I gave up proudly owning a automobile ten years in the past and I’m huge on our bus system. The 33 line, as I’ve written, is nice for entry to the hills of Piedmont and Montclair. The 14 and the 62 will provide you with tour by means of, to not, the decrease ranges of Oakland’s geology.
Each strains run from the West Oakland BART station to the Fruitvale station, however on separate routes that share only one six-block stretch and one intersection. I like them each as a result of they’re residential, not arterial routes; they join neighborhoods, not endpoints (until a roundabout journey is simply what you need). Folks get on and off all the best way. Right here’s the 14, as proven on the road map over at AC Transit.
And right here’s the 62.
And right here they’re superimposed on the geologic map.
Their west ends cross the plain of former ice-age sand dunes that underlies West Oakland and downtown (Qms on the map, for Merritt Sand). It has a really low, virtually imperceptible dome form you could understand as you look down aspect streets. The hills are good to observe, too.
The West Oakland plain from the 14
The downtown platform from the 62
Each routes dip as they cross the outlet of Lake Merritt, crossing synthetic fill (af on the map) laid down on what was as soon as a large marshy slough.
The E.18th Avenue touchdown from the 14
Then they rise onto one other very flat plain, only a couple meters decrease than downtown. This is similar marine terrace (Qmt on the map) that underlies Lakeside Park, constructed up when the ocean sat additional excessive for some time within the late Pleistocene.
The marine terrace’s east finish on E. 14th from the 62
The 2 routes cross at eighth Avenue and E. 18th Avenue, and shortly they each depart the terrace and climb into the lengthy set of intricate low hills I name the Fan (Qpaf on the map, for Pleistocene alluvial/fluvial). These are manufactured from million-year-old stream gravel that was uplifted, in my interpretation, together with the bedrock hills of Piedmont by interactions on the Hayward fault.
Within the views from the bus, the topography competes with a set of attention-grabbing buildings that symbolize the entire twentieth century, plus glimpses of the hills and the Bay, particularly on the larger elevations.
Outdated palm allee of the Smith property on the 62 route
Topography close to San Antonio Park. The 14 runs by means of this valley.
Additionally they go up and down among the stream valleys within the Fan. Each routes contact components of Brooklyn (14th Avenue) Creek (although the 96 is the perfect line for that) they usually share a stretch of twenty third Avenue Creek. The 14 additionally follows the valley of Courtland Creek alongside Excessive Avenue.
Search for the sting of the Fan’s gravel hills wherever you cross Foothill Boulevard. The 40 line runs alongside Foothill, following an outdated Ohlone footpath. I like watching the Fan go by after I journey it.
The east finish of each routes, on the Fruitvale station, sits on the northern excessive of an arc of coastal plain that extends unbroken across the Bay to South San Francisco (Qhaf on the map, for Holocene alluvial/fluvial).
At Excessive Avenue, E.14th heads throughout the flats as seen from the 14
As soon as these flats have been all orchards and farmland that made the Bay space (and Oakland) an agricultural powerhouse, and Fruit Vale, the floodplain of Sausal Creek, was one of many earliest nuclei of that business.
Different bus routes undergo the Fan and supply comparable rides, however the 14 and 62 actually concentrate on it. The 57 and NL are traditional arterial routes that cross the Fan on its excessive inside aspect. In the event you occur to catch one of many plush transbay commuter buses, the NL can’t be beat however the 57 will provide you with Oakland shade from finish to finish. The Fan ends simply earlier than the Eastmont Middle at 73rd Avenue; Evergreen Cemetery sits on its tip.
The very last thing I wish to say is that AC Transit goes to be taking a tough take a look at its routes quickly. I intend to benefit from the 14 and 62 after I can and communicate as much as protect them.
