Transbay Tube set to close for Labor Day weekend

OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU and wires) -- For the second time since the weekend of August 1st, BART’s Transbay Tube will be shut down for maintenance.

The Labor Day weekend closure will see BART service suspended between Oakland and San Francisco on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

“Shutting the tube down is a once every 40 year thing,” said BART Spokeswoman Alicia Trost, “After we get this done hopefully we won’t have to do it again for another 40 years.”

BART will be performing track maintenance that is intended, in part, to provide trains with a smoother, quieter, and safer ride.

Transit agencies are pitching in get people between the East Bay and San Francisco this weekend as BART's Transbay Tube closes for three days.

San Francisco Municipal Railway, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, San Mateo County Transit District and Golden Gate Transit will team up to provide 77 buses to take people across the Bay, Trost said.

Buses will leave every minute from BART's 19th Street station in Oakland to San Francisco's Transbay Terminal during most of the day and less frequently later in the day, Trost said.

Trost said the buses will run from 8 a.m. to midnight Sunday and Monday. Saturday service will start at 6 a.m. and last until 1 a.m. to serve people leaving the Billy Joel concert at AT&T Park in San Francisco, she said.

The buses hold about 90 people and drivers will be leaving even if the bus is not full, Trost added.

"There's really no wait for the bus," she said.

The trip across the Bay takes about 20 minutes under normal traffic conditions, she said.

Service is also doubling this weekend on the San Francisco Bay Ferry between Alameda, Oakland and San Francisco, Water Emergency Transportation Authority officials said. One additional ferry is also being added each day to the Vallejo/San Francisco route.

BART has set up a page on its website to provide more information on the holiday weekend closure.

WETA officials are suggesting riders arrive early and have a backup plan because they don't know how many people will be using the ferries.

Regular BART train service will resume for the Tuesday morning commute.