BART - San Leandro Station

I don't know where to put this piece of advice.

As a word of caution, if you pay for parking on the Bart app, do not park in the underground lot at 1400 San Leandro Blvd that is labeled "BART PARKING around the corner" and has the official BART logo etched into the glass doors. It is a scam. That is a privately owned garage.

I parked my car there mistaking it for long term parking. The garage was open and I drove in. When I returned from my trip, I was unable to get my car out and I had 3 hefty parking tickets. I had to talk to the apartment manager who let me into the lot but I was still unable to get my car out for 1.5 hours. The parking company was refusing to let me out unless I paid the tickets and the only reason I got out was because the sympathetic apartment manager asked them to let me out because I had my 6 year old and my luggage from the airport with me.

Station Agent upgrade alert! The last agent was great to be sure but Eric is BACK! Now, for those of you who don't know Eric he's the best at what he does. Many other do what Eric does but none have ever risen to the level of human being that Ron has!
I will now leave the house a minute or two early, just for 60 seconds of Eric! Try him out! Give him a look in the eye! Going a bit deep here but that's how I roll.
The world is full of good people and people and also people with challenges. People like Eric give me confidence that we can work with what we have. BART presents surprise encounters with different challenges and people each day. Every day, every ride. Station agents do NOT have it easy so I encourage you to at least give a thumbs up on the way to or from the platform. If they aren't having challenges at the moment, they're soon to come.
Thanks Eric, for being and island of sanity for us. Thanks to all of the station agents!

San Leandro Bart is your easy way to get to Kaiser Permanente when you exit BART at this station. They run a free shuttle outside that rapidly runs so you can catch it from the BART Station and catch it back from the hospital.

The elevator is the only thing that takes a long time to operate in my opinion, my husband and I thought we were going to get stuck. But lucky for us, the train was right there when we got to the top. So I guess that worked out in our favor.

Fare prices are displayed in public view in all vending machines.

You lazy ass BART Station representative. I ask you a simple question and you cannot even stop texting to give me a straight answer.

Sorry to bother you lame ass!

Really helpfully community and the trains are clean with the people that ride them that are nice

I was headed to San Leandro from San Francisco after work. The fastest way to get there? Why BART of course! I got to this station on Friday, May 3rd around 6:15pm.

From the Powell Street station, my ride was 7 stops and about 27 mins. I believe there are two train options, Dublin/Pleasanton or Warm Springs/South Fremont. At that time, I think they come every 5-10 mins or so, so I didn't have to wait long. According to google maps, the cost was $5.15, which isn't horrible at all.

In terms of location, there's not much immediately around, so this is definitely more of a commuter station. There was a plaza nearby so I decided to make a pitstop there, but it was still a good 10 min walk away. My ultimate destination was actually almost a 30 min walk, so a good ways away.

Not a bad way to get to San Leandro from the city.

The San Leandro BART station is my staging point to Oakland.

South Bay residents know that there's a bit of driving required to get to the nearest BART station. For those BARTing to the Oakland Coliseum, San Leandro is a convenient hop-on location that's not too busy. It's one stop away, so the per-way fare is pretty cheap (currently $2.50) and allows one to avoid the more expensive parking options at the Coliseum.

The San Leandro parking lot is sufficiently lit at night, and the neighborhood looks safe enough. Parking is free on weekends.

There are separate platforms for north and southbound trains. Abundant signage eliminates excuses for getting on the wrong train.

Two single-occupancy restrooms serve the entire station. This is too little, but all BART stations seem to be this way. The restrooms here were not the most clean, but they had soap and paper towels, which for public restrooms these days is about as much as you can hope for!

Date: 7/8/2017 Time: 4:45 PM 77° Sunny

I have been to this station a few times in the past, as in pre-Yelp days. The station is okay. It is either the same or slightly better than other BART Stations throughout the BART system.

My husband and I decided to catch the BART train at this station on our way to the county fair in Pleasanton. We chose to use public transportation to the fair this year instead of facing the difficulty of traffic congestion, parking at the fairgrounds and the price to park the car ($15 or more).

There's plenty of parking in the rear at this station. The front of the station leads to San Leandro Blvd. Compared to some of the stations in Oakland and San Francisco, it is cleaner and does not have the pissy aroma that I have come across.

I can't say too much as to what it's like in the evening. I only been out at this station once in the evening. All I saw were lines of taxi cabs waiting to transport people to their destination.

The good thing is at least the escalators are working to get my husband and me up and down from the train platform.

Not bad, not good. Some folks hanging out making noise but nothing threatening. Pigeons still rule the roost based on the amount of pigeon poop on the ground.

We carded in, went up the escalator and waited for our train. Saw one couple with Boba Teas which they took onto the train but did not drink from.

Parking was easy on a Sunday morning. All in all, a decent experience.

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The review above was written on the outbound trip to San Francisco and I had given it four stars. Unfortunately, on the inbound, I saw all the pigeons and pigeon crap that I somehow missed the first time. A good pressure wash and tons of spike are needed to get this station ship shape.

For future stations or equipment replacement, slanted housings should be designed instead of giving pigeons a flat surface to roost upon. Kind of like a pitched roof on an alpine house so the snow load slides off easily.

My hometown's BART station gets 3 stars for... trying, I guess.

This place has gotten progressively worse over the years. Don't get me started on the bathrooms, which I can harshly criticize since I did use them once... it was a necessary evil. The floors and surfaces make you feel like burning whatever you're wearing when you go home.

The shadiness is undeniable; there are -- without missing a beat -- people who hang out out here who make you want to check your pockets to make sure everything's there. I've never had any altercations that were particularly worrisome, though one fellow attempted to "demonstrate" how to use the ticket machine once. Far easier to swindle tourists in San Francisco, lad, but not me!

But here are some pros: the friendly guy and his kid who run the snack stand -- I admire their willingness to set up shop at this place. On occasion, there are people who will bring their musical instruments and perform for tips. Finally, my all-time favorite, there seem to be many pigeons who nest here. I like pigeons, so that's fine.

Everything works out when you go up the escalator and get in your train. As long as your exposure to the station is as limited as possible, enjoy its utility as a "Point A to Point B" hub. Otherwise, don't plan on hanging out any longer than necessary.