows you unlimited rides on AC transit (the bus system for Alameda County)</p>
<p>Yah, a lot of people use bikes...there are bike racks around almost every building. a few people skate around too...must of them use really big skateboards...I am guessing they aren't regular skaters.</p>
<p>DRab, hmm, I take that back. I was under the impression that there were some routes that Cal students couldn't ride for free....but now that I look, can't find any. Thanks for pointing that out.</p>
<p>We're working on getting real time bus information online, along with arrival predictions. Some of the Class Pass referendum $$ is specifically allocated to this project, so it should happen soon (1-2 semesters). You'll be able to do cool things like get bus arrival estimates texted to your cell phone.</p>
<p>Oh, no problem, no big deal.</p>
<p>Sounds cool. What other features might or will come with it?</p>
<p>It's mostly just to find out where a bus is and when it's going to be at your stop. Right now the plan is for a real-time online map, and the ability to query the system via cell phone/IM/web. Later on we're hoping to push geo-sensitive ads to the buses, and maybe even wifi access within the bus (the bus runs aren't that long though, so we're not sure about that).</p>
<p>those big skateboards are called longboards, and they are amazing.</p>