BART to Reopen Station Restrooms in SF + Oakland After 20 Years

BART officials on Tuesday announced plans to reopen restrooms at two of the transit agency’s busiest train stations — 19th Street Oakland and Powell Street in downtown San Francisco.

The station restrooms are set to reopen in February 2022 for the first time in more than 20 years after BART closed them and ones at several other stations, citing safety concerns following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

UPDATE: Please note that an early version of this article stated the restrooms were opening in October 2021, but has been revised to state that the restrooms will open in February 2022.

For at least the first three months of the restrooms’ reopening, they will be staffed with attendants, agency officials said.

BART’s Board of Directors on Thursday will also hear from the agency’s general manager Bob Powers about restroom reopening plans for eight other stations around the system that closed them following 9/11.

A staff report for the meeting outlines funding and work needed to open the other stations, including $600,000 in capital funds needed to reopen Lake Merritt and Montgomery stations as planned by the summer of 2022.

Other station restrooms that remain closed at Downtown Berkeley, Embarcadero, Civic Center, 12th Street Oakland, 16th Street Mission and 24th Street Mission stations have timelines further out, with $14 million being the estimated funding needing to be found to reopen all closed restrooms, according to BART.

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