Milpitas station

Milpitas
Bay Area Rapid Transit Orange Line (VTA)
Aerial wide view of the Milpitas Transit Center
Transit center with BART & bus stations (background) and light rail platforms (foreground).
General information
Other namesMilpitas Transit Center
Location1755 South Milpitas Boulevard[1]
Milpitas, California
United States
Coordinates37°24′37″N 121°53′28″W / 37.41028°N 121.89111°W / 37.41028; -121.89111
Owned bySanta Clara Valley Transportation Authority
Line(s)BART S-Line
Platforms2 side platforms (BART)
1 island platform (VTA)
Tracks2 (BART)
2 (VTA)
Bus routesBus transport VTA Bus: 20, 44, 47, 60, 66, 70, 77, 104[2]
Bus transport AC Transit: 217
Construction
Structure typeElevated (VTA light rail)
Below-grade (BART)
Parking1,631 spaces
Bicycle facilitiesYes
AccessibleYes
History
OpenedJune 24, 2004 (VTA light rail)
December 28, 2019 (Bus plaza)
June 13, 2020 (BART)
Previous namesMontague (2004–2019)
Passengers
20241,269 (weekday average)[3] (BART)
Services
Preceding station Bay Area Rapid Transit Following station
Warm Springs/​South Fremont
toward Daly City
 Green Line Berryessa/​North San José
Terminus
Warm Springs/​South Fremont
toward Richmond
 Orange Line
Preceding station VTA light rail Following station
Great Mall
toward Mountain View
 Orange Line Cropley
toward Alum Rock
Location
Map

Milpitas station, also known as Milpitas Transit Center, is an intermodal transit station located near the intersection of East Capitol Avenue and Montague Expressway in Milpitas, California, United States. The station is served by the Orange and Green lines of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), the Orange Line of the VTA light rail system, VTA buses, and AC Transit buses.

The elevated Montague light rail station opened in June 2004. It was renamed Milpitas in December 2019 when the bus plaza and connecting footbridge were opened. The below-grade BART station, constructed as part of the Silicon Valley BART extension, opened in June 2020 along with a parking garage.

History

[edit]
The BART station under construction in 2015

The VTA Light Rail station opened as Montague station on June 24, 2004, as part of the Tasman East expansion, originally without any parking spaces.[4]

The BART station is the northern of two stations constructed as part of the $2.3 billion phase I of the Silicon Valley BART extension, which broke ground in 2012. The complex was built by and is owned by the VTA.[5] Opening was delayed repeatedly from its 2016 completion date.[6][7]

In December 2019, the VTA and AC Transit bus station opened,[8][9] while the light rail station was officially renamed from Montague to Milpitas.[10]

An official ribbon cutting for the BART station was held on June 12, 2020, with service beginning the next day on June 13, 2020.[11][12][13]

A 229-foot (70 m)-long footbridge crosses Montague Expressway on the north side of the station. Construction of the $19.33 million bridge, which connects to the second level of the garage, began in 2019; it opened in July 2021.[14]

Station layout

[edit]
See caption
Layout of the Milpitas station complex

The Milpitas station complex is located near the intersection of East Capitol Avenue and the Montague Expressway, near the south border of Milpitas. The BART tracks run roughly north–south in a trench below street level, with two 700-foot (210 m)-long side platforms. The station building is approximately 430 by 160 feet (131 m × 49 m), with an undulating roofline and three large circular skylights. Entrances are on the east and west sides of the station building, near its southern end, leading to a central corridor. Fare control areas are on opposite sides of the corridor; both have stairs and escalators to the platform, with elevators in the north fare control area.[15]

The BART station features stained glass windows by BJ Katz and Chris Klein, titled Ethos of Imagination, above the main entrance. Twenty support columns along the platforms are encased in ceramic tiles by Amy Trachtenberg, titled Ecstatic Voyaging, patterned after the ikat dyeing technique.[16]

The light rail tracks are elevated above East Capitol Avenue, running approximately northwest–southeast. A mezzanine is located under the single island platform, with stairs and an elevator to the median of East Capitol Avenue at South Milpitas Boulevard. A pedestrian bridge leads from the light rail mezzanine northwest to the west side of the BART building where escalators and an elevator lead to the plaza.[15]

The bus plaza is located west of the BART station building. It is served by nine VTA bus routes (20, 44, 47, 60, 66, 70, 77, and 104) and one AC Transit route (217); it serves as a transfer point between the two bus systems.[15] It is the only BART station served by both VTA and AC Transit, and the only VTA light rail station served by AC Transit. The six-story, 1,631 space paid parking garage is located east of the BART building.[15][17] A paid 185-space indoor bike parking structure is located underneath the footbridge; free bike racks are dispersed around the station.[17]

  • BART faregates
    BART faregates
  • BART station platform
    BART station platform
  • Bus plaza and BART station
    Bus plaza and BART station
  • Light rail station from below
    Light rail station from below
  • Light rail platform
    Light rail platform

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "BART service to Milpitas and Berryessa stations starts Saturday, June 13". Bay Area Rapid Transit. May 19, 2020. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  2. ^ "VTA Light Rail System". Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. October 11, 2021. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
  3. ^ "Monthly Ridership Reports". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. June 2024.
  4. ^ "VTA Facts: Light Rail System" (PDF). Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. November 30, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 20, 2009. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  5. ^ "Who owns the BART stations in Berryessa/North San José and Milpitas? Who operates the different services?". Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  6. ^ "BART-to-San Jose construction to start in April". Associated Press. March 13, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2017. Transportation leaders on Monday signed final documents pledging $900 million in federal funds for the $2.3 billion Berryessa extension, scheduled to open in 2016.
  7. ^ Richards, Gary. "Next target: Extending BART under downtown San Jose". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016. Construction begins this spring, with 2016 completion date... Source: VTA
  8. ^ "Proposed 2019 New Transit Service Plan – Light Rail Routes". Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  9. ^ Childress, Brandi (2019-11-20). "Ready for Launch! VTA's All New Service December 28, 2019". Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  10. ^ "VTA makes commuter changes". The Morgan Hill Times. 2019-12-27. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  11. ^ Meacham, Jody (June 12, 2020). "Subdued ceremonies mark BART's station openings in Santa Clara County". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  12. ^ "San Jose BART delay: Milpitas, Berryessa stations likely to miss 2019 opening: Officials had hoped to open the stations by the end of the year". San Jose Mercury News. October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2019. But the agency's general manager revealed this week that BART is likely to miss that target, and trains probably won't start taking passengers to those stations until sometime in 2020.
  13. ^ "Are the Milpitas and Berryessa BART stations going to open on time? It's complicated". San Francisco Chronicle. October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2019. Revenue service will not start on Dec. 28, 2019 if VTA does not resolve the discrepancies necessary for BART to start pre-revenue testing by Oct. 21, 2019
  14. ^ "Montague Expressway Pedestrian Overcrossing". Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. 6 September 2019.
  15. ^ a b c d "Transit Stops: Milpitas Station" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Commission. February 24, 2020.
  16. ^ "Public Art at BART Silicon Valley Phase I Stations". Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
  17. ^ a b "Milpitas Station". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District.
[edit]
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