Coliseum vaccination site will be drive-up only

As the Pedestrian Village is now closed, BART has ended the free ride home program. In total, we handed out 5,487 free $7 tickets as part of this program. BART has offered our stations and parking lots to county health officials, community organizations and health care providers as transit friendly vaccination locations. 

May 9 2021

The Pedestrian Village has now been shut down. Alameda County Public Health provided BART with some more details: The Pedestrian Village has served an important function, but it remains underutilized and Alameda County continues to hear from community members that mobile units are highly preferred. Alameda County will fully take over the vaccination effort at the Coliseum on May 9, 2021 and will not keep the Pedestrian Village open. To increase access at the Coliseum, Alameda County would plan to add true same day drop-in options through Community Points of Dispensing (PODs) mobile sites.

May 4, 2021 Update

AC Transit's fare-free vaccine shuttle has resumed for one week only – the duration of time Cal OES will restore operations at the Pedestrian Village.

The temporarily reactivated vaccine shuttle will operate every 15-minutes directly from Coliseum BART to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum’s Pedestrian Village. 

April 26, 2021 Update

According to CalOES and Alameda County Public Health, the Pedestrian Village has been shut down from April 19, 2021- May 2, 2021. It will be open the week of May 2 for second doses only.

Alameda County Public Health provided BART with some more details: The Pedestrian Village has served an important function, but it remains underutilized and Alameda County continues to hear from community members that mobile units are highly preferred.

Alameda County will fully take over the vaccination effort at the Coliseum on May 9, 2021 and will not keep the Pedestrian Village open. To increase access at the Coliseum, Alameda County would plan to add true same day drop-in options. Due to the longer term plans to focus on mobile and Community Points of Dispensing (PODs), and because of the recent pause in use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Pedestrian Village is closed for the next couple of weeks. 

April 19, 2021 Update:

CalOES has informed BART that the Pedestrian Village tent at the Oakland Coliseum Vaccination Site will temporarily shut down from April 19, 2021- May 2, 2021. Only drive up appointments will be available. The site plans to resume walk-up appointments on Monday, May 3, 2021.

Alameda County Public Health provided BART with some more details: The Pedestrian Village has served an important function, but it remains underutilized and Alameda County continues to hear from community members that mobile units are highly preferred. At this time, Alameda County does not intend to keep the Pedestrian Village open if/when the site transitions to local control. To increase access at the Coliseum, Alameda County would plan to add true same day drop-in options. Due to the longer term plans to focus on mobile and Community Points of Dispensing (PODs), and because of the recent pause in use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Pedestrian Village is closed for the next couple of weeks. The Pedestrian Village will be active again during the last week of CalOES operations to provide second doses for people who have already received first doses.

BART is supporting the large-scale, appointments-only, vaccinations at the Oakland Coliseum and for a limited time will offer a free BART ride home for those who have been vaccinated at the site. The vaccination is in the parking lot of the Oakland Coliseum, which is accessible from the Coliseum BART station. While there are long car lines to get vaccinated, the pedestrian village for those who take transit has little to no wait. 

BART will have extra staff at the Coliseum BART station during BART operating hours to provide anyone who has received a vaccine a free $7 BART ticket on-site after showing their vaccination card with a matching date. $7 is enough fare to get home to any station in the system, except SFO station. 

Appointments are required to get a vaccine. Appointments are available through the state’s MyTurn scheduling system or by calling 1-833-422-4255. Only those with an appointment can enter the site.

BART has ensured those individuals who have mobility challenges will have assistance getting between the Coliseum BART Station and the vaccination site. 

Getting from the Coliseum BART Station to the site

The distance between BART and the vaccination site is about a quarter of a mile. Get off the train, go down to the street level, take the stairs or elevator to the pedestrian bridge, cross the pedestrian bridge, and go down the ramp to the registration tent located right at the base. 

There will be wheel chair accessible carts (similar to a golf cart) making loops between the pedestrian bridge/BART elevator and the vaccination location. The carts can be used by anyone who needs assistance. 

BART will have escalator and elevator crews standing by and if a BART elevator goes out of service and quickly cannot be put back in service, a shuttle will be provided.

Free shuttle from Coliseum BART to the site

The AC Transit Vaccine Shuttle ceased operations on Monday, April 19. Cal OES will put into place a shuttle option for individuals with access and functional needs arriving by public transit at the Coliseum stop to access the pedestrian village for vaccination appointments.Cal OES directs additional transportation inquiries to the Q&A section of MyTurn.ca.gov.

The vaccination site will be jointly operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State of California through the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and is part of the wider effort to create 100 vaccination sites nationwide in the President’s first 100 days.

BART’s limited promotion of a free ride home from Coliseum is only available for the Coliseum site until further notice. It is not being offered for other vaccination locations in the Bay Area. The free ticket is non-refundable and is only available on-site during BART’s operating hours and on the same day of the person’s appointment as verified by the date on the vaccination card. Riders should check train arrival and departures times to and from the Coliseum Station for the day of their appointment to plan their trip.

BART will monitor ridership to and from the station to ensure social distancing on trains remains possible.

New website with transit friendly vaccine locations

Bay Area transit agencies are teaming up to ensure that those individuals who are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine can use transit to get to vaccination sites - and can easily learn where and how to do it.
In the latest initiative of the collective Healthy Transit Plan, the website healthytransitplan.com includes a list of vaccination sites accessible by public transportation and the current special promotions offered by the agencies serving the sites.

This article was originally posted on April 11, 2021.