Chris Peeples is president of the AC Transit Board of Directors. He takes the bus to get to work and to doctor’s appointments; he had a stroke five years ago and doesn’t walk easily, even with a cane. In the last year, his professional and medical lives have collided in an unexpected way.
That’s because Peeples’ doctors are located near the intersection of Broadway and 30th Street in Oakland, in a neighborhood known as “Pill Hill” for its concentration of medical centers, oncologists and health professionals. An AC Transit bus stop at the Broadway and 30th intersection, along the heavily-used 51A line, served many bus riders who – like Peeples – relied on the stop to access medical services, as well as a Grocery Outlet and CVS on the same block. But early last year, City of Oakland officials forced AC Transit to remove the stop, under circumstances that have bus riders in an uproar.
Now bus riders who relied on the stop, many of whom are elderly, disabled or carrying groceries, must walk to the next-nearest stop at Broadway and 28th Street, which, as Peeples says, “when you’ve just have your annual physical, is a pain.”
The bus stop saga began when the developer of a new Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store on the Broadway corridor proposed moving the southbound 51A stop from the northwest corner of the Broadway and 30th intersection to the southwest corner. That proposal, which the Oakland Planning Commission approved in 2013, made sense from a transit perspective.
The relocation would have moved the stop to the “far side” of the intersection after the traffic light. Far-side stops allow buses to travel more efficiently along their routes because they can move through traffic lights before stopping. Far-side stops are also safer for both bus riders and pedestrians because cars can make right-hand turns unhindered by a bus stopped at the corner. As part of its proposal, the developer agreed to pay for transit improvements like bus shelters. For those reasons, AC Transit supported the relocation proposal.
But after the city approved the plan, Summit Bank raised strong objections. Summit Bank is a community bank located on the corner of the intersection where the bus stop was to be relocated. Representatives of the bank, citing security concerns, flooded city administrators with letters of complaint. In response, city officials decided that the location in front of Summit Bank was no longer an option. The stop was removed altogether.
Transit advocates accuse city officials of capitulating to the demands of a politically well-connected bank rather than protecting transit access.
“The bus stop issue is about gentrification. It’s about racism and classism,” says Kit Vaq, an activist with the transit advocacy branch of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. “The bank took the wrong stand. It took the stand against the residents of Oakland. They’re seeing us as second-class citizens, and that’s unacceptable.”
Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland’s City Councilmember At-Large, prioritized the reinstatement of the bus stop when she began hearing complaints from advocates and bus riders. She said she was disturbed by the city’s lack of transparency throughout the process.
“There’ve been a lot of objections both in terms of the harm it’s caused community members by not having that bus stop, but also to the fact that it was taken away without any public process,” Kaplan says. “The [City Council] didn’t authorize the removal.”
On April 12, the Oakland Public Works Committee — which Kaplan chairs — affirmed the city’s intention to reinstate the bus stop.
Summit Bank spokesman Sam Singer says the bank would continue to oppose a bus stop outside of the branch.
