Ashby BART Station

Great station that is clean for the most part. Enjoy the sounds of the Jazz guy playing– almost every day.
Parking is free after 3pm!

This is a review for the whole Bart. Bart has wonderful front office staff always. Bart is great because of its accessibility and parking as well schedule. Bart needs to massively improve its cleanliness and need to enforce non loitering. It seems that on a daily basis the seats and floors do not get wiped or mopped as you can still smell in the morning and all day trace of all kinds of body fluids. Bart would need to enforce also the ridership of patrons with valid Bart tickets and rides to ensure that seats are available legitimately as well as passenger comfort and safety. There are no Bart inspectors checking tickets. Compared to the trains in Asia and Europe, Bart needs to be massively improved hygiene and cleanliness side and ridership with valid tickets. I would pay a little bit more to make this happen.

Ode to my bike seat
Once I had a bike seat
It was attached to my bike
Then someone took it
And sold it to the guy who sells bikes
In the Ashby lot on Sundays
Then that guy sold it to someone else
And now the seat is gone
I loved that seat
We went everywhere together
We were inseparable
And now, we’re separated
If you think my ode is a simple metaphor for life, it is. But it also really happened. It’s not Ashby’s fault. But then again, who is Ashby? Okay, I googled him and found out he was apparently some failed gold prospector from Massachusetts. So, fuck Ashby.
Anyway, back to my point: you can take the SFO Milbrae or the Fremont trains to get into San Francisco from here. If you take Fremont, change at MacArthur for the airport bound train. On the way home, I only take the late BART. So I hop on the Pittsburgh Bay Point line and get the timed transfer at 19^th street Oakland. Not sure how it works at other times but you can do it. I believe in you.
Follow my instructions and keep your wits about you and you should be fine. And get a Clipper Card goddamn it.

The station is right next to Ed Robert’s Campus if you are looking for disability related resources or looking to take any classes. A star for the location and convenience for this campus. I haven’t used any of the Ashby station’s restrooms. Truth be told with what I have experienced riding Bart during rush hour makes me hesitate to do so.
Every time I would go here to meet my friend (R.I.P.) and we would take Bart to go to dinner, we would hit rush hour. I don’t know who I offended in the previous life but we would always have the unfortunate luck of being near a small group of hipster hippies who hopped on the last minute. It would only take two or three of them to stink up half of the car with the undeniable smell of B.O. with a hint of grass. It is even worse during the summer.
To the Hipster Hippies on Ashby Bart: Come on guys, I get that you want to be closer to Mother Nature and stuff but can’t you look into this issue? Perhaps a combination of peppermint oil and baking soda might suffice? I sometimes can’t tell if the reason I always see your hair in what looks like poorly constructed dreadlocks is because that’s how you do your hair or if the lack of washing has caused it to fuse with dirt and stick together in clumps. I dunno but if you can at least do something about the marinated armpits, I would appreciate it since it will make the ride more bearable.

If you park at BART for your commute to work, this station is perfect. The latest I’ve gotten here on a weekday is 7:55 and there were still rows of empty parking on the fee lot (the permit lot looks even less crowded). Every other surrounding BART station has a full parking lot by around 7:20. You can sleep an extra 30 minutes.

First time using the BART System
And Ed the employee was such a huge help! If you need help and has questions see Ed! Very diverse area with a variety of people but most everyone we encountered was helpful on how to get around and which trains to take.

Aw yeah! Nothin’ like picking up
My bike at night after they pressure wash the ashby bike area. My bike helmet was dripping with some sweet ass wet stuff into my my face as I ride home. All I could think is aw yeah livin’ the dream!

It was cool to be riding the BART train — get across the bay bridge with no hassles — only thing I didn’t like and beware that when you swipe your card make sure to pay attention on the amount because it starts at charging $ 20.00 and you have to subtract from that amount– if you press ok it will charge you $ 20.00 Trust. **No refunds**

I little bit of a dreary place, but not the worst station in the system by any means. They have two elevators to the platform, so the risk of not being able to get down there if you need one is 50% reduced.
They have a food vendor out in front that sells who-​knows-​what, but people have been eating it and they show up at the BART station every day. I don’t know if they ride BART, but they love that food cart.
Don’t come here on a Saturday or Sunday unless you either A) really like drum circles or B) love the smell of cheap incense. Oh Berkeley Flee market.
My favorite part about this BART station is that I get to pass Erline the crossing guard on the corner of Ashby and MLK. During the school year, she wishes everyone who passes a «Good morning» and «God bless.» She also yells at you if you jaywalk or run through the crosswalk. Highlight of my morning. They don’t make them like that anymore.

II dont love the station, but its close to my house, so I use it a lot.
It’s dirty and sometimes the turnstiles dont work. There are always people panhandling outside.
On top of that, I just got my bike stolen there.- TODAY… I wonder why Bart has decided to not have security cameras around that station.
However, on the bright side, I havent been mugged or robbed of my wallet. Yet.

On the weekend Ashby Bart has a flea market that consumes half the parking blot right in front of the station. Paying Bart customers must park across the street in the Adeline parking lot. I suggest the lit in front if the station be reserved for paying customers. The Adeline lot could be used for the flea market.

