BART and Caltrain maintain good transfer connections with upcoming 8/2/21 service change
BART and Caltrain are working together to better serve the region with continued schedule coordination to support transfers between systems at Millbrae Station. Both systems have upcoming schedule changes: BART’s schedule change occurs on August 2 and Caltrain’s occurs on August 30.
Transfers between August 2 and August 30
After BART's schedule change on August 2, the majority of riders who transfer between BART and Caltrain will continue to find very good connections. On most hours on weekdays and weekends, the transfer wait times between most BART and Caltrain transfers at Millbrae Station remains stable between 8 and 15 minutes, just right for rider convenience while flexible enough to avoid missing connections.
BART is increasing weekday frequency to 15 minutes on all five lines in all directions until evening, and every other BART train aligns with Caltrain's trains coming 30 minutes. From 5am until around 8:30 pm on weekdays, transfer wait times between BART and Caltrain both northbound and southbound are expected to range between 11 and 15 minutes.
While a range of 11 and 15 minutes may be a wait for some riders, this range of times provides greater flexibility to avoid near-missed connections or a just missed connection if one or both system is experiencing a small delay in its long travel to Millbrae from San Francisco, East Bay or South Bay.
On weekends, every other BART train connects with Caltrain hourly service, though some trains have tight connections and others have connections up to 22 minutes. Starting August 2, BART will be running 5-line service from 6am until around 8 pm on Saturday and then shift to 3-line service Saturday evening and all Sunday.
In the evening hours (after 8:30pm), the transfer wait time may be long as 26 minutes. But the majority of the evening trains are timed to have a transfer time between 16 and 21 minutes. If you miss a connecting Caltrain heading southbound, the wait times may be increased substantially as Caltrain runs hourly trains in the evening hours.
Planning ahead to transfer between BART and Caltrain
Due to the higher frequency of BART trains to Caltrain trains, it is important to consider planning ahead your next BART and Caltrain trips to reduce wait times.
BART has a multi-modal Trip Planner to help you plan your next BART ride at bart.gov/planner. Using the Trip Planner, you can map out your itinerary which may involve BART, Caltrain, local bus systems and other non-car modes to take you to your destination in the Bay Area.
The Trip Planner has been updated to reflect the August 2 BART service change and includes Caltrain's current schedule.
Transfers after Caltrain's August 30 service change
On August 30, Caltrain will roll out its new service change to add significant service.
BART and Caltrain will offer riders new transfer timetables posted on both websites and inside station kiosks at Millbrae station to help riders target these well-timed trains.
On weekdays until evenings, transfer wait times between BART and Caltrain will not be longer than 14 minutes for all trains. On weekday evening hours, the wait time will range between 8-24 minutes for all trains.
On Saturday, the majority of the connection times will be 6-15 minutes with a few trains having longer wait times of up to 26 minutes.
On Sunday, the connection times are generally 17-29 minutes. After 9pm there is no BART service.