The E is a bus service operated by

AC Transit AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" ...

in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. It is one of the operator's many transbay routes, which are intended to provide riders a long-distance service across the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, California, San Jose, and Oakland, Ca ...

between the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. The service is descendant of a

Key System The Key System (or Key Route) was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay A ...

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

and ferry line that operated prior to the formation of AC Transit. The line is noted for its role in the development of the Claremont Hotel.

Route description

From the outbound terminus where Caldecott Lane dead-ends at the Parkwood Community, coaches run on Caldecott Lane, which becomes Tunnel Road. After running one block on

Ashby Avenue Ashby may refer to: People * Ashby (surname) * Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby (1267–1314), governor of Rockingham Castle and steward of Rockingham Forest, England * Walter Ashby Plecker (1861–1947), American physician and public ...

, buses turn southwest on Claremont Avenue and run until

Highway 24 Route 24, or Highway 24, can refer to: International * European route E24 Australia * Lyell Highway (Tasmania) * Central Arnhem Road, NT Austria * Verbindungsspange Rothneusiedel Canada * Alberta Highway 24 * British Columbia Highway 24 * ...

. It then begins highway running, cross-bay on the

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 ve ...

before terminating at the

Salesforce Transit Center The Transbay Transit Center (officially the Salesforce Transit Center for sponsorship purposes) is a transit station in downtown San Francisco. It serves as the primary bus terminal — and potentially as a future rail terminal — for the San ...

History

The Claremont Line was the fourth streetcar line built by the

. It was built to exploit real estate development in the area and to support the operation of the forthcoming Claremont Hotel, which was being built by business interests connected to

Francis "Borax" Smith Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) (once known nationally and internationally as "Borax Smith" and "The Borax King" ) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisco ...

and the Key System. The company acquired a franchise in 1904 to operate on 55th Street, and service from the Berkeley main line to

Telegraph Avenue Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California, Berkeley campu ...

began on August 1, 1906 — the line was operated as a shuttle with connections to ferry cars along

Adeline Street Adeline may refer to: People *Adeline (given name) *Yves-Marie Adeline (born 1960), French Catholic writer Places *Adeline, Illinois, village in Maryland Township, Ogle County, Illinois, US Arts and entertainment *Adeline Records, recording lab ...

. Tracks were extended down Claremont Avenue to College in September the following year, with tracks reaching the Claremont Hotel property in December. Tracks terminated between the hotel's

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be ...

s. Full train-ferry service to the site began on May 10, 1910, and the hotel would go on to open in 1915, giving the service a leisure-oriented destination for its outbound terminus. The line's expansion was successful in spurring development in the area. Cars began running across the

to the

Transbay Terminal The San Francisco Transbay Terminal was a transportation complex in San Francisco, California, United States, roughly in the center of the rectangle bounded north–south by Mission Street and Howard Street, and east–west by Beale Street an ...

upon the facility's opening in 1939. The Key System adopted letter designations for its transbay routes at this time, with the Berkeley route designated as E. Rail service ended on April 19, 1958 and the line was thereafter operated by buses.

Public ownership

AC Transit took over operation of the Key system's assets in October 1960. In February 1961, the E Claremont's routing was changed to operate on 55th, Vicente, Ayala, Miranda, and Claremont. Motor coaches making transbay runs began operating on the Grove-Shafter Freeway in September 1969. Some rush hour trips were extended to the Parkwood Apartment complex starting December 1975. Buses ceased serving the Transbay Terminal on August 7, 2010, and the San Francisco terminus was moved to the

Temporary Transbay Terminal The San Francisco Transbay Terminal was a transportation complex in San Francisco, California, United States, roughly in the center of the rectangle bounded north–south by Mission Street and Howard Street (San Francisco), Howard Street, and ea ...

. The E line began serving the

on August 12, 2018. Service ceased amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, with operations suspended between April 2020 and August 2021.

References

Bibliography

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External links

E
— via AC Transit 1906 establishments in California Railway lines opened in 1906 Railway lines closed in 1958 Public transportation in Alameda County, California Bus routes in San Francisco Transportation in Berkeley, California AC Transit bus routes