Can any bart station be rated four or five stars? Bart does a decent job of keeping these spots clean. This is despite the gross human pigeons that make the front stoop their bathroom, bedroom, begging grounds.
I do think Bart has a long way to go. Id rather has a crappy NYC subway station though than the unreliable, limited track Bart.
Ashby does look better than most other bart stations.

For the record, this is my first time using the BART system. However, I grew up in Chicago and am very used to subways and public transit systems.
That being said, this was one of the most filthy, disgusting, unpleasant stations I have ever been at on any public transportation system. I took the BART from San Francisco International towards Emeryville, where I was staying for work, and the only two stations close to the hotel were Ashby and MacArthur, and I should have known it was going to be bad. As the train ride progressed, I noticed a lot of the more normal looking and acting people were getting off, and as we got towards Ashby, there were a lot of shady characters on the train.
Nobody messed with me on the train, which was nice. But the second I got off, I immediately felt uncomfortable. Panhandlers everywhere, people trying to give you their CDs and demos, putting them in your hands then requesting money, homeless people following people everywhere. And the best part? The cops that were there overseeing everything didn’t seem to care whatsoever. They just stayed away and watched.
Station is dirty, smells, and I barely saw any kind of staff there.
The ONLY plus side? Plenty of cabs were sitting out front for a quick escape. I would never feel comfortable parking a car here, or even coming to this stop at night. I can’t imagine how a lone woman would feel in a place like this.
If you’re reading this, I would highly recommend going to a different station if possible.

Yes, Ashby BART is not super clean (I haven’t seen the restrooms, but would rather use the bushes than venture into any BART station restroom. Truth be told, I actually didn’t even know they had restrooms!). It’s not in a great area, but I’ve NEVER felt in danger or been accosted by anybody and I’ve been there at all times from early, early in the morning to late, late at night.
Parking can be crazy if you are using BART as your commute during the day. Unless you buy a Permit parking pass (~$ 100/​mo?) forget about getting a parking place here or across the street in its overflow parking lot after 8:00 a.m. on the weekdays. I got here once at 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and was SOL in both lots. I ended up driving to my 9:00 a.m. appointment in Downtown Oakland.
Ashby BART ranks in the lower echelons of BART stations, sure. Maybe the Lake Merritt or Civic Center BART might be seedier. But it serves the purpose, that is, to get you from Point A to B cheaply and quickly. Winning! :)

One of the ghettos Bart stations — probably not the most ghetto but it sure makes the list. I came here with my friend to take the Bart to the city. Super super super gross! This place is as dirty as it can be, can’t imagine what the bathrooms look like.
The place and elevators smells like pee everywhere which makes you think twice about touching anything. The people that work here are on their phones and don’t want to help you. You always feel like you have to watch your back in this place. There are the occasional homeless people walking around and people who are on drugs. Then you have the ghetto black people who are on drugs.
Once you are down waiting for your Bart train to come its not any better. Occasional creepy people looking around, and horrible smells. Avoid this place if you can, late at night or make sure you are around people that rather normal. Parking in this place is also a hassle & have cars have been victims to break ins. Avoid if you can.

I haven’t been on a subway train since like 1989 in Chicago when I was little.
My husband suggested we take the BART to SF on a saturday and I’m totally glad I did. At first I thought it was going to be a hassle not having a car but it was way easier than driving.
We got on the train on ashby and got off somewhere near union square and I think it took us less than 20 minutes to get there. It was a little crowded but I adjusted well.
Coming back to Berkeley was even faster and our little car was intact, which was a relief. So in a nutshell I’m definitely doing this again!

I’m thankful that this is my home station. It’s clean and never creepy no matter what time of day you go.

My car was broken into for my radio. Beware parking here! It’s more or less safe except for this one incident. I drive a Honda so it’s easily a targeted car. Still, I’ve never been broken into at another BART station so stay on the safe side when parking here.
Keep all items out of view (although let’s be real, I had nothing showing and still, my window got smashed in for a cheap radio).

This is my favorite Berkeley Bart stations out of the two. It’s clean, not so many creepy people are here when I’m here.
I always find myself loving places with terrible parking situations, but this is the Bay Area and so I guess I should be de to such terrible parking conditions.

It’s not the prettiest Bart Station but I think it’s way better and way cleaner than the Civic Center or Mission Bart stations. I definitely feel safer at Ashby than when I’m waiting outside West Oakland Bart. I usually hang right by the Yummy Hotdog stand if I’m waiting for someone… plus who doesn’t want to inhale the delicious savory scent of hotdogs? It’s a calorie free delight!
Minus star because the Bart Police at this station didn’t respond quick enough when I complained to the attendant that some creepy dude grabbed me by the arm. Thank God it was during rush hour so I was able to run away and blend with the other commuters. Another minus star for the gross bathroom. How can you use it if you’re too afraid to touch anything inside? But I guess if you were desperate to use the bathroom, you can’t be picky could you?
Just don’t go here alone late at night because there’s not too many commuters around. There’s more people at the Downtown Berkeley (Shattuck) and MacArthur Bart stations in the evening so they’re a bit safer.