The Temporary Terminal is the temporary replacement bus facility that will serve bus passengers while the new, multi-modal Transbay Transit Center is under construction. Located on the block of downtown San Francisco bounded by Main, Folsom, Beale and Howard streets, the Temporary Terminal will serve AC Transit, WestCAT Lynx, MUNI (including Paratransit), Golden Gate Transit, SamTrans and Greyhound passengers.
The Transbay Transit Center Project will replace the Transbay Terminal located at First and Mission streets in downtown San Francisco and create a new, multi-modal Transit Center that will eventually serve more than 100,000 passengers per day and become the new hub of economic life in San Francisco.
The Temporary Terminal will serve as a temporary facility for existing Transbay Terminal bus operations, allowing demolition of the existing terminal and construction of the Transbay Transit Center. This temporary facility is expected to operate from early 2010 until 2015, when the new Transbay Transit Center will open.
The TJPA anticipates that the move could be sometime this spring. The slight hold up is related to potential federal stimulus funding for the underground train box for the Transbay Transit Center, not a delay in construction of the Temporary Terminal.
Currently, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is considering which areas of the country will receive funding as part of an $8 billion federal stimulus package that President Obama billed as a first step toward a nationwide system of high-speed trains linking the nation’s largest cities. The train box for the Transbay Transit Center is a leading contender to receive funds, and if it does, the construction of the new Transit Center would include the train box now, in order to take advantage of the competitive pricing in the construction industry. The train box at the Transit Center will accommodate high-speed rail, as well as Caltrain, which currently terminates at 4th and King streets in San Francisco. This would increase the price tag for the Transit Center project in its initial phase, but cost less in the long-run, since ultimately the plan is for the Transit Center to be a major hub connecting bus and rail.
The FRA was supposed to make its decision about the stimulus funds in October 2009 but is now supposed to make a decision sometime between December 2009 and March 2010. That decision was delayed, meaning the construction plans and timeline for the Transit Center cannot yet be finalized. By coordinating the move to the Temporary Terminal with the start of Transit Center construction, TJPA, AC Transit and other operators are working to minimize the overall time the transit operators occupy the Temporary Terminal. With the start of the Transit Center construction not yet finalized, the Temporary Terminal move-in date remains in question.
The Transbay Joint Powers Authority is committed to mitigating traffic impacts during the course of the Temporary Terminal's construction. However, traffic disruptions are expected throughout the course of the project.
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The Casual Carpool program was relocated from the east side Beale Street to the west side of Beale Street at the start of construction last winter and is expected to remain at that location throughout the operation of the Temporary Terminal. Updates on Casual Carpool will be available on this website and at 511.org
In Spring 2010, the Temporary Terminal will begin AC Transit, MUNI, Greyhound, WestCAT Lynx, and Golden Gate Transit operations. SamTrans operations will move to the Temporary Terminal in Fall 2010. For more information on the Temporary Terminal timeline, please continue to visit temporaryterminal.org
The Transbay Transit Center Project will transform the area surrounding the new Transit Center into a vibrant new mixed-use neighborhood that will include 2,600 new homes (35% affordable), shops, public parks and plazas, widened sidewalks with new street trees and lights, and commercial space next to the new Transit Center.
The block of downtown San Francisco that will be occupied by the Temporary Terminal will, at the end of the project, be transformed into 732 new residential units and a one-acre public park. Folsom Street, the southern boundary of the Temporary Terminal, will emerge as the centerpiece of the new Transbay neighborhood with widened sidewalks, cafes, markets and views of the San Francisco Bay.
