East Bay BRT: Station Art

Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) sent this bulletin at 03/24/2017 07:57 AM PDT

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.
Bus Rapid Transit
BRT Uptown

With construction now in full swing to build the East Bay’s first Bus Rapid Transit system, we thought now would be a great time to help you get a sense of the artwork that will grace the completed BRT stations. We believe the beauty of the artwork can be a sustaining image as you journey with us through the year-plus construction process.

Extensive input from the community helped create the artwork theme of “Cultural Corridor/Urban Flow.” All 34 stations will have windscreens as well as decorative handrails that flow into the station platform. Seven stations will have “artistically enhanced” windscreens. The honeycomb panels on the windscreens of the stations are reflective and will show the ever-changing movement (flow) of passengers, buses, lights and even the shifting sky above.  

Johanna Poethig, Mildred Howard, Peter Richards and Joyce Hsu, artists for the BRT station artwork project, comment on their work: 

“The BRT project, Cultural Corridor/Urban Flow, draws a ribbon winding through the neighborhoods like a creek, a metaphor for the flow of people, cultures, businesses, natural and urban environments along the corridor.  As transportation systems are inherently linear this unfolding visual poem complements this exciting new bus line.  What we were seeing and trying to capture is the diversity of the neighborhoods and the people. We who live in the East Bay know that what we are doing is broadening our love for the city to those passing by and those who live here.”

The diverse neighborhoods along the BRT corridor will be served by 34 stations. The artwork that connects all the stations is a visual poem of images and words that tells the many rich and history-filled stories of the diverse neighborhoods along the 9.5-mile BRT route. Downtown San Leandro, Elmhurst, Havenscourt-Lockwood, Fruitvale, San Antonio, Eastlake, Chinatown and Uptown/Downtown Oakland, are but a few of the neighborhoods along the BRT corridor. 

Here’s a glimpse at Cultural Corridor/Urban Flow…

Uptown Station (Downtown Oakland)- “Footsteps in time/Deco dance/ saxophone tracks/ evening overtures/rhythms gather”

Harrison Station (Chinatown) - “hidden treasures dim sum/ Friday market greens/ delicate tea cups hold ginger and Jasmin”

5th Avenue Station (Chinatown)– “children swing reach the sky / little creeks flow running to the bay”

63rd Avenue Station (Havenscourt-Lockwood) – “Cultivating Innovating Creating”

82nd Avenue Station (Elmhurst) – “music city corner bop at the bus stop”

95th Avenue Station (Elmhurst) – “pink and blue collars/backbone of the bay”

Downtown San Leandro Station - “sidewalk stroller in urban flow/gather together/ we dream”

A committed and talented AC Transit team is busy building the infrastructure necessary to transform BRT into a reality, yet it is the artwork of and for the local community that is giving BRT its heart and soul.

To learn more, visit brt.actransit.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

BRT Havenslock